Jeremy Easley

6/28/2014
Vision Paper
ITEC 7410

Vision
In todays society, technology is a quickly growing organism that students are using on
an everyday basis. Technology will be used as a tool to actively engage students, as well as
prepare them to become respectable digital citizens inside and outside of the classroom.
Technology implementation will also prepare students for life after grade school, whether it
involves an immediate career path, or pursuit of high education. Teachers will make the use of
technology a norm, but will continue to allow education to be driven by the standards and not the
use of technology.
Administrators
The administrative staff will provide support for teachers and students in the process of
technology integration. Administrators will actively include faculty and staff in all classroom
technology related decisions. They will host open discussion forums for faculty and staff to voice
their questions, comments, concerns, and suggestions for moving forward into technological
advancement. Administrators will also provide quality professional development that has been
proven and found effective or accompanied by a body of research that consistently links the use
of technology to students ability to collect, analyze, and represent data with significant,
occasionally startling, gains in student learning (Lemke 2009). Successful principals as
technology leaders will be those who decide to focus and concentrate on how best to intersect
technology with teaching and learning (Creighton 2003). The administrative staff will also
provide expectations on what technology integration should look like and a rational for their
expectations.
Technology Coach
The technology coach will serve as a mentor to all teachers. They will share resources,
best practices, and general advice to enhance Engaged Learning. A technology coach will also
monitor the progress of teachers toward their goal of technology integration. The coach will
evaluate the progress of the teachers and provide them will ways of improvement. The coach will
also provide teachers with an outlet to express their frustrations, excitements, and general
thoughts about how their technology integration process is going. Finally, the coach will act as a
voice, to relay those same frustrations, excitements, and thoughts to the district.
Teachers
Teachers will never lose sight of the content standards or the technology standards.
Teachers will allow education to be driven by the content standards and not allow the use of
technology to overshadow the course content. Teachers will teach the basic skills before
advancing students to high level assignments. Drill and repetition is certainly key, and as experts
have made clear, students need to have mastered the basics in order to engage in higher-level
math thinking ( Boser 2013). Teachers will be challenged to become innovators of technology
integration and engaged learning. They must also use good judgment to determine when content
could or couldnt benefit from the use of technology. Teachers will also make an honest attempt
at becoming well versed in technology software and hardware. Teachers will also be aware of
their students background when assigning various projects, classwork and other assessments.
Finally, teachers will be asked to comply with the wishes of their administrative staff.
Parents
Parents will support students, teachers, administrative staff, and any other school officials
in their endeavors to become technologically advanced. Most important, parents will support the
exploration of technology with their child. Parents are asked to allow their child to express their
curiosity for technology and support them when possible. Although a parent may not be able to
provide a child with the latest technological advances, they are asked to seek ways that they may
help their child explore technology.


References
Creighton, T. (2003). The principal as technology leader. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Corwin Press, Inc
Boser, .Ulrich A. "Are Schools Getting A Big Enough Bang for Their Education Technology
Buck?" Are Schools Getting a Big Enough Bang for Their Education Technology Buck? (n.d.): n.
pag. Center For American Progress. Center For American Progress, 14 June 2013. Web. 23 June
2013.
Lemke, C., Coughlin, E., & Reifsneider, D. (2009).Technology in schools: What the research
says: An update Culver City, CA: Commissioned by Cisco.