Planning for Technology

Many lessons can be learned from successful and unsuccessful attempts at technology integration by other schools and districts. We've included guidelines for planning, a discussion of the issues, and noteworthy pilot programs conducted by schools.

Also look to the Issues Affecting Internet Use in Schools segment of In The Classroom for resources helpful to the classroom teacher in understanding and discussing these issues with students.

Planning

Oregon Educational Technology Plan

The text of the Oregon Department of Education's 1997 Technology Plan which covers guidelines and efforts already underway at the state level.
http://www.ode.state.or.us/cifs/tlcf/techplan.htm

NetDayCompass

A directory of high-quality educational resources designed to help you maximize your technology investments, from planning, to infrastructure, to grants and funding, to classroom support, to best practices. The goal is to help you "think beyond" wires and wireless to educational results. Developed by NetDay.
http://www.netdaycompass.org/index.cfm

NETC Technology Planning Resources

The Northwest Educational Technology Consortium has a nice collection of technology plans from Northwest schools, sample acceptable use policies, technology planning FAQs, and well-annotated links to additional resources for the technology planner.
http://www.netc.org/tech_plans/

Technology @ Your Fingertips:

A Guide to Implementing Technology Solutions for Education Agencies & Institutions. U.S. Department of Education (ED), 2001. This publication tells how to define your needs and technical requirements; develop a "needs & assessment;" determine what resources you have and what you will need; implement, support, and maintain your technology solution; provide effective training; more. The entire book is online in HTML and PDF formats.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=98293

An Educator's Guide to Evaluating the Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms

U.S. Department of Education, December 1998. How do you measure progress? The Educator's Guide provides excellent discussion and important tools to help you evaluate the success of your technology-integration program, whether it be to measure the effect on student learning, satisfy grant requirements, address concerned parents, assess staff development needs, or figure out where to go from where you are.
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdTechGuide/

Safeguarding Your Technology: Practical Guidelines for Electronic Education Information Security

U.S. Department of Education, September 1998. Addressing the important issue of privacy and confidentiality of education information, this report walks you through developing and implementing sound security policies and presents a set of recommended guidelines.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=98297/

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Issues Affecting Use

The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act

ALA analysis of the TEACH Act, part of the larger Justice Reauthorization legislation (H.R. 2215), which was signed into law November 2, 2002. The Act redefines terms and conditions under which accredited, non-profit educational institutions may use copyright-protected materials in distance education, including on Web sites.
http://www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html

ALA: Position on Fair Use Guidelines

"ALA recognizes the need of its members for guidance...however, the process of trying to develop guidelines has demonstrated...that there is no guarantee as to what degree practitioners could rely on fair use guidelines in new technology areas...." "American Library Association Position on Fair Use Guidelines in a Digital Information Environment." ALA Washington Office Newsline, Vol. 6, No. 1, January 3, 1997.
http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon/alwn601.html

The Constitutionality and Advisability of the Use of Commercial Filtering Software in US Public Schools--Announcement (PDF)

A legal analysis by Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D., related to recent rulings in the ALA challenge to CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act). This four-page summary and a full report are both available at the site. June 17, 2002.
http://netizen.uoregon.edu/Announcement.pdf

Safeguarding the Wired Schoolhouse: A Briefing Paper on School District Options for Providing Access to Appropriate Internet Content

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), November, 2000.
"Unfiltered advice on filtering software." Information, decision-making guidelines, and other resources that will help you understand the issues and options for managing Internet content and protecting students online.
http://www.safewiredschools.org/index.html

Closing the Equity Gap

Closing the Equity Gap in Technology Access and Use: A Practical Guide for K-12 Educators, produced by NWREL's Equity Center and Northwest Educational Technology Consortium (NETC), July 1998. The document addresses access, type of use, and curriculum issues and strategies, and provides thoughtful suggestions and sample forms for planning for equity.
http://www.netc.org/equity/index.html

W3C: Understanding the Social Impact of the Web

This site's mission: "...to look at society's ethical and legal issues from a new international perspective. The Technology & Society Domain seeks to understand these issues in light of new technology--partly by changing the technology, and partly by educating users about the technology's benefits, costs, and limits."
http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TandS/Overview.html

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Pilot Programs

COOLSchool

COOLSchool cuts across geographical boundaries by offering online K-12 courses developed and moderated by real teachers. Visit the COOLSchool home page for an overview of available courses, registration information, and resources.
http://www.coolschool.k12.or.us/

ILT Projects

The Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia University, in collaboration with government and private partners, engages in a number of large-scale and smaller scale projects intended to "develop, test, and implement effective pedagogical approaches to the use of new information technology in education."
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/index.html

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