Visionary Planner
From "The ISTE Standards" (2018):
Leaders engage others in establishing a vision, strategic plan, and ongoing evaluation cycle for transforming learning with technology.
3.2.a. Engage education stakeholders in developing and adopting a shared vision for using technology to improve student success, informed by the learning sciences.
As the technology advisor to my school's Continuous Improvement Process Steering Team, I have served on committees to develop new vision, mission, and belief statements for our school. Through collaborative discussions with other committee members as well as through perceptual data obtained from students, staff, and community members, I developed the wording for the vision, mission, and belief statements in the document below (click to view).
3.2.b. Build on the shared vision by collaboratively creating a strategic plan that articulates how technology will be used to enhance learning.
In the TE 882 course, I developed a three-year technology professional development plan that outlined the activities required by teachers to fulfill district-approved professional growth policies. When teachers follow this plan, they will improve their teaching practice as it relates to technology in the curriculum. Importantly, with a wide variety of choice, teachers will be able to select professional development activities that are relevant and meaningful to their strengths and interests. Click below to view the plan.
3.2.c. Evaluate progress on the strategic plan, make course corrections, measure impact, and scale effective approaches for using technology to transform learning.
In the TE 882 course, I developed and conducted a professional development needs assessment. In this survey, teachers were asked:
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Whether they agreed with certain self-assessments about technology use in the classroom
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What some problems were that they have encountered which caused a lesson to go poorly
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How often they participated in some form of technology professional development
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The formats of professional development they respond to best as a learner
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What they believed could be done to make their professional development experience better
Click below to view the conclusions of the needs assessment.
3.2.d. Communicate effectively with stakeholders to gather input on the plan, celebrate successes, and engage in a continuous improvement cycle.
As a technology advisor to my school's Continuous Improvement Process Steering Team, I have provided input and direction on key issues related to our strategic vision and mission. One of our identified areas for growth during our last cycle was the way that teachers of different grade levels support each other and their students as they transition from elementary to intermediate to secondary education. For the past two years, I have led a professional learning community of specialist educators (comprised of art, music, physical education, special education, and the guidance counselor) to share input and collaborate on new initiatives.
3.2.e. Share lessons learned, best practices, challenges, and the impact of learning with technology with other education leaders who want to learn from this work.
As a regularly-contributing member of online professional development communities, sharing the lessons I have learned and experiences I have had - no matter how small or simple - has been as easy as opening an app on my phone or sending an email to a listserv. Technology-related professional development groups I am a member of and have contributed to include:
