EDLEAD 6420: Blog Post #1: Technology Plan for Integration

It's a hypothetical new school year, a hypothetical new position, a hypothetical new school. I've been tasked with implementing a new technology plan at a school-wide level. Let's imagine that this school is the size of my current one (Korea International School), which teaches pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade and has approximately 1200 students and 130 faculty.

That's a big plan. It involves countless factors of pedagogy, discipline, funding, professional development, and school culture. According to an interview with Egmond Boon, Mike Pelletier, and Dion Normand-- three EdTech gurus from various international schools-- there are four areas that demand attention and loads of pre-planning for successful implementation: tools, personnel, pedagogy, and professional learning.

seems the most difficult;pedagogy Any of these areas could get mired down in the decision-making process and could prove difficult to implement smoothly, but implementation in terms of all tech must enhance the school's learning goals for their students and that all tech decisions must be founded on solid pedagogy. All of the other categories circle back around to that. It doesn't matter what tools you have if kids aren't learning. All personnel need to prove that their ideas, strategies, and collaborative efforts have pedagogy at the forefront of their efforts. And all tech-related professional learning should be tied to how to increase learning opportunities for kids.

Mike concentrates on the leadership aspects of tech implementation while Dion focuses on curricular ties. In Step 6, Dion discusses Don't Just Do It!, a lot about this concern. In their book, This tie to pedagogy is the number one thing that I see getting lost in technology-based school plans and in tech conferences. People get so excited about new tools, apps, games and ideas that the evaluation of what's best for learning can often get lost in the shuffle. Mike Pelletier and Dion Norman talkSAMR as a structure for asking curricular questions-- is the tool simply substituting for a traditional method-- i.e. are the students just using "very expensive pens"-- or is the tool augmenting, modifying or even redefining what the kids are asked to do? Having this structure in place and being able to use it to focus curricular decisions in terms of technology would be a great starting point for schools looking for a tech plan. All of the other decisions about tech should then fold into this one. It would take a lot of planning, a lot of time, and a lot of focus-- just like our kids deserve.