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: 1 Year ACtion Plan
Reflection:
This artifact was created in the course ITEC7410, Instructional Technology Leadership. During this course, I gained perspective and experience diffusing innovation and change by creating a one-year action and evaluation plan for implementing the shared vision at my school. Included in this plan were three goals that would help support the shared vision that were based off of the conducted S.W.O.T analysis. The purpose of this assignment was to develop an action plan to increase technology use within my school. Within this plan, the goals that were addressed focused on skilled teachers, technology use for instruction, and technology access within the school. I devised a success indicator, evaluation method, strategies, time, budget, and person(s) responsible for each goal.
For this artifact, I suggested strategies for the school to implement to ideally ensure the goals in the plan were met. These strategies would ideally sustain technology innovations within the school if they were followed. Prior to creating the one-year action plan, I researched the school’s current functioning in regards to the previous strategic plan. Additional research was performed on effectively implementing a new plan in regards to the initiating and sustaining technology innovations to manage the change process. I noticed that there were minimal strategies in place other than increasing student access to drill and practice computer programs on the current strategic plan. The S.W.O.T analysis that was carefully conducted yielded results that indicated a need for a deeper use of instructional technology within classrooms. As a result, I recommended that changes be made and created the action plan. The one-year action plan aimed to increase teacher skill by training teachers on 21st Century, innovative approaches to education where technology is used to increase the levels of thinking and learning. This included, but was not limited to, using iPads to increase student achievement. An instructional use goal was created to have teachers plan, create, implement, and share a standards-based unit using concepts of constructivist learning and/or engaged learning indicators using technology to support a student-centered learning environment. The technology access goal aimed to give each grade level will have access to an iPad cart for students to utilize to facilitate critical, higher order thinking and learning. The timeline for each of these goals were set and strategies were determined to successfully implement change in my school. These strategies were implemented during the following school year, as training sessions were held to increase teacher knowledge and competency on using technology in the classroom to increase student engagement/learning.
I learned a great deal from researching, recommending, and implementing technology innovations to manage the change process in my school. Creating this artifact helped me grow as a technology leader because it allowed me to devise specific strategies to help ensure teachers were comfortable properly integrating technology into the classroom. I thought about initiating change with technology innovations like iPads, and I knew that it was not something that would be done quickly and easily. It would take time, patience, and careful consideration. This particular action plan was thought out and specific, and measurable goals were devised. The shared vision inspired the goals created in the action plan, but the action plan actually allowed the vision to become a reality. If I were to complete the assignment again, I would have not been so ambitious about my focus on teacher training. I initially thought that teachers would be able to share resources and give multiple, high quality, authentic learning opportunities to students. Looking back, these expectations were ambitious. When managing change in an environment, it is important to have that change be sustained and not be short lived. Working with the teachers collectively would have been a more realistic approach to take in the action plan.
The work that went into the field experience directly impacted school improvement and therefore student learning. Teachers and students were introduced to a new electronic device, the iPad. This device needed to be utilized to drive student-centered learning. The action plan was created to ensure high quality teaching and learning was occurring at the school. Professional learning sessions that focused on the strategies in the action plan would positively impact student success, as measured by performance indicators.
This artifact was created in the course ITEC7410, Instructional Technology Leadership. During this course, I gained perspective and experience diffusing innovation and change by creating a one-year action and evaluation plan for implementing the shared vision at my school. Included in this plan were three goals that would help support the shared vision that were based off of the conducted S.W.O.T analysis. The purpose of this assignment was to develop an action plan to increase technology use within my school. Within this plan, the goals that were addressed focused on skilled teachers, technology use for instruction, and technology access within the school. I devised a success indicator, evaluation method, strategies, time, budget, and person(s) responsible for each goal.
For this artifact, I suggested strategies for the school to implement to ideally ensure the goals in the plan were met. These strategies would ideally sustain technology innovations within the school if they were followed. Prior to creating the one-year action plan, I researched the school’s current functioning in regards to the previous strategic plan. Additional research was performed on effectively implementing a new plan in regards to the initiating and sustaining technology innovations to manage the change process. I noticed that there were minimal strategies in place other than increasing student access to drill and practice computer programs on the current strategic plan. The S.W.O.T analysis that was carefully conducted yielded results that indicated a need for a deeper use of instructional technology within classrooms. As a result, I recommended that changes be made and created the action plan. The one-year action plan aimed to increase teacher skill by training teachers on 21st Century, innovative approaches to education where technology is used to increase the levels of thinking and learning. This included, but was not limited to, using iPads to increase student achievement. An instructional use goal was created to have teachers plan, create, implement, and share a standards-based unit using concepts of constructivist learning and/or engaged learning indicators using technology to support a student-centered learning environment. The technology access goal aimed to give each grade level will have access to an iPad cart for students to utilize to facilitate critical, higher order thinking and learning. The timeline for each of these goals were set and strategies were determined to successfully implement change in my school. These strategies were implemented during the following school year, as training sessions were held to increase teacher knowledge and competency on using technology in the classroom to increase student engagement/learning.
I learned a great deal from researching, recommending, and implementing technology innovations to manage the change process in my school. Creating this artifact helped me grow as a technology leader because it allowed me to devise specific strategies to help ensure teachers were comfortable properly integrating technology into the classroom. I thought about initiating change with technology innovations like iPads, and I knew that it was not something that would be done quickly and easily. It would take time, patience, and careful consideration. This particular action plan was thought out and specific, and measurable goals were devised. The shared vision inspired the goals created in the action plan, but the action plan actually allowed the vision to become a reality. If I were to complete the assignment again, I would have not been so ambitious about my focus on teacher training. I initially thought that teachers would be able to share resources and give multiple, high quality, authentic learning opportunities to students. Looking back, these expectations were ambitious. When managing change in an environment, it is important to have that change be sustained and not be short lived. Working with the teachers collectively would have been a more realistic approach to take in the action plan.
The work that went into the field experience directly impacted school improvement and therefore student learning. Teachers and students were introduced to a new electronic device, the iPad. This device needed to be utilized to drive student-centered learning. The action plan was created to ensure high quality teaching and learning was occurring at the school. Professional learning sessions that focused on the strategies in the action plan would positively impact student success, as measured by performance indicators.