Educational Transformation: A Guide to Vision and Planning

Perhaps you need to develop a consistent understanding amongst staff and leadership of the value of technology in education. Perhaps you need a clear picture of the benefits of technology in schools, to build support in the community, among citizens, taxpayers, parents, and policy-makers. Perhaps you need to generate enthusiasm and buy-in for your technology efforts.

The visioning process can help move forward on all of these fronts.

As your school district is working to digitize and transform the way technology is being used by your students and teachers, it’s vital to get support from stakeholders, and help positively inform the change management that is to take place in your district. Through the visioning process, you can work alongside educators, administration and students to pave the way for your district’s technology vision to become a reality.

While we can expect each city’s vision to be different, there is a proven multi-phase process that will help develop a clear vision of the future of a school, and the top-level plan to get there.

Working as a team in the visioning process, representatives of the community examine the changing world around them, consider the energy and industry of their students, and paint a picture of the school that serves that world and those students.

The vision and plan involves five phases, preparing for and following up on a day-long face-to-face workshop. The phases are:

The visioning process starts with a preparatory discussion between the CIO and a key instructional leader, to explain the purpose and outcomes of the process. Next comes a meeting with a core planning group: the CIO, the instructional leader, a principal, a teacher, and a student. Here you plan the details of the face-to-face workshop day. The vision workshop day consumes six hours with everyone in the same room, where they sketch a vision of a Day in the Life of a Student in their transformed city.

After the workshop day, the CIO or a designee develops these sketches into a presentation for circulation among key constituents, and that presentation is then used to develop a plan of what exactly needs to be done to move the school toward making its vision a reality.

Once the vision and plan are in place, your district will be ready to partner alongside technology providers to transform the student experience, and with much of the foundation already laid through vision planning, your school will be well positioned to effectively manage change and increase adoption amongst educators.

To learn more about this proven, phased approach to vision management, read the full report here.