1.

2 Strategic Planning
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation
of technology-infused strategic plans.

Description

The Current Reality/SWOT Analysis artifact was created for the ITEC 7410 Technology

Leadership & Vision in Schools course. This artifact was to identify and address barriers to

shared vision goal success as well as plan for their improvement. In evaluating these barriers,

this artifact demonstrates the process for recommendations for improvement to current plans

and/or processes already in use. To create this analysis, ITSE’s Essential Conditions were each

evaluated through the ISTE Lead and Transform Diagnostic Tool. After analysing this data, our

Technology Team was able to see our strengths and weaknesses, as well as make

recommendations for improving each essential condition.

In creation of this artifact, my role was to analysis the data provided through the

diagnostic tools, and then provide opportunity for discussion on how to improve each area.

These discussions occurred during our scheduled meeting times, where I facilitated discussion

around where we currently are and where we would like to be. We broke into groups and to

discuss each area and then collaborated to create achievable recommendations for improvement.

Standard Mastery

In order to effectively create a strategic plan, we must reflect on our current status and

decide how we would like to implement improvement. By creating this artifact, I was able to

facilitate crucial discussions about our current reality as well as discussions about how we would

like to improve. After analysing our current status data from the diagnostic tool, the Technology

Team was broken up into smaller groups in order to develop recommendations for improvements

for each essential condition area. The Technology Team next reconvined to discuss each groups’
decisions, and decide how to best implement, communicate, and evaluate these recommendations

to all stakeholders.

In facilitating this process, I was able to help guide the Technology Team to create

attainable recommendations in order to achieve our goals to ensure supporting authentic student

learning through technology integration. The Technology Team next focused on how to best

communicate these finding to our remaining stakeholders. Since effective communication was

our goal, we created a video presenting our findings and recommendations for improvement.

Finally, the Technology Team was decide on a beginning place and create a timeline for

addressing the technology needs within our school.

Learning Gained

The knowledge gained while creating this artifact was understanding the process for

creating an effective strategic plan. In evaluating our current technology use, it was evident that

we were in need of a technology-infused strategic plan that was obtainable as well as effective to

the demographic of our school and stakeholders. Once our evaluation was completed, I was able

to gain a full understanding of how to effectively communicate our needs to our stakeholders, as

well as assist in developing a concrete timeline to address our technology needs in an effective

manner. At completion of our strategic plan, I was able to fully facilitate the communication

necessary to our staff and stakeholders.

In reflecting on my learning process for this artifact, I feel that the methods I applied

were appropriate for the task at hand. If I were do any piece differently, I would have conducted

an open forum type meeting where I could collect more information on what is needed from our

students. Since our students are our reason for implementing this strategic plan, more

information from them may have had a greater impact on the development and implementation
of our plan.

Impact on School Improvement, Faculty Development, or Student Learning

Presenting our current reality learned through this artifact to our staff provided some

“eye-opening” information. This in turn prompted many staff member to reevaluate their own

use of technology enriched student learning opportunities within their classrooms as well as

reflect on how they can assist with reaching our strategic plan goals. Since one of our goals was

to increase the number of teachers willing to attend professional development for best

technology practices, several of our staff members noted that they were interesting in attending

some of these opportunities in order to gain a better understanding of effective implementation.

With an increase in staff development, school improvement and student learning will be

impacted through more effective teaching practices.

References

Essential Conditions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/essential-

conditions/shared-vision