Planning into Practice
Resources for Planning, Implementing and
Integrating Instructional Technology
Professional Development for
Instructional Technology
Planning into Practice
Introductions
 Regional Technology in
Education Consortium
serving the SE states, PR,
and the US Virgin Islands
 Jeff Sun, consultant service
provider for SEIR*TEC and
author of Planning into
Practice
 [email protected]
Planning into Practice
Clip
Objectives
To understand what constitutes an effective
technology plan
To examine the specific case of technology
professional development
To consider various professional
development strategies in light of levels of
teacher awareness
Planning into Practice
Focus on Curriculum
Technology is of little value if not linked with
your curriculum and curriculum goals.
Curriculum, not the technology itself, must
drive your planning process
Planning into Practice
Skeletal Plan Format
VISION
Curricular Goals
Goal 1
Acitivity 1
Activity 2
Planning into Practice
Staff Development Goals
Goal 2
Goal 1
Activity 1
Activity 1
Goal 2
Activity 1
Activity 2
Community Goals
Goal 1
Goal 2
Activity 1
Activity 1
Overview of Technology
Plan Elements

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

Executive Summary
Vision
Current Status
Goals and Objectives










Curriculum Integration
Professional Development
Administration
Infrastructure
Other?
Infrastructure Design
Staffing
Action Plan (follows goals and objectives)
Budget
Evaluation Plan
Planning into Practice
Establishing Vision
Vision establishes the purpose of the plan,
and more importantly, the purpose behind
bringing technology into your schools.
Guides the planning process
Firmly establishes the value you place upon
technology
Planning into Practice
Creating Goals
Goals are statements of particular ways in
which you intend to actualize your vision.
Goals break down the vision into manageable (and
measurable) pieces.
Most plans have groups of goals around
various elements of the vision...
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Types of Goals
Curriculum Integration
Professional Development
Administration
Community Involvement
and other areas that are critically important to
your vision
Planning into Practice
Professional Development
Let’s talk about technology professional
development as a specific area in your
strategic technology plan.
How do you decide what professional
development to offer?
Particularly now that your plan is in operation?
Planning into Practice
A Framework for Review
From Designing Profe ssiona l
Deve lopment for Teache rs of Science
and Mathema tics, Loucks -Horsley,
Hew son, Lov e, and Stil es. Corwin
Press Inc. 1998
Planning into Practice
Types of PD Strategies
Immersion
Curriculum
Examining Practice
Collaborative Work
Vehicles and Mechanisms
(page 4-24 of Planning into Practice)
Planning into Practice
The basic idea is that different strategies are
appropriate for addressing and developing
different levels of teacher awareness
A = Developing Awareness
B= Building Knowledge
T = Translating into Practice
P = Practicing Teaching
R = Reflection
Because integrating technology is all about
teaching and learning!
Planning into Practice
The New Yorker, 2/22 and 3/1/99
For Example...
Workshops, Institutes, Courses, etc.
B -- Building Knowledge (primary)
A -- Developing Awareness (secondary)
T -- Translating into Practice (secondary)
Curriculum Development and Adaptation
T -- Translating into Practice (primary)
B -- Building Knowledge (secondary)
Also see the ACOT research on stages of
teacher awareness visa vis technology
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Assess Your Needs
In your strategic technology plan, you
needed to assess needs and create the
mechanisms for on-going assessment and
review.
Use this knowledge to inform your choice of
appropriate professional development
strategies.
Planning into Practice
What’s Your Current
Strategy?
Workshops!
But what about those people who aren’t
reached by workshops?
How do you know whether workshops are a
sound strategy given your needs?
Planning into Practice
Maximizing Workshops
Schedule dedicated staff development days and
time
Pay stipends for anything that goes beyond
scheduled days
Create your schedule way in advance
Use a combination of outside and in-house
trainers
Use new faces to build upon known expertise
Assign follow-up tasks
Planning into Practice
So, What Else Might Work?
Walk the Talk!
Workshops are like teacher-centered classrooms
Can you adopt a collaborative an constructivist
approach to technology staff development?
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Learning Teams
Teachers team in collaborative groups with a
common goal to develop technology integration
skills
Fits “Study Groups” and “Coaching and
Mentoring” strategies
Primary P and R strategies
Kansas and Beyond
http://lps.lexingtonma.org/Tech/Kansas
Planning into Practice
Advantages...
Spreads the technical support burden
Professional development becomes authentic
Develops a learning community useful well beyond
technology skills development
Disadvantages...
Huge time commitment
Homogenous vs. heterogeneous groups
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Other Benefits...
Study groups, Learning Teams, provide time
to develop deep understanding of both
technology and curriculum (reflection)
Ultimately encourages creation of crossdisciplinary and integrated curriculum units
(practice teaching)
Although don’t be surprised if in the beginning, you spend less
time on these higher order purposes and more time “mousing
around.”
Planning into Practice
Pilot Projects
Groups or individuals are chosen to develop
technology-enriched projects
Fit into the Curriculum strategies on our chart
Primary P and T strategies
The Crucible Project
 http://www.shawsheen.tec.ma.us:90/crucible/index-2.html
Planning into Practice
Rewards for participation
They get the technology first
They receive dedicated professional development
“Costs” of participation -- accountability
They have to produce!
You require that they become trainers
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Remember...
Professional development activities should
always produce concrete products!
Sample/Outlined lessons
Templates
Examples of actual student or teacher work
Distribute the products
Produce a guidebook or facilitators guide
Publish materials on the web
Planning into Practice
Think about your range of strategies
Maximize your strategies...one approach
doesn’t fit all needs
Workshops work best as “B” (building knowledge) strategies
Learning teams -- Practicing and Reflecting
Pilot projects -- Translating and Practicing
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Create rewards and responsibilities
Accountability is the key!
All staff development needs to...
Have anticipated follow up
Produce tangible products
Planning into Practice
So Let’s Try One
Using the Professional Development Idea
worksheets, and perhaps some of the ideas
on pages 4-14 through 16, fully map out a
PD idea for your school/district
Think about...
What awareness level you are addressing
How you will know that your strategy has had impact
Planning into Practice
Evaluation
A good technology plan provides a logical
framework for the evaluation of your
technology implementation.
Goals show you what you are looking for
Progress towards fulfillment of goals and objectives
can be measured
Activities can be recorded
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Summary
 A strong educational technology plan is rooted in a
strong vision for technology’s role in education
This role needs to be centered around the anticipated and
desired student impacts
 Training must be adapted to the various needs of
your staff at different stages in their technology
“development.”
One size will not fit all!
Understand the stages, and then pick the appropriate strategy
Planning into Practice
 Eventually, evaluation will become the emphasis of
your district’s technology efforts.
Take the time to write a strong evaluation component for your
plan
Evaluate -- review and reflect -- on a regular basis so that you
can formatively assess your progress and fine tune your
strategy
Planning into Practice
For More Information
On-line resources (including this
presentation)
www.sun-associates.com/resources/stuff.html
Email or Call
[email protected]
978.449.0200
Planning into Practice