1.2 Strategic Planning
Candidates facilitate the design, development, implementation, communication, and evaluation of technology-infused strategic plans. (PSC 1.2/ISTE 1b)
Artifact: SWOT Analysis
Reflection:
I created the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of Wayne County High School as an independent class project; however, I used resources such as an interview with one of the assistant principals at WCHS, results from the ISTE Lead and Diagnostic Tool, results from a self-created survey instrument, the Wayne County School District Technology Plan, the Wayne County High School Improvement Plan, and various books and documents during the development process. The purpose of the analysis was to evaluate the current reality of the school in the area of technology, while assessing eight of the fourteen standards outlined in ISTE’s Essential Conditions. I had to identify the school’s specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with each of the eight standards as well as write a summary/gap analysis for each standard. Based on the data of strengths and weaknesses gathered during the process, I had to pinpoint innovative opportunities to help improve the use of the standard and threats that may occur during the process of implementation of the opportunities.
The SWOT analysis I created was a strategic plan that outlined possibilities, offered pioneering ideas, and identified hazards that may come up during the process. During the design and development of the plan, communication with an assistant principal and locating helpful resources played a large part. Although I interviewed an assistant principal, other questions came up during the development stage; therefore, I reached out to her several times to get those questions answered accurately. Because I was a new teacher in the school system at the time, learning the answers and communicating with staff members while gathering information helped me to better understand the current reality of the school’s use of technology. I learned specific information that helped me answer the questions asked on ISTE’s Lead and Transform Diagnostic Tool, which gave a clear and detailed analysis of the current state of technology use as well. This tool reminded me what to be looking for in the existing plans and key elements to identify that were missing.
Evaluating both the District’s three-year technology plan as well as the WCHS school-improvement plan assisted in deepening my understanding of where both the system and school are with different types of technology use by both teachers and students. Those plans gave me something more than a snapshot as well as helped steer my direction in creating a plan that would be specific to the school itself. Books such as Best Practices (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 2012) and Digital Leadership (Sheninger, 2014) guided and further developed my thinking when creating opportunities and identifying threats for the specific essential conditions within the plan.
The technology-infused plan I created helped to increase the amount of time technology was used by students, analyzed the current shared vision for improvement, identified more innovative uses of technology for teachers and students, offered opportunities to help close the digital divide and create more equitable access, suggested more modern, on-going professional development opportunities for teachers, and advocated ways to receive more technical support for teachers when needed. Creating a plan like this was a great way to see where the school was at that time while offering a vision to where it could be during and after the implementation of the plan. There were many details to the SWOT analysis, which all contributed to the culminating summary/gap analysis written after each standard.
While completing this artifact, I learned the importance of knowing the current status of where a school’s technology use is in order to create a reachable plan and vision for the future. The entire lot of resources and cross-examination of them separately and as a whole made the process very eye-opening in identifying the strengths and weaknesses for each condition; most of the information gathered pointed to the same weakness or strength identified within several resources, which made the evidence and data stronger in the areas of needed improvement but gave different perspectives at the same time. If I had to do this assignment again, I would have gained survey results from some students, some parents, and the technology specialist in the school. I believe more viewpoints would have made this assignment even more valid in identifying other information needed to deepen the analysis. Asking for ideas for opportunities to the different stakeholders would have also added some sparks to this assignment.
The artifact gave a clear and concise snapshot of where the school was in terms of technology use for both students and teachers. The results have helped identify ways to increase student learning, suggested more ways for teachers to use technology, and provided ideas for the school as a whole in the area of technology. The impact can be assessed through the achievement of each of the goals of eight of ISTE’s Essential Conditions.
I created the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of Wayne County High School as an independent class project; however, I used resources such as an interview with one of the assistant principals at WCHS, results from the ISTE Lead and Diagnostic Tool, results from a self-created survey instrument, the Wayne County School District Technology Plan, the Wayne County High School Improvement Plan, and various books and documents during the development process. The purpose of the analysis was to evaluate the current reality of the school in the area of technology, while assessing eight of the fourteen standards outlined in ISTE’s Essential Conditions. I had to identify the school’s specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with each of the eight standards as well as write a summary/gap analysis for each standard. Based on the data of strengths and weaknesses gathered during the process, I had to pinpoint innovative opportunities to help improve the use of the standard and threats that may occur during the process of implementation of the opportunities.
The SWOT analysis I created was a strategic plan that outlined possibilities, offered pioneering ideas, and identified hazards that may come up during the process. During the design and development of the plan, communication with an assistant principal and locating helpful resources played a large part. Although I interviewed an assistant principal, other questions came up during the development stage; therefore, I reached out to her several times to get those questions answered accurately. Because I was a new teacher in the school system at the time, learning the answers and communicating with staff members while gathering information helped me to better understand the current reality of the school’s use of technology. I learned specific information that helped me answer the questions asked on ISTE’s Lead and Transform Diagnostic Tool, which gave a clear and detailed analysis of the current state of technology use as well. This tool reminded me what to be looking for in the existing plans and key elements to identify that were missing.
Evaluating both the District’s three-year technology plan as well as the WCHS school-improvement plan assisted in deepening my understanding of where both the system and school are with different types of technology use by both teachers and students. Those plans gave me something more than a snapshot as well as helped steer my direction in creating a plan that would be specific to the school itself. Books such as Best Practices (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 2012) and Digital Leadership (Sheninger, 2014) guided and further developed my thinking when creating opportunities and identifying threats for the specific essential conditions within the plan.
The technology-infused plan I created helped to increase the amount of time technology was used by students, analyzed the current shared vision for improvement, identified more innovative uses of technology for teachers and students, offered opportunities to help close the digital divide and create more equitable access, suggested more modern, on-going professional development opportunities for teachers, and advocated ways to receive more technical support for teachers when needed. Creating a plan like this was a great way to see where the school was at that time while offering a vision to where it could be during and after the implementation of the plan. There were many details to the SWOT analysis, which all contributed to the culminating summary/gap analysis written after each standard.
While completing this artifact, I learned the importance of knowing the current status of where a school’s technology use is in order to create a reachable plan and vision for the future. The entire lot of resources and cross-examination of them separately and as a whole made the process very eye-opening in identifying the strengths and weaknesses for each condition; most of the information gathered pointed to the same weakness or strength identified within several resources, which made the evidence and data stronger in the areas of needed improvement but gave different perspectives at the same time. If I had to do this assignment again, I would have gained survey results from some students, some parents, and the technology specialist in the school. I believe more viewpoints would have made this assignment even more valid in identifying other information needed to deepen the analysis. Asking for ideas for opportunities to the different stakeholders would have also added some sparks to this assignment.
The artifact gave a clear and concise snapshot of where the school was in terms of technology use for both students and teachers. The results have helped identify ways to increase student learning, suggested more ways for teachers to use technology, and provided ideas for the school as a whole in the area of technology. The impact can be assessed through the achievement of each of the goals of eight of ISTE’s Essential Conditions.