In the Fall of 2009 a group of stakeholders that included board members, administrators, teachers, parents and community members came together to write a three year strategic plan for the school district. The Eudora School District Strategic Plan (2010-2012) identifies technology as one of five target areas. The target area of technology includes the following goal:
"Continue to implement 21st century technologies in Eudora Schools and Eudora Classrooms."
The plan went on to identify the following nine indicators for this goal:
- Installation of interactive white boards, projectors, and document cameras in Eudora classrooms.
- Provide flash drives for all Eudora students.
- Improve student to computer ratio.
- Improve copier and printer access in the district.
- Employ additional IT staff.
- Upgrade district's wireless network access.
- Develop intranet for district employees.
- Develop a research based refresh / adoption rate for district technology.
- Continual improvement / maintenance of network infrastructure.
All of these indicators have either been met or are in process. In a three-year span in which budgetary resources have been limited at best, the district has made significant progress in reaching the goal. Yet, the impact of these changes on student engagement and learning has not been measured.
In re-evaluating our strategic plan for the next three-year cycle it became evident there were a number of questions relating to technology and student learning that needed to be answered before establishing new goals and indicators. The first of these was simply how do we define "21st Century Technologies?" We all get excited about the latest and greatest tools but do they really change the way we teach or more importantly do they impact the level of learning for our students?
At the end of the day technology is nothing more than a tool. Its impact is not only based on its capabilities but on how it is ultimately used by the teacher and the students. Our goals and indicators in the next round of strategic planning need to address more than just the tools. It needs to address teaching and learning and how technology tools can best be used to improve teaching and impact student learning.
With this approach in mind we would like to establish a vision for Eudora Schools' Information Technology, and then drill down into goals and indicators from there. I have put together a number of
facilitative questions to help us get started in establishing our plan.
2012 IT Strategic Plan Facilitative Questions
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