Skip to main content

Purchasing Digital Resources - Things to Consider

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) just released a paper analyzing states' policies in regards to digital materials acquisitions & implementations, along with their recommendations. You can find the report & summary here

In the report, they outline Next Steps: a) Essential Conditions for successful acquisition & implementation; b) suggestions for making the procurement process transparent and easy to navigate; c) the need for strategic short & long-term budgeting; and d) and suggestions for the states to guide schools & districts on best practices for adoption, implementation and vetting of digital resources. You can read the more detailed descriptions of these four "Next Steps" recommended by SETDA here.

While reading the report and the next steps suggestions, it reminded me of my own research about technology acquisition and implementation. I have done several blog posts directly related to technology implementation in the classroom, focused more on a district/school level, and I just wanted to summarize some of my findings. In order for digital resources to be effective in states/districts/schools, there needs to be:

  1. Research about what technologies are currently in use in the schools/classrooms and what the classroom needs are 
    • Examine classroom structures and current resources
    • Examine student data and determine what technology would support standards, classsrooms, content, curriculum goals
    • Research digital resources PRIOR to purchase to determine most appropriate ones that will support determined needs
  2. A clear plan for purchase & implementation
    • What is the budget and will the budget support acquisition 
    • What are the technology requirements - i.e. broadband, hardware, software, and will budget support these requirements
    • Plan for implementation
      • Design appropriate, relevant PD
        • Provide content-related activities
        • provide hands-on learning
        • Provide ready-to-use lessons
        • Provide long-term support & collaboration
      • Plan for continued assessment of implementation and make changes as needed
        • Set clear expectations for use 
        • Have follow-up observations of use and feedback
        • Use data for continuous evaluation
        • Provide continued collaboration & feedback
This is clearly not an exhaustive list but if you look back at my list, it all involves some key components: leadership (administrators); collaboration; planning; funding; evaluation/feedback loop; expectations for use; and TIME.  Effective acquisition and implementation of digital resources can happen and really have an impact on student learning & achievement if done right.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Implementation Dip - It's Not Just Test Scores, It's Any Change

I read this article yesterday by Andrew Ujifusa entitled New Tests Put States on Hot Seat as Scores Plunge . Basically, states that have implemented new standardized tests to address revised academic standards, such as the Common Core State Standards, have seen a drop in student scores, so panic has ensued. What I want to know is: has no one ever heard about the implementation dip? Whenever you try to implement something new, there is going to be a period of adjustment, scores will go down if we are talking tests, classroom behaviors will change and achievement will go down if new teaching strategies are being implemented - in short, any time you try something new, it is NOT going to go exactly as planned!  Mistakes will happen, things will be bad before they get better - it's part of the whole change process.  Which is why we need to be implementing changes slowly, early, and over time so that things that go wrong can be adjusted. Image from images.google.com What is th
Post a Comment
Read more

Social Media's Impact on Personal Life - Personal Reflections

The question - does social media impact personal life? The answer - yes.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing? The answer - it depends. I have been on vacation the past week or so and am currently on personal leave to finish writing my dissertation proposal (which, as you can see, I am procrastinating!) During my vacation, I swore I would take a break from blogging, Twitter, email, and all things electronic. I lied. I admit - I did honestly make the attempt and in fact, did not turn on my computer one time.  However, the iPad is a constant companion, especially since the books I am reading (currently, the Game of Thrones series) are on there, so I had the iPad with me a lot - even on the beach.  It was very easy to check if I had emails, to check out my Facebook or to send a Twitter or two.  Long story short, I failed miserably at the disconnecting aspect. View from chair and under canopy! Which brings me back to the question of does social media impact personal life? The o
3 comments
Read more

Lecture, Direct-Instruction or Talk - There's the Confusion!

In yesterday's weekly #edchat Twitter collaboration the discussion focused on the flipped classroom, where, naturally, there was quite a bit of debate around the idea of video lectures. What became apparent was the many different interpretations of the term 'lecture'. This came to the forefront for me when I offered up the idea of TED Talks as one option for learning rather than a teacher's video lecture, and someone said "TED talks are just lectures, so how is that better?" This stumped me as I have never thought of a TED talk as a lecture, which is funny, because now, forced to think about it, I guess they could be construed as lectures, depending on your definition. Which of course has led me to this post!  Obviously, my perception of a lecture is not the same as others. What is MY definition of a lecture? Perhaps it's my many years of being both a student and a teacher, but for me a 'lecture' has rather negative connotations, as I envisio
Post a Comment
Read more