1. INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF
STUTTGART STRATEGIC PLAN FOR ICT
Planning and use of information and instructional technology (ICT) is
fundamental to quality teaching and learning and should be an integral
component of planning at the school and system level.
This planning guide is a resource for the leadership team and
other key school personnel, who are:
Expanding the use of ICT within our school
Consolidating the next phase of ICT within our school or
Utilizing ICT to drive school transformation.
2. Leadership
ICT Director, ICT Coordinators, System
Administrator/Support.
It is of great importance to clearly state who does
what, when, and where to ensure equally distributed
responsibilities within the team and the school at
large.
3. Teams
ICT Committee, Project Management team
It is important to involve the community in this
process of defining and setting of goals in-order
to fulfill the vision and the mission of the school
4. School Strategic Planning
Develop outcomes, strategies, etc, for the focus of Student
Education, Administration, Community and ICT.
ICT can involve extensive cost, therefore it is necessary to
plan development in a year cycle.
The initial task is to identify the current situation(Where we
are) in our school and develop the focus priorities( Where we
would like to be in the future), then
Add detail about outcomes, strategies, timeframe,
responsibilities, budget and evaluation for each focus priority.
5. Before you plan, you need to vision:
What type of learning environment would you see?
How will pedagogy have changed and how will ICT support this change?
How would learning take place?
What role will students play in the design of the learning environment and
processes?
What will each student know, value and be able to do when they leave ISS?
6. ICT Planning Principles
Planning in IT should:
Reflect the School Vision and Mission and
be explicitly linked to other areas of school
and system planning and development
Involve a range of stakeholders and
expertise, including school executive and
staff, students and parents, the School
Board and the PTA etc.
Be informed by educational and technical
expertise
Identify focus priorities and desired
outcomes
Be directed towards improving teaching,
learning, communication and
administration, rather than be driven by
technological developments
Incorporate professional development
plans for all staff
Include design and refurbishment of
learning spaces, including school libraries/
media centers
Assist decision making in relation to the
purchase, use, evaluation and upgrading of
hardware, software and associated
networking infrastructure
Nominate person(s) responsible for
development, implementation, monitoring
and evaluation of IT Strategic,
Management and Project plan(s)
Make provision for regular monitoring and
evaluation
7. Integration of Technology into the
Curriculum
To achieve your desired
outcomes for your strategic
plan you will need to consider:
How will the use of ICT,
pedagogy and curriculum
integration assist the school to
realize the teaching and
learning goals?
How might teaching practices
need to change in order to
embrace the Twenty-First
Century?
Does the current school
timetable support the
integration of ICT into all
classrooms
Are current learning space
layouts appropriate? If not,
how do these need to change?
What furniture changes are
needed for implementation?
Where does skill-building fit in
the ISS curriculum?
8. Professional learning
To achieve your desired outcomes for your strategic plan you will need to consider:
What professional learning do the teachers need to access to enhance their pedagogical
practices, curriculum understandings and ICT skills? (ref: TSAT-Teacher Self Assessment
Tool)
What aspects of professional learning does the school need to provide?
Should teachers be expected to access professional learning in addition to that provided by the
school or system?
What is the potential for accessing flexible learning opportunities?
How is the school going to ensure a variety of learning experiences are accessed by teachers
i.e. a teacher develops a variety of skills not just competency in one aspect of ICT?
How are teachers to record the success of their professional learning i.e. development of units
of work, teacher digital portfolios and or action research?
What is the scope for developing project based learning where students and teachers can be
partners in learning?
9. Financial Planning
Knowing what kind of ICT facility will be in place in five years
is unlikely. A realistic plan for two or three years is reasonable.
Nevertheless, financing the purchase of a significant number
of IT resources is generally going to involve a lease agreement
covering three or four years. A financial plan covering this
period and the movement into the next period needs to be
carefully considered by the school board. A further likelihood is
that there will be an increased demand on the ICT
infrastructure after two years. This is generally likely to prompt
a re-evaluation of the plan with a subsequent impact on
resourcing.
10. ICT Management
An ICT management plan identifies the outcomes, strategies, timeframe, responsibilities budget and
evaluation for each priority area in the Strategic Plan for the next year.
This then is translated into a Project Plan for each priority.
A school Project Plan focuses on a specific project or program that has been identified in the
Management Plan.
The plan:
Identifies in detail the outcomes, personnel, timing, budget, resources and evaluation for a specific
project e.g IT infrastructure (09-10) Professional & Student Learning(10-11)
Reporting Tools.
May be overseen by a team e.g IT Committee, IT Coordinators, IT Director, IT Systems Manager. etc
To assist with financial planning the committee should:
Complete an Equipment Audit
To assist with determining what new assets are required it is important to complete an equipment audit
of hardware, software, and peripheral
11. Determine the technical solution
This area should begin, develop and end with a teaching and learning
focus. Schools often make the decision of what to buy based on the best
computer specifications possible for their euros.
Do the current hardware, software, peripherals and infrastructure meet
our needs?
How is the school going to provide the required technical support –
maintenance, troubleshooting and security strategies?
What is the minimum specification for network and equipment?
Is wireless a possibility?
What are the minimum software specifications e.g. Office 2003, etc?
Where does technology support our curriculum? “Best tool for the job”
12. Identify the required resources
Carry out the following tasks:
Identify the classroom scenario (infrastructure, equipment availability,
resources, furniture) that are appropriate for your school.e.g. smartboards for
the Math Dept.
Estimate the number of each different classroom scenario required.
Refine the details for each classroom scenario, to better meet departmental
needs.
Determine the need for staff/student access outside the classroom (e.g. home
use).
Devise a staff work-room network scenario.
Determine the network details appropriate for staff/student needs.
13. Purchase Planning
To achieve your desired outcomes
for your strategic plan you will need
to consider:
What are the short-term and long-
term funding strategies to achieve
the goals set forth in this plan?
Do you purchase or lease?
Have all IT items proposed in the
plan been costed?
Have you allocated sufficient funds
for Professional learning?
How will you provide network
operations, technical support, and
repair & maintenance services?
The average life span of a desktop
machine is 3 years however 90% of
machines will be viable in the 4th
year and 80% are still viable in
their fifth year.
Laptops also have an average life
span of 3 years after which time the
screen on the majority of machines
needs to be replaced and therefore
it is not worth considering these
machines as viable after three years.
14. Prepare a budget
The IT Strategic Plan Budget should cover all the expenditure that is
anticipated to implement the total plan. Your figures may need to be
revised when approved funding allocations are known.
You may find it helpful to:
Allocate funds to cover categories of purchases (e.g. P.D. computers,
servers, furniture, data use).
Determine priorities and allocate funding according to these.
Divide the budget into two sections: New Purchases and Operating
Costs
Estimate what components of the total budget are needed to cover
individual implementation projects or stages.
15. Preparing a new Purchasing budget
This is the capital component of the total budget, covering all new
purchases that you anticipate will be needed. This includes the
one-time cost of buying equipment and software and upgrading
existing equipment.
16. Preparing an operating Budget
The operating budget
includes all costs that are
considered ongoing (rather
than one-time) costs.
These include:
Equipment operating leases
Software upgrades
Additional software licenses
Professional development
programs and activities
Technical support
Ongoing security costs.
Typically, costs are figured
either on an:
Annual basis – Leases, Loan
repayments, maintenance
contracts, software licensing
etc., or
Event basis - software
upgrades needed for each
new version