The very first audio we listened to by Peter Senge ...



Strategic Plan - Technology 1

Strategic Plan - Technology

Kelly Flynn

Teacher

River Rock Day Treatment

Spring Grove, PA

06/24/10

EDU 715

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Technology is both a problem and an opportunity at the private, special education school with which I work. It is a problem in that it is underutilized. From what I see around me in public schools, we are falling behind when it comes to multimedia and internet access and tools. I would say our faculty and staff are below average when it comes to technological training and knowledge for the classroom. Yet there is opportunity – the administrators want to know how to meet student and faculty needs, and have the resources to do so. I believe increasing technology and technology training as a tool in the classroom would be a major step in the growth of the school and the company.

There are many reasons why incorporating technology into the classroom is a good idea, one of which is globalization. Globalization has made the world smaller, where very few people are shut off from the world’s fastest growing commodity: information. One of the main components of globalization is the sharing of information and ideas, most of which are utilized by technologies like the internet, cellular phones, video-conferencing, etc.

Yet there is a flip side to this “sharing” aspect of globalization, and that is competition. Globalization does not just mean we have access to more commodities and information, it also means there is more competition for things like resources and jobs. Telemarketing in India, manufacturing in China, and international retail over the internet are a few examples of how American schoolchildren will be competing for nontraditional jobs with people from all over the world.

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Burbules (2000) writes that globalization makes it more important than ever that we consider transformational change when thinking about how we serve our students: “At the economic level, because globalization affects employment, it touches upon the primary traditional goals of education: preparation for work.  Schools will need to reconsider this mission in light of changing job markets in a post Fordist work environment; new skills and the flexibility to adapt to changing job demands and, for that matter, changing jobs during a lifetime; and dealing with an increasingly competitive international labor pool.” (p.18)

As students around the world utilize emerging technologies, it is imperative that American students keep up. Then there is the case that our local competitors – other alternative education settings - may also be leaving us behind. Smart boards, computers in the classroom, and internet access are popping up in most districts and special education schools in our area.

Another reason technology is as important as ever to incorporate in the classroom is that students are utilizing technology in their daily lives. Social networking, Tweets, texting, video games, surfing the web – these are the things students are doing when they go home from school. It makes sense that we play to their strengths. Kids today are living in a fast-paced, interactive world where traditional lecture-style classes are not peaking their interest.

Technology also helps create lessons that are student-centered. Students can explore and create on their own or in groups. The internet in particular provides a great

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way to differentiate instruction, where students can take an open-ended lesson or question and come up with their own product. There are also opportunities to display what they learned through hardcopy or multimedia. Webquests are prefabricated lessons that students can explore in groups using the web. More and more webquests are being added online everyday.

While improving technology addresses all five of Peter Senge’s disciplines, I see a direct link to team learning, and personal mastery and systems thinking. Team learning uses collective thinking to create a culture of learning. Team learning goes beyond just working in groups, as it involves collaboration, communication, and strategic planning. In Peter Senge’s radio interview titled, “Making School Systems Work”, Senge noted, “Because times have changed, we need to look at the systems, not the individual, when looking to transform schools to learning organizations. Learning organizations are places where the learning is meaningful, and students’ capacity to create is enhanced. (Peter senge, making school systems work, 2000) I think technology helps students and teachers do just that. For instance, webquests have parameters that the students must follow, such as assigned roles and required outputs, but how the students get there is exploratory in nature. Using the web, they can go in multiple directions, where there isn’t one “correct” way of coming up with a solution. The key to webquests is that the learning is done in teams. Working together, and learning together, is stressed.

As far as professional development, the internet and teacher websites are two ways teachers can promote team learning. Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

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come to mind. Teacher websites are a great way to communicate with students after the school day comes to a close. Learning can become more continuous, and not something just done during the six hours of instructional time. Parents can look at the websites to see what is going on in class. Student work can be displayed online. The problem is, teachers are not trained to utilize this multimedia, and there may also be a cost component that at this time has not been addressed by the school.

Team Learning is closely linked to another principle of Senge – personal mastery. According to Senge (2000) personal mastery is “cultivating individual aspiration and awareness. They (people in education) know that learning does not occur in any enduring fashion unless it is sparked by the learner’s own ardent interest and curiosity – which in turn means that learners need to see where they want to go and to assess where they are.” (p.59) Papert (1993) agrees when he writes that education "remains largely committed to the educational philosophy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries", and attempts to "impose a single way of knowing on everyone".  Papert goes on to say, "the goal is to teach in such a way as to produce the most learning for the least teaching". (p.261, Senge (2000)) Once again technology adds the exploratory element to learning. The teacher can use tools to set up a lesson, but the students do most of the work themselves. A huge advantage is that these are tools with which the students are already familiar.

Technology also addresses systems thinking. The emphasis should be on students creating things on their own. Through the use of online tools, we can promote creativity

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as part of the systems culture. As we explore the dynamics of systems thinking, it appears that teachers should not be mere information distributors.  Educational leaders as well should structure the system so that the instructional needs of the student are explored.  Senge writes that teachers need to keep in mind “the most profound purpose that education might have: helping young people learn how to create the lives they truly want to create.” (p.167)

Senge describes systems thinking as “developing awareness of complexity, interdependencies, change and leverage.” (p. 77) To me, this means giving students the tools to explore where they are and where they want to go. With the world changing so fast, schools need to make sure they are keeping up with those changes – technology being a huge part. Senge would agree.  He acknowledges the importance of systems thinking when he writes, “System dynamics gives students a more effective way of interpreting the complexities of the world around them.” (p.233)  However, he also writes about how teachers can lose sight of the big picture when he acknowledged, “We knew that too many children remained trapped at the surface, memorizing isolated facts and events without connecting them together.  They may retain details – such as the names of arteries in the human body – but not grasp the overall pattern of blood flow. Tragically, many schools seem to train students not to use their natural capacities as systems thinkers.”  (p.154)

But how does the school go about addressing the technology problem, and what type of goals should be created to get us there? One tool that can be utilized in strategic

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planning is SWOT analysis.  “Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T).” (Bradford, 1999)  There is also a matrix provided that pairs up internal and external factors.  For example, S-O strategies pair up a school’s strengths with environmental opportunities, whereas W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities. 

I perceive our strengths to be relationship-building with students, small class size, flexibility, and resources.  The school is a privately-run company and has money to implement the plan. When I consider weaknesses, I think of teacher trainings/staff development and underutilization of technology.  This strategic plan actually employs W-T strategies (weaknesses – threats), which “establish a defensive plan to prevent the school’s weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats.” (Bradford, 1999)  The external threats are other alternative education schools and options such as home school and cyber-school.  If we do not address our weaknesses, namely professional development and technology, then we may find ourselves left behind.

By increasing technology and technological awareness, I am not proposing that administration require all teachers to use technology in the classroom in the same way. Teachers and staff should utilize technologies as they see fit, incorporating the tools that are most beneficial for themselves or their students. That is why one SMART goal related to this plan should be professional training opportunities related to incorporating technology within the classroom. Another goal would be to have computers available in

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the classroom with internet access. Right now, there are no professional development opportunities or teacher trainings. This is unacceptable. Providing teacher trainings related to technology addresses both the lack of professional growth and the lack of technology – two weaknesses of our school.

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.  Our program’s goals of increasing professional development and technology and providing computers could be specific – teacher trainings related to technology three times this year and a computer for every student in every classroom. This type of goal is measurable, attainable, and realistic, and timely.  There is the realization that these things need to be put in place next year, and the school has the money and the resources to do so. . 

.My school serves approximately forty students who are court adjudicated, which means they are transient students who will leave the school after they fulfill the terms of their probation. About a third of the students are special education students with IEPs, while another third are on the GED track. There are a growing number of learning opportunities using technology in the classroom. One of the gifts of education is that as we learn more, we discover new ways to enhance our lives.  For these reasons, instruction has to have an exploratory aspect to it.  The key is that students learn about how they learn.  That way they can have the tools to learn anything, in particular things that they are passionate about or things that could positively affect their lives.

So how do school leaders tap into this desire to learn for both teachers and students?  “Buckminster Fuller used to say,” writes Senge, “that if you want to teach

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people a new way of thinking, don’t bother trying to lecture or instruct them.  Instead, give them a tool, the use of which will lead to new ways of thinking.” (p.331) I believe technology is that tool. It is the key to making the changing the system so that it better enables children to create the lives they want.

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References

Bradford, R. (1999) Simplified strategic planning. A no nonsense guide for busy people whowant results fast!  Retrieved on 06/06/10 from

Burbules, N., (2000).  Globalization and education: critical perspectives. New York: Routledge.

Papert, S., (1993). The children’s machine, rethinking school in the age of the computer. Basic Books: New York.

Senge, P. (2000). Radio interview hosted by Christopher Lydon titled, Peter senge, making school systems work. Retrieved on 06/19/2010 from

Senge, P., Cambron-McCabe, N., Lucas, T., Smith, B., Dutton, J. & Kleiner, A.  (2000). Schools that learn. New York:  Doubleday.

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