1.2 Strategic Planning
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans. (PSC 1.2/ISTE 1b)
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans. (PSC 1.2/ISTE 1b)
I enjoyed doing the Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis, a type of needs assessments requiring school leaders to consider the many different possibilities available for decision-making and funding allocation. For this assignment, I worked with the technology team to identify internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for eight of ISTE’s Essential Conditions for maximizing technology for learning (ISTE, 2020). The results of the SWOT analysis are reflective of my school’s technology needs, as it draws on data showing our current reality and proposes improvements to weaknesses in the conditions essential to leveraging our existing technological resources.
Standard 1.2 asks candidates to facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans. (PSC 1.2/ISTE 1b). This artifact demonstrates mastery of this standard since it shows I can design and develop a needs assessment that takes school resources, stakeholders, and research-based conditions for school technology use into account. In fact, I used this document to write a technology action plan for my grade level based on the weaknesses I observed. In my SWOT analysis, I make recommendations for strategically utilizing school resources to improve our weakest Essential Conditions. I shared the information in this document with my school’s technology team, which, in turned, considered it as they developed Berkmar High School’s strategic plan for technology use. My school’s technology team includes a variety of stakeholders who collaborate to make technology-based decision based on the input of surveys and data collected from stakeholders, such as parents, students, and teachers. Drawing up a strategic plan takes collaboration and time to weigh the consequences of a decision from as many perspectives as possible. To implement the plan, teachers and administrators need support from school and district technology leaders in the form of professional development and on-going support in order to be successful. After implementation, plans need to be evaluated by asking by for feedback from participants. Additionally, it is important for technology leaders to communicate the status of the technology plan to all stakeholders at PTA meetings and staff meetings. Stakeholders should hear about updates to the plan through the school website and through email updates, as they do at my school. Finally, part of creating a strategic plan involves evaluating the effectiveness of the plan: does it have the desired outcome? My school’s tech team decided to evaluate effectiveness by continually collecting data from teachers, students, and parents to determine if they have met their goals for technology use at Berkmar High School.
Performing this SWOT Analysis helped me realize the decision making process used by school leadership to plan strategically. Technology teams need to fully analyze all the possible solutions to a problem area and gather input from as many stakeholders as possible before committing school resources to a solution. Furthermore, I found the SWOT analysis helpful in exposing gaps I did not know existed at my school, like the severe lack of parent involvement due to language barriers, and generating solutions I had not considered before. The brainstorming-type process seems essential to truly weighing all the possible options. If I could improve this artifact, I would include more plans for providing on-going support in implementation. Based on what I have witnessed at my school, it is sometimes easy to generate solutions, but more difficult to sustain them for the duration of an initiative.
This SWOT Analysis helped me generate information about the current reality at Berkmar High School as well as information about the paths available in order to plan and implement a successful change. The information contributed to the development of a school strategic plan. In performing this analysis, we were able to isolate our technological problem areas. Additionally, this analysis helped us determine when additional funding could support professional development initiatives to help teachers maximize their use of technology for student learning. Ultimately, the impact can be assessed by measuring the outcomes of student learning against the goals set in the technology plan.
References
Essential Conditions. (2020). International Society for Technology in Education. www.iste.org/standards/essential-conditions