Automated Technology Planning Tool Soon To Be Released
Message Posted March 20, 2000
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As you know, E-rate applicants are required to have an approved technology
plan as a requirement of the discount program. When the E-rate first began
more than 2 years ago, most schools had recently had technology plans
approved for the TLCF (Technology Literacy Challenge Fund) program, and
therefore did not need to resubmit a new plan for approval.
Many of these plans are now coming due, which is one major reason that the eTechPlanner
was created. The general announcement about the technology planning tool
was just released by our office and is below. Although a preview site is
online, the actual tool will be released over the next two months, and
regional workshops are being scheduled for training. We hope you find it
helpful in your technology planning efforts.
-- Julie
The Pennsylvania Office of Educational Technology is pleased to present our
newest, exciting initiative called the eTechPlanner, an online technology
planning tutorial and submission process. The preview site is available at
http://www.etechplanner.org
Background
The eTechPlanner was created to assist school districts with developing
technology plans. As you know, the federal Title III (Technology Literacy
Challenge Fund program - http://www.l2l.org/tlcf), as well as the E-Rate
program (http://www.pde.psu.edu/usf/index.html), require the Department of
Education to approve technology plans before local education agencies
(school districts, charter schools, area vocational technical schools, and
intermediate units) can be eligible for monies under those programs. The
Department also is required to provide assistance to these entities in
technology planning and implementation.
In previous years, the Department released a template of required technology
plan criteria that schools were required to use. Although the list of
criteria was a good first step for schools in trying to decide what to and
what not to include in their plans, it certainly provided no real assistance
to schools in their planning efforts. This led to the creation of the
eTechPlanner which provides not only the planning requirements but also
templates and tools to assist you with completing the plan.
Purpose
The eTechPlanner was designed to be a tool that would not only provide good
planning resources schools and libraries need, but a tool that would
automate certain aspects of the planning process as well. We wanted to
provide a tool that would not just be another form to complete but a tool
that empowers local decision makers. Through this effort, schools not only
will be eligible for these federal funds under several programs, but also
will be better positioned to leverage their own local investments in
technology.
Process
Technology plans developed with the eTechPlanner will allow you to complete
your technology plan on-line. Each section will have guides, resources,
tools, and templates to assist you with completing the questions. After
completing your technology plan, an ePeer Review process will review your
plan and provide approval recommendations to the Office of Educational
Technology, the office that will grant final approval for your technology
plan. District technology plans will be phased in based upon the expiration
date of their current plans filed with the Department.
Timeline
The eTechPlanner will be released in several stages. The site currently has
some documents which will help you learn more about the eTechPlanner, what
the phases of the planning tool will require, and an idea of the information
you'll need to collect. We have also included a list of what plans the
Department has approved and when they expire. In this way, we will be able
to phase in those that need to submit revised technology plans.
The next stage to be launched at the end of the month will be a revised
Technology Assessment that previously was administered by the University of
Pittsburgh. We have revised the survey to make it slightly easier and a
little more condensed. We have moved it to the eTechPlanner so that the
information you enter through the survey will automatically complete
sections of the Technology Plan. In order to give you a head start on the
data we will be asking, Adobe Acrobat documents of the survey are currently
available on the eTechPlanner site.
Toward the end of April, we will be releasing the next stage which will be
the eTechPlanner itself. To help you prepare for this phase, we have
provided you with several guides that outline each of the sections.
Finally, the Department will be scheduling several regional workshops during
the first two weeks of May. The eTechPlanner will be covered in detail
during these workshops along with several other new technology initiatives.
Watch the Link-to-Learn and eTechPlanner websites for more details.
We are excited about this project and hope you will find it useful in
planning for the successful use of technology to enhance student learning
and achievement, realize efficiencies in administration and management, and
to increase communications and access to information in our schools and
communities.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
John Bailey
Director of Educational Technology
jbailey@etechplanner.org
Charlene Brennan
Director of Curriculum & Technology Services
Colonial Intermediate Unit 20
cbrennan@etechplanner.org
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