As mentioned in my earlier post, we all received brand new 16G iPod Touches today at my TTL (Technology Teacher Leader) meeting.  Right at the beginning of the meeting we were given a form to fill out and we approached the table where our regional Instructional Technology Specialists were sitting and traded the form for a shiny, new iPod touch.

Along with the iPods we were given a paper with step-by-step directions on how to set up our district email on the device.  We received training on how to register the device with the district's wireless network and nothing else.  When the presenter asked if people wanted to set up their email, one of my colleagues who works at ETG (Educational Technology Group--an office downtown) jumped in and said "there's a piece of paper for that!"  (I clapped--it would have been more time wasted for me!)

I was tweeting with another colleague of mine in the meeting.  We couldn't believe that this was a room full of 'Technology Teacher Leaders' who couldn't set up their email accounts by following step by step directions!

And so is the problem with how technology is introduced into schools.....  "Here's this great tool, guys.  Don't expect us to teach you anything more than how to turn it on!"

I am SOOO excited by the possibilities for podcasting and all of the amazing applications I can use with my students.  I, luckily, have experience with the product since I already have an iPhone, and I am aware of all that the device can offer due to my PLN on Twitter and the IEAR Ning, a community dedicated completely to using these devices in the classroom.

But what, I ask, are a group of people who can't figure out how to turn the device on and off or set up an email account with clear, precise directions provided do with such a powerful device?  I can't imagine much.

While completing my Masters as an Instructional Technology Specialist I took a whole course called "Technology Planning." When spending $199 each on over 100 devices, there should be some kind of plan in place for how these devices will be used.  We weren't given any guidance as to how the district even envisioned them being used!  You can read my post on planning for technology to see how I believe new technology should be introduced into a school or a district.

Hopefully there will be follow-up training....

For more information on using iPod Touches in the classroom, check out this amazing list of resources:

Diigo public bookmarks tagged with 'itouch'

plan image courtesy of juhansonin on Flickr

In a recent blog post, Scott McLeod asked "15 questions to ask about the technology leadership in your school district." Many of his questions got me thinking about how we plan for technology in our schools and in our districts. Many of the questions of leadership can be solved through good planning. (you can read my response to his blog post about this, too) With good planning, questions of roles and responsibilities can be easily solved. So can problems with hardware-to-faculty or hardware-to-student ratios or whether technology is being used effectively to engage and instruct students.

With all the talk of Glogster recently, I decided to create a visual depiction of the planning process. There are 7 main steps to good technology planning:




1.) Create a team: Make sure the team consists of members of all stakeholders (parents, community members, teachers, administrators....)

2.) Assign roles: Describe the roles and responsibilities of all team members.

3.) Complete a Needs Assessment: Conduct surveys, conversations, observations to assess what your school/students/staff need to increase effective use of technology to promote teaching and learning.

4.) Set measurable goals based on the Needs Assessment: Once you know what the needs are, set a few realistic, measurable goals (goals with a timeline and with a way to measure effectiveness or success- i.e. test scores, observed behaviors...).

5.) Plan for tracking and monitoring of goals: Make sure that one of the team members is assigned to monitor the progress of each goal.

6.) Collect data: Have each team member collect measurable data about their goal for future use.

7.) Assess goals, revise, revisit and rewrite: Once your goals' time period have passed, look back on whether they were effective. Keep good initiatives going, revise ones that were fairly successful but need some changes and scratch those that were not effective.

This cycle starts again at #3 (Needs Assessment). It is up to your school or district to decide how often you will go through this cycle. Usually it is from every 2-3 years.

Make sure you include a budget and budgetary concerns in the plan and that funding of the Technology Plan mirrors the school or district's budget plan.

Please feel free to comment or add anything I may have left out!

Link to the full-size Glogster image

Technology Planning resources:

National Center for Technology Planning
http://www.nctp.com

Guiding Questions for Technology Planning
http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/guidewww/gqhome.htm

Looking for your state's plan? Just do a search for : "my state technology plan" and it should come up. These plans are public and should be available for viewing.