1.4 Diffusion of Innovations & Change
Candidates research, recommend, and implement strategies for initiating and sustaining technology innovations and for managing the change process in schools. (PSC 1.4/ISTE 1d)
Artifact:
sills_action_eval.pdf | |
File Size: | 182 kb |
File Type: |
Reflection:
The Action and Evaluation Plan for Standard 1.4 is an action plan for Taylor Elementary School. It looks at current technology initiatives and what stakeholders want for the future of technology and discusses the strategy that can be implemented, the timeline for completion, the funding, as well as who is responsible. This was created to make improvements to the school members technology knowledge and levels of technology use.
The Action/Evaluation plan was created based off of stakeholder’s views of technology as well as information about current practices. First, I discussed technology with stakeholders including administration, staff members, PTA, and students. I then conducted a SWOT analysis to decide on the strengths and weaknesses of technology at Taylor Elementary. Based on the information discovered though this process I was able to come up with an action plan for what is needed in terms of technology for the school. I was able to research and recommend strategies for technologic innovations that could help the school as well as come up with a plan for the process. By first coming up with a success indicator which measured what the end result for each action would be I was able to come up with strategies to reach that indicator. The research included analyzing data and looking for weaknesses in technology at the school and where we could improve. For example, there were many discussions by parents being upset about cyberbullying when talking to PTA. Parents were worried about this aspect of their child’s life. This showed there was a need for digital citizenship lessons. My recommendation was to start at the beginning and first train teachers on the methods of being good digital citizens. These lessons would show them how to teach students about their role in the digital world and how their digital footprint always sticks around. Then, once teachers were fully trained, they would collaboratively create lessons to teach the students about digital citizenship. All recommendations for the technology innovations came from stakeholders’ views and research based best practices for professional development and learning. The action and evaluation plan also shows my ability to implement strategies for initiating and sustaining the technology innovations. For all of the recommendations there is a timeline and a way to evaluate if the goal is met. These evaluation methods show a concrete way to ensure that the action plan is followed through to fidelity and that we are reaching the goals we set out to reach. These evaluation methods can be done overtime to ensure the learning sticks with the participants. The Action and Evaluation plan was a great way to zero in on what specific technology needs there were and come up with a strategic plan to accomplish all learning needs and goals.
When completing the action and evaluation plan I learned that filling out this plan kept me focused on the real needs of the school in terms of technology. Many times, I see that the school tries to make a lot of changes at once and sometimes many of the plans are redundant. By creating this Action and Evaluation plan the school is able to see all of the items listed and have a clear picture of what it would take to implement them. If administration was able to look at this action plan and make a priority list, they would be able to see all of the details and what they had the bandwidth to complete. They would know all aspects up front and be prepared instead of jumping in to something that was not necessary for the school or the stakeholders views. One thing that I would change about this Action and Evaluation plan would be to look into more funding options. Many times, I was trying to come up with a way that there would not be any additional funding needed so that the initiate would be easily attainable but it may have been more beneficial to see what funding options were out there for each action plan. This way if the school wanted to go further or dig deeper, they would know the different options. This is something that can be added later but it would have enhanced my learning as well as the information provided.
The work that went into creating the Action and Evaluation plan impacts school improvement, faculty development and student learning because it shows all of the options for technology enhancement that stakeholders want to see. The school’s mission is for every student to reach their full potential so if students are reaching their full potential through the use of technology, they will be able to improve their learning abilities. The faculty will also be doing professional development to deepen their knowledge and students will be learning more about technology through the plans proposed. The impact of each part of the plan can be assessed though the evaluation method listed on the action and evaluation plan. Each section of the document has an evaluation technique included. For example, surveys, teacher ‘homework’ evaluation, evaluations by administration, and lesson plan submissions.
The Action and Evaluation Plan for Standard 1.4 is an action plan for Taylor Elementary School. It looks at current technology initiatives and what stakeholders want for the future of technology and discusses the strategy that can be implemented, the timeline for completion, the funding, as well as who is responsible. This was created to make improvements to the school members technology knowledge and levels of technology use.
The Action/Evaluation plan was created based off of stakeholder’s views of technology as well as information about current practices. First, I discussed technology with stakeholders including administration, staff members, PTA, and students. I then conducted a SWOT analysis to decide on the strengths and weaknesses of technology at Taylor Elementary. Based on the information discovered though this process I was able to come up with an action plan for what is needed in terms of technology for the school. I was able to research and recommend strategies for technologic innovations that could help the school as well as come up with a plan for the process. By first coming up with a success indicator which measured what the end result for each action would be I was able to come up with strategies to reach that indicator. The research included analyzing data and looking for weaknesses in technology at the school and where we could improve. For example, there were many discussions by parents being upset about cyberbullying when talking to PTA. Parents were worried about this aspect of their child’s life. This showed there was a need for digital citizenship lessons. My recommendation was to start at the beginning and first train teachers on the methods of being good digital citizens. These lessons would show them how to teach students about their role in the digital world and how their digital footprint always sticks around. Then, once teachers were fully trained, they would collaboratively create lessons to teach the students about digital citizenship. All recommendations for the technology innovations came from stakeholders’ views and research based best practices for professional development and learning. The action and evaluation plan also shows my ability to implement strategies for initiating and sustaining the technology innovations. For all of the recommendations there is a timeline and a way to evaluate if the goal is met. These evaluation methods show a concrete way to ensure that the action plan is followed through to fidelity and that we are reaching the goals we set out to reach. These evaluation methods can be done overtime to ensure the learning sticks with the participants. The Action and Evaluation plan was a great way to zero in on what specific technology needs there were and come up with a strategic plan to accomplish all learning needs and goals.
When completing the action and evaluation plan I learned that filling out this plan kept me focused on the real needs of the school in terms of technology. Many times, I see that the school tries to make a lot of changes at once and sometimes many of the plans are redundant. By creating this Action and Evaluation plan the school is able to see all of the items listed and have a clear picture of what it would take to implement them. If administration was able to look at this action plan and make a priority list, they would be able to see all of the details and what they had the bandwidth to complete. They would know all aspects up front and be prepared instead of jumping in to something that was not necessary for the school or the stakeholders views. One thing that I would change about this Action and Evaluation plan would be to look into more funding options. Many times, I was trying to come up with a way that there would not be any additional funding needed so that the initiate would be easily attainable but it may have been more beneficial to see what funding options were out there for each action plan. This way if the school wanted to go further or dig deeper, they would know the different options. This is something that can be added later but it would have enhanced my learning as well as the information provided.
The work that went into creating the Action and Evaluation plan impacts school improvement, faculty development and student learning because it shows all of the options for technology enhancement that stakeholders want to see. The school’s mission is for every student to reach their full potential so if students are reaching their full potential through the use of technology, they will be able to improve their learning abilities. The faculty will also be doing professional development to deepen their knowledge and students will be learning more about technology through the plans proposed. The impact of each part of the plan can be assessed though the evaluation method listed on the action and evaluation plan. Each section of the document has an evaluation technique included. For example, surveys, teacher ‘homework’ evaluation, evaluations by administration, and lesson plan submissions.