1.2 Strategic Planning
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans. (PSC 1.2/ISTE 1b)
Reflection:
The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis artifact was created during the ITEC 7410 Technology Leadership and Vision in Schools course. The purpose of the SWOT analysis was to identify the areas of strengths and weaknesses, as well as to develop opportunities for growth and foresee any threats that may occur in the effective use of Instructional Technology at my school as well as districtwide. I was able to design a comprehensive set of goals for my school for technology implementation and developed plans to improve on what we had at the time. Based on the SWOT assessment, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of my school were recognized, and based on the ISTE’s Essential Conditions I provided all the information needed in the development of a comprehensive Action and Evaluation plan in order to maximize the implementation of Instructional Technology in our classrooms.
As a member of the Technology Committee, I was able to communicate the need for improvement of our Instructional Technology implementation strategies in our classrooms to our School Improvement Plan (SIP) administrator. I expressed how my knowledge and the research I completed through the SWOT analysis will facilitate the design, development and implementation of meaningful use of technology in our classrooms. The work that I completed developing the SIP helped my school to narrow the digital divide and also the gender gap among the students. Now every department in the school has at its disposal at least one Laptop cart and the access to iPads so every student in the classroom has the ability to perform Instructional Technology developed tasks that are focused on 21st century learning. I helped facilitate the delivery of Professional Learning/Development sessions that educated the teachers and staff of the technology resources we already had available such as Nearpod, Flipgrid, Pear Deck, as well as free Web 2.0 tools such as Adobe Spark and the Google Education platforms.
At the beginning of the school year, I helped facilitate, designed and implement strategies that were aligned with the ISTE Standards for technology. We began using data from the different diagnostic assessment tools at the school such as Math Inventory, Achieve 3000, Read 180, and System 44 which were implemented in Literature classes from 9th grade to 11th grade. With this data the Technology Committee team, of which I am part, began facilitating PLDs Instructional Technology rich sessions, and collaborated with those teachers in the design and the implementation of those lessons with the students. Through the development of content related Webquests the implementation of those lessons led to students to take an active role in their education by becoming active performers of real-life tasks. These tasks implementations provided modifications for some students on their Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) and led to recommendations from teachers for students’ promotion to higher-level classes, such as honor classes and Advanced Placement classes.
I learned from completing this artifact that there was a need at my school for the development of Instructional Technology strategies schoolwide. Although the plan had its successes, the next time we conduct another SWOT analysis for improvement of the SIP we must ensure that sufficient infrastructure is in place for this task. At this time, we are in the process of updating our servers. We also need to make sure that we have skilled individuals to provide support for the teachers and the students in the design, implementation phase of the project. The different programs associated with this artifact provide data that is used in the development of the SIP.
The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis artifact was created during the ITEC 7410 Technology Leadership and Vision in Schools course. The purpose of the SWOT analysis was to identify the areas of strengths and weaknesses, as well as to develop opportunities for growth and foresee any threats that may occur in the effective use of Instructional Technology at my school as well as districtwide. I was able to design a comprehensive set of goals for my school for technology implementation and developed plans to improve on what we had at the time. Based on the SWOT assessment, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of my school were recognized, and based on the ISTE’s Essential Conditions I provided all the information needed in the development of a comprehensive Action and Evaluation plan in order to maximize the implementation of Instructional Technology in our classrooms.
As a member of the Technology Committee, I was able to communicate the need for improvement of our Instructional Technology implementation strategies in our classrooms to our School Improvement Plan (SIP) administrator. I expressed how my knowledge and the research I completed through the SWOT analysis will facilitate the design, development and implementation of meaningful use of technology in our classrooms. The work that I completed developing the SIP helped my school to narrow the digital divide and also the gender gap among the students. Now every department in the school has at its disposal at least one Laptop cart and the access to iPads so every student in the classroom has the ability to perform Instructional Technology developed tasks that are focused on 21st century learning. I helped facilitate the delivery of Professional Learning/Development sessions that educated the teachers and staff of the technology resources we already had available such as Nearpod, Flipgrid, Pear Deck, as well as free Web 2.0 tools such as Adobe Spark and the Google Education platforms.
At the beginning of the school year, I helped facilitate, designed and implement strategies that were aligned with the ISTE Standards for technology. We began using data from the different diagnostic assessment tools at the school such as Math Inventory, Achieve 3000, Read 180, and System 44 which were implemented in Literature classes from 9th grade to 11th grade. With this data the Technology Committee team, of which I am part, began facilitating PLDs Instructional Technology rich sessions, and collaborated with those teachers in the design and the implementation of those lessons with the students. Through the development of content related Webquests the implementation of those lessons led to students to take an active role in their education by becoming active performers of real-life tasks. These tasks implementations provided modifications for some students on their Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) and led to recommendations from teachers for students’ promotion to higher-level classes, such as honor classes and Advanced Placement classes.
I learned from completing this artifact that there was a need at my school for the development of Instructional Technology strategies schoolwide. Although the plan had its successes, the next time we conduct another SWOT analysis for improvement of the SIP we must ensure that sufficient infrastructure is in place for this task. At this time, we are in the process of updating our servers. We also need to make sure that we have skilled individuals to provide support for the teachers and the students in the design, implementation phase of the project. The different programs associated with this artifact provide data that is used in the development of the SIP.