1. Technology Plan Evaluation
FRIT 7232 - Year 1 - Fall 2013
Laurie Bennett, Christopher Brist, Lisa Witteman
September 22, 2013

2. Module 3 Annotated Resources
1) Title: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Technology in our Schools
Reference:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0C
C4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.act.org%2Fresearch%2Fpolicymakers%2Fpdf%2F
school_tech.pdf&ei=0FszUp7_BYPuqQGblYCYDQ&usg=AFQjCNEDSiPHWyR4wDG5g6eg
GfcWDX1UjQ&sig2=iVqaxNqxFRMMvxSK7SSfug&bvm=bv.52164340,d.aWM
Relevance: This article covers the importance of technology in education. It explains
that a school system cannot just throw money or technology into it and expect results.
It lays out the advantages of technology in education and spells out ways to use it to
enhance the learning experience. It gives great advice on how to evaluate the
technology being used and how to implement it to the best advantages. Technology is
not a replacement for education, but rather a way to enhance the educational methods
already in place. It also goes over ways that technology can help increase academic
achievement and also close the academic gaps between different socioeconomic levels
of the population.
2) Title: An Educator’s Guide to Evaluating the use of Technology in Schools and
Classrooms
Reference:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCkQFjA
A&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.au.af.mil%2Fau%2Fawc%2Fawcgate%2Fed-techguide%2
Fhandbook2.pdf&ei=uVwzUo-YBIK2qQHci4HQAQ&usg=AFQjCNFPdhLPlQ583B8-TeygE
PpRxwNIEA&sig2=kFhkud_Ma-QMOInSiimMAA&bvm=bv.52164340,d.aWM
Relevance: This article gives guidelines on how to evaluate a school’s technology plan.
I contains suggestions of items that should be included in order to be considered an
effective plan.
3) Title: District/School Technology Plan Template: Your Blueprint for Success
Reference:http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ve

3. d=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scilearn.com%2Falldocs%2Fcp%2Fschool-di
strict-technology-plan.pdf&ei=DV4zUo-XC8f3qQGzmIAo&usg=AFQjCNGhl68LTwk26IK
OLXo_gpojVkdUhA&sig2=g2CW5Cqnv1YRTau74sKsRQ&bvm=bv.52164340,d.aWM
Relevance: This article is actually a fill-in-the-blank template that a school system
could use to begin creating their district’s technology plan. I lists all of the relevant
basic components and even has a checklist at the end that allows the user to evaluate
how complete the plan is after all the blanks are filled in. It contains suggestions on
how to make it better or more complete, depending on where the shortcomings fall.
4) Title: Evaluation of the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program: Final
Report
Reference: www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/netts/finalreport.pdf
Relevance: This report spells out the requirements of school systems to include in
their technology plans in order to adhere to the No Child Left Behind Act of the US
Dept of Ed in order for them to receive their federal funding for the program.
5) Title: Investigating the quality of the school technology needs assessment (STNA)
3.0: A validity and reliability study
Reference:
Educational Technology Research and Development. August 2010, Vol. 58, Issue 4,
p353-376, 24p.
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=73fd20a8-d5d1-4d14-b227-
3199b224ca24%40sessionmgr11&vid=4&hid=17
Relevance: This paper discusses the importance of schools and districts conducting a
well planned needs assessment before designing or implementing technology plans.
The School Technology Needs Assessment (STNA) is a free online tool that was
developed by the Department of Education in North Carolina to help schools
positively impact the educational environment.
6) Title: A Technology Plan That Works
Reference:
Educational Leadership, v68 n5 p56-59 Feb 2011. 4 pp.

4. http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=391629d3-c097-4194-bc0c-7
d9c44dee686%40sessionmgr14&vid=5&hid=17
Relevance: This article focuses on five lessons that school administrators should
keep in mind whenever implementing new technologies. The article focus less on the
technology and more on the people that will utilize the resources. These lessons could
easily be expanded to the district level for technology planning, since one size does
not fit all..
7) Title: Making Technology Standards Work for You
Reference:http://www.iste.org/docs/excerpts/MATEC3-excerpt.pdf
Relevance: This ISTE paper was written for school leaders, on a variety of levels, as a
guide for implementing and integrating technology. Administrators are given the
resources to become effective technology leaders that inspire, facilitate, engage and
advocate for their schools.
8) Title: Being Smart About Technology.
Reference: Marcoux, E. (2010). Being Smart About Technology. Teacher Librarian,
37(4), 87-88
Relevance: In the reflective (2010) article, Marcoux discusses her eye-opening
experiences at a ” technology in schools” seminar. She attended to attain insight on
how school administrators and technology directors envisioned 21st century learning.
She was surprised at the high interest in hardware and software and not the
incorporation of technology for knowledge. They seemed clueless about their own
districts technological atmosphere as it pertained to the current standards. They
needed to understand the capacities of their technologies according to how they
contribute to the curriculum in each school. Their understanding needed to be
expanded beyond written goals and be mindful to include foresight in their plans.
This article’s relevance to writing a technology plan is to look for quality not popular
programs, listen to stakeholder opinions and be observant of the classroom needs and
achievements.
9) Title: TECHNOLOGY PLANNING: DESIGNING THE DIRECTION TO GET THERE.

5. Reference: Norton, S. (2013). Technology planning: Designing the direction to get
there. Knowledge Quest, 42(1), 64-69.
Relevance: In the 2013 article, Norton provides background information and
influential governmental funding for technology integration. She points out that
many technology plans either continue to exist with outdated funding information or
have been eliminated. She proceeds to break down the essential components of a
school technology plan, with a resounding theme that librarians become the live
pulsed between the community and school wide stakeholders and the district
technology departments. Her essential components of the school technology plan
provides clear operational definitions to sharpen rubric criteria to assess technology
plans.
10) Title: The Technology Facade.
Reference: Tomel, L. A. (2007). The technology facade. American School Board Journal,
194(9), 44-49.
Relevance:In the 2007 article, the author reports on the effectiveness of an author-
designed 20 item questionnaire for school board members to analyze the current
functioning of a district’s technology program. The questionnaire was very forward
thinking for 2007. It offers poignant queries on the implementation of the districts
costly programs. This survey could be a helpful resource for our group as we explore
the vision of the district’s proposed utilization and implementation of instructional
and informative technology
Introduction
As a group, we collaborated and researched several Georgia school district’s
technology plans to evaluate for our paper. We selected the technology plan from
Liberty County School System. The Liberty County School System is located in
southeast Georgia. It is described as a small coastal school district, with 13 schools,
and one central office. Liberty County’s Technology Plan is attached to their district’s
public site. Its hyperlink was easily located on the Technology and Media Services

6. Homepage.
http://www.liberty.k12.ga.us/ourpages/auto/2013/4/9/50587699/LCSS%203yr%
20Tech%20Plan%2011-14.pdf
Also located on the Technology and Media Services Homepage,
is a public interactive sidebar. Each link is informative,
resourceful, and includes a survey for participants to fill out after
a technology in-service. These content links provide essential
evidence that the school system technology plan is vested in
providing accessible technology for all of their stakeholders.
The Plan’s Outline and Time Period Range
The Liberty County School System Technology Plan lists six headings; vision for
the utilization of technology, current reality (the heart of the plan), communication
and marketing, professional technology training, eighth grade technology literacy, and
appendices. The headings locations are found on the plan’s table of contents.
The plan covers a 3-year time period ranging from July 1, 2011-June 30, 2014
and was submitted on April 28, 2011.
Elements of Technology Plan Rubric
A description of each element and its corresponding criterion score are noted
in the following rubric.
Components 3 2 1 Score
Executive
Summary
Identifies clearly
and concisely for
the reader the
vision, mission,
goals and
Provides
adequate
And accurate
information
in Executive
Executive
summary is
absent or
incomplete.
(Missing 2 or
1

7. objectives,
findings, issues,
conclusions, and
recommendations
of the technology
plan
Summary. more
components of
information.)
Identifies
Contributors and
Stakeholder
groups
Membership list
has complete
description of
constituencies/
stakeholder
groups. All areas
are equally
represented.
Membership list
is
provided and
describes
constituencies
represented.
Membership is
not listed or is
inadequate
to determine
representation
of stakeholder
groups
3
Vision Vision is
comprehensive
and
deals with
learning
outcomes, not
just technology
outcomes.
Clearly and
concisely states
the district’s
vision for how
technology will
be used to
Vision provides
adequate
description of
how
technology will
improve
learning but
instructional
outcomes not
fully
addressed.
Vision is not
included or
does not
address learning
outcomes
3

8. enhance learning;
indicates the
benefits that will
result from the
use of technology
by students,
teachers,
administrators or
others.
Mission Mission is
focused on
instructional
outcomes and
indicates clearly
what the school
or district will do
to make its
technology vision
a reality; why the
school or district
wants to do this;
and for whom the
school or district
is doing this.
Mission
addresses
learning
outcomes but
provides limited
information
about
what, why, and
for
whom the school
or district is
doing the plan
Mission is
missing or does
not address
instructional
outcomes.
1
Goals The plan
establishes clear
goals and a
realistic strategy
Goals are mostly
equipment
based and
loosely linked to
Goals are absent
or
seem to be only
equipment
3

9. for using
technology to
improve
education or
library services.
Goals clearly
answer the
questions: Who?
What? By when?
By how much?
According to
which
instrument?
improvement
plans.
based; are not
measurable; are
incomplete or
difficult to
understand
Objectives Objectives are
measurable and
delineated from
goals; they clearly
define steps to be
taken to achieve
goals. They are
clear and
realistic.
Provides most
of the
objectives. Some
objectives may
not be
readily
attainable or
measurable.
Objectives are
absent or
incomplete.
They are
difficult to
understand,
unrealistic, or
appear
unmeasurable
3
Needs
Assessment
The plan includes
an assessment of
the hardware,
software, and
other services
that will be
Technology has
been assessed
and
analyzed, but
may not include
summaries of
Needs
assessment is
absent or
incomplete
3

10. needed to
improve
education or
library services.
Identifies use by
students and
staff, and training
received and
desired.
information
from all
elements in the
technology
surveys.
Conclusions and
Recommendation
s
Clearly identifies
the most
important needs
and challenges
confronting the
school or district
and recommends
the projects and
steps to be taken
to achieve the
vision.
Conclusions are
strong and
relevant.
Conclusions and
recommendatio
ns are
adequately
justified
although the
basis of some
conclusions not
entirely clear.
Conclusions and
recommendatio
ns are missing
or are not
adequately
justified
based on the
information
gathered
in planning
process
1
Acceptable Use
Policy
Describes policies
that are needed
to ensure proper
use of the
technology
Provides an
adequate
description of
the
most relevant
Policy issues are
absent,
incomplete, or
difficult to
understand;
3

11. resources.
Includes
well-written draft
of Acceptable Use
Policy.
policy issues.
Includes an
adequate draft
of Acceptable
Use
Policy.
lack of
Acceptable Use
Policy draft
Academic Goals Provides clear
description of
how
technology is
currently used in
the learning
environment and
ways it will be
used to achieve
instructional
outcomes;
describes how
technology will
enhance
curriculum and
teaching and
learning
strategies
Provides
overview of the
current and
future use of
technology in
enhancing the
teaching-learnin
g
process for
students. Little
detail on how
technology will
be integrated
into learning
and
curriculum
Technology and
Learning
statement
absent or
provides
incomplete
information on
the current use
or future role of
technology in
the school or
district and how
it will enhance
learning
2
Existing
Technology and
Requirements for
Implementing
Provides clear
and
comprehensive
description of the
Provides general
description of
hardware,
software
Technology
standards,
requirements
and models are
3

12. Technology
Upgrades
capabilities of
present
hardware and
learning
environments. It
identifies
minimum
standards and
requirements for
computer
hardware,
software, and
connectivity;
describes the
types of learning
environments
that currently
exist and those to
be created
by the plan
and connectivity
standards and
requirements.
missing,
incomplete, or
vague
Professional
Development
Clearly describes
current and
needed
technology
competencies The
plan has a
professional
development
strategy to
Provides a
general
overview of
current and
needed
technology
competencies.
Describes a few
strategies and
Staff
Development is
absent or
provides
only minimal
information on
current and
needed
technology
3

13. ensure that staff
knows how to use
the new
technologies to
improve
education or
library services.
recommendatio
ns for incentives
and
resources.
competencies
Technical
Support
Provides clear
and
comprehensive
requirements and
plans for services
needed to
support
technology use
Provides
adequate but
not
comprehensive
description of
technical
support
requirements
and
services
Technology
support is
absent or
provides
vague or little
information on
technical
support
requirements
3
Projects and
Timelines
Provides a
prioritized list of
major technology
plan projects,
tasks and
timelines.
Projects a
timeline for
completion of
projects, such as
the full
Provides most,
but not all, of
the project and
timelines
information.
Appears to be
generally
consistent with
plan goals.
Projects or
timelines
missing;
provides vague
or little
information on
projects or
timelines;
projects do not
appear relevant
to plan goals or
2

14. integration of
new technology
with existing
technology.
Timelines are
realistic and
consistent with
plan goals and
objectives.
unrealistic
Budget The plan
provides for a
sufficient budget
summary
estimate to
acquire and
maintain the
hardware,
software,
professional
development, and
how it will be
distributed
among schools
for equitable
access. Identifies
possible
alternative
funding
resources.
Provides most,
but not all, of
the budget
estimate
information.
Appears
to be generally
consistent with
plan goals.
Budgets missing
or estimates
appear
incongruent
with plan
or unrealistic
3

15. Methods of
Evaluation
The plan includes
an evaluation
process that
enables the
school or library
to monitor
progress toward
the specified
goals and make
mid-course
corrections in
response to new
developments
and
opportunities as
they arise.
Evaluation
process is broad
or does not
allow
mid-course
corrections as
needed.
There is no
evaluation
process
included or the
process does not
match the goals
and objectives
of the plan
3
Accessibility of
Technology
Resources
The plan will
address how to
make technology
accessible to all
students,
including those
with disabilities
or limited English
proficiency
The plan
addresses how
to make
technology
accessible to
some students
with disabilities
The plan does
not address
accessibility for
any students
with disabilities
or limited
English
proficiency
3
Timely
Submission
The plan was
submitted on
time
n/a The plan was
not submitted
on time.
3

16. Total Score 46/54
Recommendations to improve this plan
Some of the categories received less than the maximum score and should be
addressed to improve this technology plan. Here are suggestions for changes in each
category that need improvement:
Executive Summary - Score 1 out of 3
Liberty County’s Technology Plan omitted an Executive Summary. Much of the
pertinent “at a glance” information found in an Executive Summary was scattered
throughout the Plan (i.e., The Plan’s vision and mission statement were located in the
Vision Summary, goals and objectives were found in multiple places). The Executive
Summary is much like an abstract to an intense research paper. Some readers are not
technology savvy and look for reader friendly short statements. Omitting this crucial
piece of writing can have a negative effect on stakeholders and committee members.
Instead of focusing on the highlights of the Plan, everyone is focusing on going
through multiple pages seeking information that impacts them. Meanwhile,
important areas of the Plan that could be validated our discussed are being lost due
to the readers disengagement.
MISSION: Score 1 out of 3

17. The mission should focus on instructional outcomes and how the district will turn its
vision into a reality. It should also explain why and for whom the technology plan has
been created. This technology plan did not contain any of these elements and received
a score of 1 in the rubric.
Conclusions and Recommendations - Score 1 out of 3
While the plan illustrates how the district will implement new technologies, it is
lacking a definitive source that explains the reasoning behind their decisions. A needs
assessment would help to determine the short falls of the district and provide a guide
for recommendations.
Academic Goals – Score 2 out of 3
Through our research, we agreed that Technology Plans were lacking alignment with
the common core by not addressing specific and descriptive academic goals. We tested
our theory by incorporating Academic Goals in our rubric with the Plan. After we
reviewed the Plan, we collaborated and agreed that the Plan discussed how technology
is currently utilized in the learning environment and what training the educators
would receive, it lacked description and clarity on how the Plan would improve
student achievement, enhance strategies and utilize the common core curriculum.
Projects and Timelines - Score 2 out of 3
The district’s technology goals and objectives are well defined. However, many of the

18. goals lack sufficient timetables for execution. Implementing the technology plan
would be more effective for stakeholders if they were given specific expectations of
due dates.
Conclusion
The technology plan scored 46 out of a possible 54 points. This equates to 85%, which
is a good assessment with room for improvement. The major areas where the plan fell
short were in setting specific goals and timelines for meeting those goals. We did not
get a clear indication of where the plan would take the district and they did not set
specific benchmarks for helping them set a pace for the overall time frame of the plan.
A few more specific academic goals along with a proper timeline to follow those goals
would have increased the score (and in turn the effectiveness) of this technology plan.