ETEC 579 Technology plan project…

Our first major project is the creation of a technology plan. A technology plan is a document that helps an organization examine the past and current utilization of technology and present an organized plan for future technology implementation. You are encouraged to focus your plan within an educational institution, district, campus, division, department, program, or similar element in a commercial setting that corresponds to your professional goals. This allows you to create a relevant and realistic plan with the potential of serving a useful purpose in your district, discipline, business, or area of educational focus.

The development of a comprehensive tech plan must involve collaboration by many stakeholders in the organization. Your particular situation may or may not permit you to assemble the individuals necessary to evolve the tech plan to the final stages. Thus, the expected product of this project is a technology plan framework organized in a manner that allows for the insertion of locally specific data, following appropriate consultation, research, and development activities, which would lead to a complete, comprehensive technology plan suitable for adoption.

If you have access to information specific to your intended application, or actual adoption of your technology plan is possible or expected, personnel should be convened and pertinent data should be included in the plan. Be as detailed as possible. An acceptable technology plan will be several pages in length. Ideally, this project will result in the production of plans that are adopted, or, at least worthy of adoption, by the entity for which it was developed.

The development process will consist of three stages: First draft, peer review, and final draft. Your first draft will be submitted for peer review and should contain the required elements of the plan identified in the project guidelines completed to the best of your ability. During the peer review phase, two of your fellow students will be evaluating your plan; and, likewise, you will be evaluating two plans authored by your peers. It is critical that honest and thoughtful feedback be provided during this phase. You want any errors to be caught and corrected at this stage rather than by a school board or board of directors considering it for adoption.

It is your task, through the peer review process, to be as helpful as possible and to make each other look good. Educators are held to a higher standard in the public eye when it comes to writing. People tend to be less forgiving of grammatical and language errors when they are made by educators. Be mindful of this fact during the reviews.

Upon completion of the peer review process, you will have two independent sets of feedback on your plan. Use this feedback to make corrections and improvements to your document to complete the final edition of your tech plan. In the event that you have the opportunity to submit your plan for actual real-world adoption, your final class version would become your first draft to present to stakeholders in your organization. The involvement of stakeholders within your organization is critical to the successful implementation of a technology plan.

The project guidelines identify the required elements of the plan. A survey of many technology plans reveals that these common components are typical of a realistic technology plan. A plan tailored to your specific application may contain additional elements, so understand that these requirements only represent the minimum information necessary and you are not limited to this content alone.