By kellinahandbasket Some Rights Reserved
Our District Tech Committee, of what I am part, was tasked with developing a Tech Vision Statement to determine what our next steps with technology will be. Our school board members have been attending conferences where 1:1 iPad programs were shared and they want to know if that or something that can and should be done in our district.
We started by looking for resources to determine what we want our students doing and how we want them to be learning. We don’t want to adopt a 1:1 plan and focus solely on the technology, we need to think about how we want to transform our instruction to empower students. Technology will then become a tool of our new learning plan and not the other way around.
While thinking about the kind of tech vision I would want for myself I started to write my version of a tech vision. I focused on what students would be doing and how they would be learning and then I added the eduspeak in parentheses to show where my thinking was coming from.
Right now our tech committee is looking for Technology Vision Statements from other districts and/or schools so that we don’t have reinvent the wheel. Our plan is to offer our entire staff five or six different vision statements and have them choose their favorites. When we narrow them down to two or three we can poll people on what aspect of each vision statement they like best so we can craft our own. I like that idea. I’d also like to offer mine as one of our original choices. What would you add to mine? (I substituted my or I where I had originally written my school district.)
My Technology Vision Statement
My students participate in engaging work to produce either solutions to problems or interesting ideas for a global audience (student-centered, project-based learning, problem-based learning, inquiry-based learning). Students will work at their own pace using tools that best meet their needs (student-centered, personalized instruction). Students will be assessed continuously by their teachers to inform them how to proceed to their next steps (formative assessment). Assessment will be given to the students as information so they can drive their learning even further (growth mindset). Failure will not be seen as something to be avoided or feared but instead seen as a road map to success (growth mindset). In order to help motivate students to become lifelong learners and to motivate themselves to work hard and succeed they will be given choice as to how to learn and even, when appropriate, choice as to what to learn (choice). Students will be provided support to help them learn independently (autonomy) as well as given ample opportunity for mastery by comparing their work only to their previous work and not to that of their peers (mastery). Students will learn how to work as part of teams as well as on their own, including working with students outside of our school district (global learning). Students will be taught to be digital citizens just as they are expected to be contributing members of a positive learning environment and positive climate here at our school. Students will see that learning is an activity that happens all the time, even when they are out of school. School will be an extension of their learning instead of a separate event (24/7/365 learning, mobile learning). Students will be guided to mine the Internet for resources so they can become effective online researchers, a skill needed in this information age. Students will be able to collaborate, cooperate, communicate, and create using critical thinking to share their learning with each other, their teachers, their parents, and the world. All this can be possible with the right tools. I will work to provide my students with the tools of the 21st century to help them become proficient in the use of mobile technology to accomplish the goals of this vision statement.
I didn’t add a gaming component although I am developing that. The above is something I am continuously striving towards and not something I do every day or even every year. I do as much as I can when I can with what I have. Some of it depends on the kids before me some of it depends on what I can or can’t do at the time. I’d love to be able to do all of that!
Does your district or school have a 1:1 Tech Vision Statement or a Vision Statement for a non 1:1 school? If so, can you leave a comment with a link to it so that we may read yours and if possible borrow it?
