The various members of your community have
differing reasons for wanting to create or enhance
computer networks in your area. It is critical that everyone
have an opportunity to discuss needs and concerns and
contribute to the overall understanding of how network
resources will be brought to the community. This section will
discuss the importance of creating a vision and will explore
the different elements necessary to create an effective vision
for the use of information technology.
This section will also provide a brief overview of the
different subcommittees or specialized areas of expertise that
may be required to develop a working Technology Plan.
___ Assemble those members of the education and
general community who have a stake in the process.
___ School Administrators
___ Teachers
___ Students
___ Parents
___ Local Businesspeople
___ Representatives from other K-12 and
post-secondary institutions
___ School Board Members
___ Other_________________________
___ Review slides and script
___ Prepare desired handouts
___ Arrange for VCR and overhead
projection
___ Discuss a vision for your community of
network users and stake-holders
___ Why do you want to build this?
___ Who will use it?
___ Determine technical committee members
___ Determine members' responsibilities
___ Establish next meeting time
___ Determine how proposed members will be
invited (mail, phone lists, e-mail, etc.)
1. Technology tools are key: For the next several months
you'll be planning for the construction or enhancement of your
schools' networking infrastructure. Moving into the
Information Age will bring you up against a pretty serious
learning curve, the same curve that businesses and government
agencies have been climbing for almost two decades.
This planning guide is intended to help flatten that
curve a little. We recognize the importance of having this
resource available to teachers, students, and administrative
staff to ensure the continued growth of network use.
2. From personal computers to networks: During the 1980s,
personal computers proliferated throughout American
businesses, homes, and schools. Those computers are now being
connected in networks at an equally rapid rate. In accordance
with this trend and given the current support for a National
Information Infrastructure, many people believe that by the
end of the decade all schools and most homes will be connected
in one form or another to a network. You and your audience,
the Technology Planning Committee, are here today because you
want to make sure that this trend towards networking supports
what you want to achieve for your community and your schools.
You want to be the architects of your own connections.
INTRODUCTION: GETTING ORGANIZED
(Slide 2)
1. First set of sessions: This guide is designed to help you
develop and implement a solid network plan. Your planning will
involve several meetings, spread over several months. The
first set of sessions will be geared toward educating
yourselves on the issues involved in making effective
decisions about your school and community networks; you want
to make sure that your plan addresses the unique requirements
presented by your community.
2. Second set of sessions: Next the subcommittees - which we
will discuss a little later - will take the input from the first
sessions and further familiarize themselves with their
assigned topics.
3. Third set of sessions: After the subcommittees have
completed their work, they will report their recommendations
to the larger group. You will then agree on which suggestions
meet with your expectations and priorities, and finally
compile this information into your Technology Plan.
4. Ongoing: Finally, you will need to determine how you will
acquire funding for your plan and how the community will be
informed.
OVERVIEW: GETTING EDUCATED-THE FIRST SET OF SESSIONS
(Slide 3)
1. Importance of a Vision: During the first session you'll
codify your expectations of how network technology can enhance
an educational environment. You need to agree on how network
technology will be used by your staff, parents, and other
community members so that you can plan and implement it in the
most effective way possible.
2. Developing a Technology Plan:
At the second session you'll discuss the importance of
creating a Technology Plan, the document that will spell out
specifically what your networks and network access will look
like over time and how it will be achieved. As you will see,
the first step toward the development of your plan will be an
inventory of the technology and human resources that are
currently in place so that you can build from there.
3. Getting Connected: During your third meeting you will
discuss what your options are for networking your computers
through local- and wide-area networks. The Technology Planning
Committee will discuss how they expect your schools and
community members to use the networks, how many people will be
using the network, and the types of connectivity it may
require.
4. Ongoing Support: The fourth session will investigate the
operational costs and/or issues of your network. Planning for
ongoing support and maintenance of the network is critical to
a successful implementation.
5. Training Issues: At the fifth session you will discuss the
other important operational cost, that of training. You will
discuss the importance of training the whole community in the
use of networking tools, how these tools will impact people's
lives, and then the importance of integrating network
resources into the students' curriculum.
6. Getting Support for the Plan: The final session will focus
on how you will gain funding and community support for the
Technology Plan.
After the first six meetings, which are covered in this
handbook, the remaining sessions will be working meetings to
report the information you have gathered in your
subcommittees, to make decisions about the type of networked
environment that meets your needs, and to integrate this
information into your plan.
At this point, show the videotape, Connecting to the
Future, to your Technology Planning Committee. Then discuss
your expectations of what computer networks will do for your
communities. Before adjourning, briefly describe the
subcommittees you may need and begin thinking of the role you
want to play in this process.
THE VISION
(Slide 4)
1. The Role of Technology: Almost every aspect of our lives
today is touched in some way by computers. And just as
computers are woven intricately into the fabric of our lives
now, so will networking technology influence the way we learn,
the way we do business - in sum, the way we live - in the
immediate future.
Without a coherent vision of what your community wants
network technology to do, the various elements within the
community run the risk of working toward conflicting goals,
or possibly no goals at all.
2. Assessing the Applications: Teachers will want to use the
networks to communicate with other teachers down the hall and
around the world. They may also want use the network to
gather resources for instructional and professional
development purposes, and to provide students with a more
interactive mode of learning.
Administrators will want to use the network to gather
information about attendance and achievement, send out staff
notices, report to state agencies, and communicate with their
peers and parents who also have network access.
Librarians will use networks to gather and disseminate
reference material to classrooms and to libraries. They'll
collaborate with school librarians and media resource
professionals around the country to develop strategies for
imparting new information skills to students and teachers
alike. Librarians are in a unique position to assist all
staff members in managing the abundance of information the
network makes available.
It's in the nature of networks to break down boundaries,
and by making school networks also community networks, an
opportunity exists to overcome some of the traditional
isolation of schools from the communities they serve.
School-based community networks are particularly valuable as a
means of demonstrating positive uses of networks to citizens
who may not feel comfortable with computers.
Of course, access to networked information will have its
most profound impact on students. They will now have ready
access to mentors and peers around the world, and to a range
of information and experiences that have never before been
available in schools.
Each of these constituencies - parents, librarians,
students, and staff - has differing needs, expectations, and
comfort levels with technology. While you can't fully address
them all at once, you can define your priorities and begin to
move forward. You should also recognize that by the time you
implement your solutions to today's needs, there may very well
have arisen new requirements - and new solutions - that don't even
exist yet. Advanced technology is always a moving target.
SHARING RESOURCES: Suggested Subcommittees
(Slide 5)
As you proceed, it will be helpful to divide the
responsibilities among subcommittees. Subcommittees will
allow people who want to participate in designing and
implementing your technology to contribute in the areas of
their strengths and interests.
The first subcommittee is Steering, the group that's
responsible for the overall coordination of the project. Once
the other subcommittees have done their work and made their
recommendations, the Steering Subcommittee will be responsible
for documenting the Technology Plan. Anyone is welcome to
join Steering, or any other subcommittee.
The Inventory/Needs Assessment Subcommittee will develop
and conduct the inventory survey of existing equipment and
other resources, as well as the needs of your community, and
then collate and summarize the results for the other
subcommittees. Those subcommittees will in turn use the
information gathered about your resources and needs to make
their recommendations.
The Connectivity Subcommittee members will familiarize
themselves with the different ways that you can connect your
schools to the Internet and the cost associated with each
option. Once Connectivity has the results from the Inventory
Subcommittee, the larger group - the Technology Planning
Committee - will assess what options are most suited to meeting
your overall goals. Where should you install your local
networks? How should you implement your Wide-Area networks?
Who are the Internet providers in your area, and what are
their strengths and weaknesses? The answers to these and other
questions may involve the presentation of more than one
scenario or timetable.
The job of the Ongoing Support Subcommittee is to
understand the technologies necessary for connectivity, and to
become familiar with the different companies which provide
these solutions. It will then define a working model of how
the technology should be acquired and supported in a way that
will meet the security and acceptable use goals defined by the
group as a whole. Ongoing Support will draw on information
from the Inventory and Connectivity Subcommittees to ensure
that its proposed solutions will meet the needs of your
particular environment.
The Training Subcommittee will familiarize itself with
the various training models and methods that have proven to be
successful in training new users on the networks. Training
will evaluate the overall project and the plans of the other
subcommittees in order to develop a plan for training
teachers, administrators, students, librarians, and community
members.
The Funding and Community Liaison Subcommittee will
evaluate funding sources and develop plans to promote the
network within the school and in the broader community.
Community Liaison is the point of contact for all potential
partners. Once the other subcommittees have presented their
options and a solution has been agreed upon, Funding and
Community Liaison will evaluate funding sources and a scheme
for promoting the plan to the community within and without
your school walls. It will be the point of contact for any
potential backers, reporters, and potential technical or
marketing assistants.
