TAKING INVENTORY

There are many different concerns, needs, and resources that should be considered as your community develops its plan for the use of a network infrastructure. As you go about determining these different issues, one of the first activities will be to assess the current capabilities and requirements of the various functions within your planning region. The following section will guide you toward a discussion of how to conduct an inventory of the technical and personnel resources in your area.

Meeting Conducted by: Steering Subcommittee Member
Meeting Attended by: Technology Planning Committee, Inventory Subcommittee

Sample Agenda

Welcome and Review Selection Process
Review Agenda
Overview (Slide 1)
View Entire Videotape
Recap Previous Meeting
Role of Technology Plan (Slides 2 and 3)
Inventory Committee Survey Discussion (Slides 4 and 5)
Determine Next Steps

Suggested "Technology Plan" Meeting Preparations (Steering Subcommittee)

Potential Action Items

Potential Action Items (Inventory Subcommittee)

Helpful Resources

Appendix:

The National Center for Technology Planning

Online Resources:

The Global SchoolNet Foundation

The California Department of Education

OVERVIEW

(Slide 1)

Last session you discussed the importance of a vision and talked about the subcommittees you need to effectively develop a plan. During this session you will discuss the elements of a successful technology plan. The first thing you need to do is survey your technical and personnel capabilities and needs. During this session you will decide what elements should be in this survey.

DEVELOPING A TECHNOLOGY PLAN

(Slide 2)

1. A Practical Guide: The technology plan you develop serves as a practical guide for accomplishing your vision for network technology. To ensure that it is a realistic plan, you should review it periodically, and consider it a living document that will change over time.

2. Road map: Your technology plan should include a plan of action to serve as your road map. It should answer such questions as:

How will your goals be met and in what time frame?

What will connectivity look like at the beginning
of the plan versus what will it look like at the end of the plan's cycle?

How many teachers, students and other staff will have access to the networked resources?

Do you plan to offer community access, and when will you decide this issue?

Having your plan in place will allow everyone involved in the school environment to better understand how well the project is progressing, whether it is meeting its stated objectives, and whether the objectives need to be modified.

3. Resources required: For every dollar spent on network technology, it has been estimated that as much as an additional three dollars may be required for support, maintenance, and training. Your plan should describe what resources you are going to need and clearly state why you need them. If you overlook the ongoing operational costs of supporting your network and the people who use it, you will have difficulty managing it once the hardware and connections are in place.

CREATING PARTNERSHIPS

(Slide 3)

1. Community Representatives: You represent a broad community with diverse needs and expectations. Since your subcommittees will be conducting needs assessments, researching technical options, and making recommendations to the plan, they need to be well represented by as many different elements of your community as possible. Don't forget the technical experts!

2. Potential Partners: As you form your subcommittees, think of people who might want to join in this process. The Steering Subcommittee members will contact whomever is recommended, explain to them the commitment and process they are undertaking, and invite them to your meetings.

There are many community groups that might be interested in collaboration:

Businesses will want to make sure that the skills that are taught in school can be easily transported to the workplace. Further, many businesses have experience in working with network technologies and are willing to assist with your planning and implementation efforts.

Post-secondary educational institutions, both public and private, in addition to most other state and federally funded institutions, facilities, and laboratories, may be able to provide a great deal of technical expertise. Many of these institutions have had Internet connectivity for a long time and can help you determine the level of connectivity needed to meet your requirements.

Your public librarians and media specialists may also want to help by providing training, technical assistance, or community access. Since these institutions may not be able to afford full Internet connectivity for their members, the ability to pool resources may provide a tremendous benefit to the community.

School board members should also be included in your planning process. They may be able to help you set priorities and establish goals that fit with the activities of other school board constituents. They may be able to suggest community sources of expertise and support.

County or district staff should be an integral part of your planning. These persons have a stake in ensuring that the networks established meet their needs for communication and reporting to the teaching and support staff. They can also provide information on the network infrastructure already in place to assist the staff in accomplishing administrative tasks.

Teachers constitute an important group that should be involved in your planning efforts. Teachers have the most to gain from having an effective and efficient infrastructure for bringing new resources into their classrooms. Without the involvement of this group, the networks will no doubt be under-used.

Students can provide invaluable input, and should also be brought into the process as early as possible. Their expectations about how networks can be used are often very different from those of adults, and they can be a valuable source of technical assistance.

Parents are a critical link in the process. Parental support for how you intend to use network technology will prove critical. Naturally this group will be very concerned with the information and people that their children will be interacting with every day. They will need to feel comfortable that the information and communications are being managed in a responsible manner. Further, they may be able to provide expertise and ideas about where to obtain technical and financial resources.

ASSESSING YOUR NEEDS

(Slide 4)

1. Technology: The first step toward assessing what resources you need is to determine where you are now. Begin by surveying each site in your area, including both administrative and instructional facilities. Find out what technology is in place, and assess whether it can still be used to meet your objectives.

2. Personnel: Ask who at each site is active in applying technology, whether this is their primary responsibility, what their other duties are, and whether their expertise can be shared.

3. Needs Assessment: At the same time, be sure to ask what the needs of each site are, and how those needs will evolve over the next one, two, and three years.

4. Establishing Priorities: Once you understand the current needs and capabilities in your area, it will be important to determine which requirements at which sites should be addressed first. It may be important to bring all of your sites up to an agreed upon level of technical capability. (For example, a computer in every classroom or a Local Area Network for all sites.) Another strategy may be to begin by developing a pilot site which demonstrates your area's vision for technology use.

INVENTORY SURVEY

(Slide 5)

For the remainder of the session, use the questions on the viewgraph to brainstorm the questions you think should be in the survey. The inventory subcommittee will use this information to develop and construct the inventory survey.