Planning for technology

In the world of ever increasing advancements in technology, many would believe that all educational institutions are keeping up with the movement. However, some may find it shocking to know there are some institutions that may not have caught onto the wave. Then there are some who may have joined in the movement but may not have planned for any updates, upgrades or changes. There are a number of things to consider when determining technology needs for any organization or educational institution, and planning would be the initial step.

In the higher ed, there are a number of institutions that have embraced technology and have a variety of uses of technology throughout their campuses. From the admissions, registration and financial add process to attending class and completing coursework online, the college experience is now more technologically advanced. So what does an institution whose technology that does not expand into the learning environment implement an online program? There are software applications that professors use to instruct within their individual classrooms but the technology is not there for overall online learning. This is where the initial step of planning for technology comes into play.

Currently, my institution does not have an online learning environment. Many of our students have often asked do we offer an online courses, or can they complete their coursework or testing online. Our response is usually, "I'm sorry, but at this time we do not offer online courses". So how does an institution began to plan for instructional technology? How do we go about creating a technology plan? What type of technology do we use? Where do we start?

Picciano (2011), says "numerous books, articles and guides have been written on how to plan" for technology (p.15), and these resources can be used as a tool to assist our institution in starting a technology plan. On our campus there are many experts of different backgrounds that have conducted a 'meeting of the minds' so to speak, to decide how to move forward and develop a plan to implement an online program. Although I am not apart of the committee, I am very interested in being apart of the process and begin to create, develop and implement an online learning program.

According the the National Center for Technology Planning, Mississippi State University, a technology planning committee must be established first. "This committee must represent every aspect of the school community--teachers, administrators, staff, business leaders, civic leaders, homemakers, and, yes, students" (Anderson & Perry, Jr., 1994) As we begin our quest into the development of an online program, we must ensure that we communicate the goals of the committee and the members are able to collaborate and develop an effective technology plan based on assessments of the educational needs of students and how the institution can address those needs while at the same time providing robust and advanced technology.

Some additional resources to review as the first stage of development begins:
http://cei.umn.edu/support-services/online-learning/developing-online-programs
http://www.cincinnatistate.edu/online/faculty-resources/Tips%20for%20developing%20a%20distance%20learning%20program.pdf


Anderson, L. S., & Perry, Jr., J. F. (1994, March). Technology Planning: Recipe for Success. , (), . Retrieved from http://www.nctp.com/tp.recipe.html
Picciano, A. (2011). Educational Leadership and Planning for Technology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Strategies +

You have a classroom full of college students eager to start anew and acclimate themselves into the college environment. Many of them are high achieving students on academic scholarships or high scorers on the ACT/SAT tests. Others are students who may fall on the scale of mediocrity or maybe even less than stellar performance on college entrance exams, however, they have been accepted and are official college students and sitting in your classroom. Whatever type of students that may have come, many of them are not college ready and/or do not come equipped with strategies on how to succeed academically.

T. Hicks, writer of Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media Genres, highlights a project by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the National Writing Project (NWP), summarized 8 attributes that a student can have to be college and career ready (T. Hicks, p. 26):

• Curiosity
• Openness
• Engagement
• Creativity 
• Persistence
• Responsibility
• Flexibility
• Metacognition 

Of these 8 attributes, I am most interested in metacognition. Think about your thinking, the learning strategy that causes students to question how their learning. A strategy that many educators are adopting within their classrooms. On our campus, we are using the metacognitive strategy to engage our students in the learning process. We are wanting to develop them into critical thinkers and be able to provide solutions within our society. According to McGuire (2015), getting students to understand this strategy  develops them into thinking of themselves as problem solvers (McGuire, p. 16).

So how does an educator teach students to use metacognition as a strategy? Dr. Sandra McGuire tells us that "introducing Bloom's Taxonomy is an extremely efficient and effective way to help students take metacognitive control of their own learning" (McGuire, p.28).

(Two versions of Bloom;s Taxonomy: Original and Revised) 

Why Bloom's Taxonomy one may ask? Well, if we instruct students on understanding the difference on how they learned in high school and how they can be college ready or prepare to succeed academically, will open their eyes to seeing where to begin to 'think about their thinking'. I often begin my classes with students in understanding the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy first. I ask them to tell me what their routine was in high school and then to tell me what are they doing different now that they are in college or if their routine is the same. Most of them reply that it is different than high school and they actually haven't determined what actions they needed to take to do well in college. I provide them a brief example of how high school was same hours, same classes and same times Monday-Friday, whereas in college there's a little flexibility where classes may or may not be back to back and not meet everyday of the week. I then ask questions on how did they study in high school versus studying habits now in college. This whole process I do to make them begin the 'thinking about your thinking process' and I break down the levels of Bloom's to help them make a connection. 

As the semester runs, each week is a challenge to see how creative we can become in teaching our students how to learn. Many professors/instructors may feel that students should come to college with these skills/strategies already, however, as educators we have realized that many have not been taught how to learn. Using a metacognitive strategy and incorporating into our courses will prompt students to think about their thinking and improve their learning experience.

Blooms Taxonomy, by R. Overbaugh and L. Schultz, n.d., and retrieved from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/images/1/1e/Bloom_1.jpg

Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts Across Media and Genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

McGuire, S. Y. (2015). Teach Students How To Learn. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.