Technology Use Planning Overview

Technology Use Planning
Technology use planning is the process by which an educational entity plans for what the needs will be for a school or a district and then what technology will be available for use. It is, however, not limited just hardware. It serves as a way to decide what type and how technology should be used and when would be the optimal time to implement.
How might the new National Educational Technology Plan 2010 be an effective and powerful resource for technology use planning?
I see the new National Educational Technology Plan 2010 being a great guideline to improving the educational plan that will be delivered to an ever-changing learner. That being said, I feel that this plan definitely has its good points but it also has some areas that can be improved upon. The NETP 2010 is good, in that it gives a very specific, measurable goal. Is this goal achievable? We’ll see. If I could choose to focus on one of the two goals, I would focus more on making sure that graduates are prepared for the higher education environment.
Short Term vs. Long Term?
I tend to agree with Mr. See about this topic. That being said, I think that there are also instances that call for more long-term planning. If you are looking at hardware, say computers, I say that a district (or institution) should be careful about locking into hardware that could be outdated in the next year. Many big brands offer schools a great lease program, which would need to be worked into the annual budget planning.
When an entity plans for certain processes, for example, electronic records or web-based learning tools, long term planning is sometimes the better option, especially when training faculty is involved.
What do you think about his comment that "effective technology plans focus on applications, not technology?" Do you agree/disagree?
I whole-heartedly agree. How do you know which way to walk, if you don’t know what your destination is? Often times in education, leaders are so focused on numbers or fads that they end up spending more on accessories and training just to make the original device usable for students. Planning committees should focus more on what the desired outcome is and then decide what tools they need to accomplish those goals.
What experiences have you had with technology use planning and what have you seen for outcomes (both good and bad?)

The institution that I work for decided to make the leap to iPad’s for all students and switch to all e-text, instead of offering physical textbooks in the “bookstore”. This, of course, came quickly, with no training for the faculty and without having all of the text completely converted to e-text. The college spent more on additional training and to increase the time that it took the publishers to create an e-text version.

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