2. AISD Mission
“Alvin ISD will invest in evolving technology and will maintain and upgrade an existing
infrastructure in order to promote student/technology engagement in the teaching and
learning process. The district will continually provide new technologies that support
efficient administrative and teaching activities. Professional development through
technology trainings will be implemented and emphasized in order to increase
technology implementation within the classroom curriculum”
Alvin Independent School District
3. AISD’S VISION FOR TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION
• AISD’s Technology Vision is to integrate technology with effective teaching and will
engage students in the learning process in order to achieve greater student achievement.
“The model stipulates that we focus what and how we teach to match what people need to
know and how they learn (Nagel, 2010).”
4. AISD’S TECHNOLOGY PROCESS
• A committee will be formed to evaluate technology plan past, present, and future
• Conduct research for new technology worthy of classroom implementation
• Conduct continual evaluation of district infrastructure
• Develop and implement district technology budget
• Reserve within budget for professional development
• Model the National and State Education Technology Plans
• Evaluate and consider solutions to developing issues throughout the year
• Full implementation of District Technology Plan
“The National Education Technology Plan presents five goals, each one “addressing one of the five
essential components of learning powered by technology: Learning, Assessment, Teaching,
Infrastructure, and Productivity (U.S. Department of Education).”
5. COMMITTEE
AISD recognizes that a well-informed committee is crucial to the success of any Plan
including the District’s Technology Plan. It must follow a regiment of discussions and
budget constraints thereby making the committee a need beyond normal constraints. The
committee will be formed as follows:
Members will be selected not only from the professional realm, but the members of the
community as well. Each area will have an equal number of representatives. Each
member will bring their knowledge base which will make the committee extremely divers.e
6. COMMITTEE
AISD continually explores methods which allows for making improvements. Methods the
committee will explore include the following:
• Access inventory of district hardware and software
• Access frequency of hardware and software usage
• Assess needs current and future
• Develop list of needs and maintenance issues for implementation
7. RESEARCH
AISD’s Technology Director and other selected committee members will research outside
districts that are similar in size, growth patterns, and demographics. The researchers will
assess the technology implementation of their technology and bring back working
knowledge of their successes and failures
8. INFRASTRUCTURE
AISD’s current technology plan allows for continual maintenance, updating, and garners
methodologies to implement within the infrastructure the following:
• Update building technology to increase wireless connectivity
• Increase bandwidth as applicable
• Provide technical support when and where needed in a timely fashion
• Continue to upgrade obsolete hardware and software
• Upgrade servers as necessary
9. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Continual support toward professional develop is a commitment by the district in order to
further implement technology in the classroom. The teacher is the single most important
aspect if technology implementation is to occur.
AISD’s commitment is to successfully integrate the latest technology into the classroom with
full regard to teacher understanding of the new technology current and future. “The plan
should ensure that “all professional educators are well connected to the content and
resources, data and information, and peers and experts (Nagel, 2010).”
The ongoing process of ensuring teacher understanding of new technologies includes
trainings that will be given during the summer and recommended dates throughout the
academic school year.
Instructional Technologists will conduct the trainings within the district as will other trainings
outside the district.
10. BUDGET
Due to budget constraints over the past two years (2010-2012), the availability of new
hardware and software improvements have been directly affected.
Although the district has a commitment to technology improvement, this area is one that has
been slowly invested in as dollars became short. “When considering which technology
your school district is going to implement, you must consider the potential return on
investment, particularly as it relates to student learning and your district’s strategic goals
(Moore, 2006).”
AISD’s committee researches methods of increasing the budget through grants and corporate
donations.
11. BUDGET (CONTINUED)
Current and Future budget will include hardware and software that will be integrated into
curriculum as follows:
• Digital ELMO document cameras in all core classrooms
• LCD Projectors with Promethean Smart-boards
• Graphing Calculators (mathematics)
• Infrastructure upgrade for incorporation of the “Bring your own device” Initiative
• Electronic Microscopes (Science)
• Adequate software and hardware that will ensure all requirements of the TEKS are being
met including E-mail, Keyboarding, Word Processing, Spreadsheets and Internet related
considerations
12. AISD TECHNOLOGY BUDGET FOR 2012
Distribution
50
45
AISD is dependent on 40
equal distribution of 35
funding, but 30
Unfortunately, in the 25
academic Year of 2011- 20
2012 due to budget 15
10
Constraints, equality was 5 Distribution
not case. 0
13. PLAN IMPLEMENTATION
Implementing the plan involves:
• Teacher Professional Development
• Ensure collaboration for sharing of best practices
• Continual implementation of technology upgrades
• Building infrastructure upgrades
• Commitment from technology committee, district and campus administration
14. ASSESSMENTS, EVALUATIONS AND SOLUTIONS
The Technology Plan must include the following:
• An understanding by stakeholders that technology is an ongoing cycle.
• Recognize that technology plans are a short term goal and not a long one.
• Conduct methods to assess the impact new technologies have on student learning.
• Implement surveys to all stakeholders in order to assess the impact new technologies are
being integrated into the curriculum, effectiveness of professional development and
impact of student achievement.
• Evaluate district technology infrastructure on a regular basis
• Implement continual committee meetings on a regular basis to assess technology failures
and successes
• Continual collaboration with stakeholders to look at new technologies and how they may
impact student achievement in the short-term and long-term.
15. For the 2011-2012 Academic School Year, AISD has implemented a one-to-one initiative that
continues to provide each Junior High student with a mini-notebook computer. Due to budget
constraints, it is necessary to update the computers thereby rendering the computers to be
used during the 2012-2013 academic school year as “class sets” and not one that the
students will be able to take home on a nightly basis.
Overall, the AISD Technology Plan is one that is critical for student achievement. AISD recognizes
that technology must be a commitment that provides opportunities for students to utilize a
diverse set of technological tools in order to extend their abilities to communicate effectively
within a global community. Through technology, the students are be engaged actively in their
own learning, interact with knowledge and use learned information to create new ideas in that
global community.
16. RESOURCES
Alvin Independent Technology Plan (2011-2012)
Duncan, A. (2010). Arne Duncan talks about the 2010 national ed tech plan. Retrieved on May 10, 2011 from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0PctTd_plE
Moore, R. J., (2006, August). The five best accelerators in school. School Administrator, 63.7, p.8.
Nagel. D. (2010, November 9). National ed tech plan puts technology at the heart of education reform. Retrieved
on May 10, 2011 from http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/11/09/national-ed-tech-plan-puts-technology-at-
the-heart-of-education-reform.aspx
See, J. (1992). Developing effective technology plans. Retrieved on May 10, 2011 from
http://www.nctp.com/html/john_see.cfm
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, Transforming American Education: Learning
Powered by Technology, Washington, D.C., 2010.
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