Evaluations

Since I've been learning to blog, I have chosen random topics from our textbooks that were meaningful and thought provoking. I have mentioned the challenges we face on our campus regarding our not having the technology to meet the current needs of students wanting to take online courses. Planning for technology for a small business, organization, school district, or even college is a huge task. One of the many hopes that I would like to see take place is that we have planned, coordinated, implemented successfully a complete distance learning education system for our students.

When planning, there are many decisions we must make and take into consideration. Evaluating hardware and software for our institution will be one of the many steps we will need to take. Choosing the right hardware and software that will benefit our institution for years to come should be a goal while in the planning process. According to Picciano, "planning for computer hardware requires planning for the long range" (Picciano, p.187), and administration should take this into consideration as they evaluate hardware that will be used to support the learning system. 

With the existing computer hardware that the campus is using, the evaluation process should include a review of the hardware to see if it is durable enough to withstand any upgrades or additional applications. Trying to determine if current hardware will be sufficient enough or if you need to upgrade to a newer system can be very complicated. Picciano shares seven factors that need to be considered as we evaluate computer hardware:

• Performance
• Compatibility
• Modularity/expendability
• Ergonomics
• Software availability
• Vendor
• Cost

As we evaluate for computer hardware to support our learning system, we need to also plan to visit other institutions who are using similar programs or applications. This would be beneficial to those persons who may not have a background in IT, software applications or knowledge of computer hardware. 

The Community College Research Center produced an article titled "Evaluating Your College's Readiness for Technology Adoption" that provides information on assessing your institution to see if they are ready to invest in new technologies. The article states "understanding the likelihood of successful adoption before embarking on a reform can help your college invest wisely in new technologies" (Fletcher & Karp, 2014). Fletcher and Karp produced a "Ready for Technology Adoption Framework which can be used to assess if an institution is ready to "adopt" new technology rather than "implement. 

http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/media/k2/attachments/evaluating-your-colleges-readiness-for-technology-adoption.pdf

This article can be used as a great resource to determine if we are indeed ready to take on the huge task of implementing a learning management system. However, planning this endeavor will be the most important and beneficial step we can make in order to begin this process.

Karp, M. M., & Fletcher, J. (2014). Evaluating your college’s readiness for technology adoption. New York, NY: Columbia University, Teachers College, Community College Research Center.

Picciano, A. (2011). Educational Leadership and Planning for Technology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson