What five KEY points should administrators consider when evaluating their technology programs?  Why?

Following my own advice to use social media for professional development, I posed this discussion question to two groups.  The discussion centered not on key points for evaluating a CURRENT program, as I had hoped, but rather what to consider when improving it.

In other words, everyone tacitly agreed that their current programs needed improvement!  Throughout the exchange, five key considerations for administrators emerged repeatedly.

1.      How will new technology impact student learning?  If it won’t improve student learning, then what is the point in the investment?  Defining “student learning” is another whole issue.  Is it performance on standardized tests?  Or an ability to transfer skills from one technology to another?

2.      How will you measure student “success”?  Will it be as simple as proving they can do a PowerPoint presentation, or as far-ranging as having the skills to fit into the local job market?  Decide upon your goals and THEN create the measurement tools to see if your students have met them.

3.      How will the new technology help the teachers to teach?  And will they actually use any new technology? What are the teachers asking for?  What kind of professional development and teacher training will be part of a new program? Teachers are often overwhelmed by the need to “teach to the test” … and if they think that the new technology doesn’t support test-driven results, they are unlikely to spend the time to learn it.  One contributor said, I am “determined to have the technology enhance my lessons, not teach my lessons!”

4.      What do the students think they need now, and what do they think they will need in the future?  “The end-users, the students, often are our best coaches.  They fearlessly fly through links, exploring the unknown …It’s an amazing thing to step aside, and let the digital natives lead.”

And, of course, the REAL question that all of us have to face:

5.      What is my budget, and are my plans reasonable within my budget?  How will new technology investment mesh with local and state initiatives?  How will the hardware/software that I have now interface with what I may add?  And will my plans actually meet the first four objectives?

 For the full discussion of the question and great links to Website resources click here