Technology Plan

          BCPS has a county-wide plan versus a school-based technology plan. The BCPS blueprint 2.0 was a 5 year plan from 2013-2018. The goal was to "To equip every student with the critical 21st century skills needed to be globally competitive, BCPS must ensure that every school has an equitable, effective digital learning environment, and every student has equitable access to learning and developing proficiency in a second language.” The teaching and learning opportunities would be beneficial for all BCPS stakeholders. Data was collected and analyzed before 2012 but I wonder if it was re-evaluated as the plan was implemented.

           One phrase I constantly hear is "eliminating the gaps and raising the bar". By providing all students with devices, BCPS was trying to achieve this goal. 21st century skills are needed in order to be globally competitive meaning students need these skills. The goal was to implement a blended curriculum which would provide students learning opportunities using 21st century skills. As of this school year, every student in K-12 has access to a device. Every student in grades 1-12 are 1:1 and students in grades 6-12 have the opportunity to take their devices home. Our curriculum is now provided to teacher online. Stakeholders have access to BCPS One and Schoology which is our Learning Management System (LMS) which gives them access to the online grade-book. 
I am curious to see what happens next now that the plan has ended and there is not yet a new plan in place. I do not think that the plan will be effective with no follow-up. There is a lot of speculation on whether or not all students will have devices next year. 

            I believe that schools should look at the county-wide plan and adapt their own school-wide plan that aligns to it yet is more specific to the school. This would allow for more stakeholders to have an input. A school technology plan would have goals and a way to measure success that is specific to each school. This could be included in every School Progress Plan (SPP) and can close the gap while raising the bar for each school. Professional Development could be tailored to technology goals that are identified in the plan. Teachers would have a purpose for implementing technology into their lessons. Time would be given to teachers and students to explore new tech innovations. There would be communication to share successes and failures throughout the school during faculty meetings. I believe if this could happen there would be a positive school climate and deeper learning occurring. 

 BCPS Blueprint 2.0

Comments

  1. TomFebruary 22, 2019 at 5:18 AM

    I agree with your assertion that schools should take the county plan and modify it for their individual needs. We have a technology plan in our school, but it is not in the SPP, and I think it should be. Part of the importance of a plan is giving priority to technological innovation, and placing it in the SPP would make it an evaluative goal. This year, we have been focused on concerns of curriculum standards and student engagement at the expense of other priorities. However, many of the other initiatives in our school can be aided by technology innovation.

    I am also eager to see how the county continues its technology initiative. Now that schools have devices, the county needs to work on changing the culture of technology use. It needs a plan to encourage educators to explore possibilities, which requires giving teachers and administrators autonomy to try new things, to experiment, and to sometimes fail.

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  2. Stacey's BlogFebruary 26, 2019 at 12:17 PM

    I am also curious to know what the next phase of the Technology plan is for BCPS. I remember one of the leaders of STAT stating that BCPS technology plan was a 2nd order change and was something that would change the structure of how BCPS teachers teach and students learn. I feel that they did accomplish this and it would be extremely difficult to go back to the way we use to do things. Since our curriculum is digital and we have so many digital resources, it would nearly be impossible to take away all the devices from the students.

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