My Action Plan

1. Name of Organization: Huntsville City Schools
  


2. Project Title: Personal Learning Networks: Harnessing the Power of Social Media and Digital Tools to Transform Educational Leadership


3. Project Location:  Academy for Science and Foreign Language (ASFL)


4. Contact Person: Dr. Tammy Summerville


5. Contact Information: Physical Address, Postal Address, Phone Number and Email Address

            3221 Mastin Lake Road

            Huntsville, Alabama 35810

            (256)428-7000

            tsummerville@asflk8.com

6. Project Timeline: August 2011 – May 2012

7. Amount Required: All resources are available at no cost to the project developer and participants.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Provide a brief overview and summary of the project. It should provide a credible statement that describes your organization and establish the significance of the project.

The Huntsville City School System is an urban school district located in the northern part of the state of Alabama. Our school system has 24 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, and 7 high schools, providing services for more than 23,000 students.

We are living in times where technology tools that we are afforded have flattened our world. Educational leaders now have a vast array of options for learning and staying connected with others. As an educational leader, I have had the awesome opportunity to reap the benefits of engaging in and developing my own personal learning network, utilizing the Web, digital tools, and social media tools.

Technology tools are now available to build and strengthen our learning communities. School leaders have the opportunity to provide teachers and students with authentic assessment relationships over the web that can help dramatically improve student motivation. This project will equip school leaders with the tools and skills they need to expand their Personal Learning Network (PLN) by taking advantage of the communication tools the Internet provides, such as Twitter, Skype, blogs, Instant Messenger, Google Apps, video conference or email. In addition, school administrators will have the opportunity to participate in a professional learning community that promotes the integration of mobile devices and digital tools to increase global communication, collaboration, and productivity.

By harnessing the power of social media and technology tools, school leaders can take advantage of improved organizational efficiency, solidify and broaden communications, serve as lead learner, and develop relationships that will ultimately build an organization’s capacity and benefit children.

Our students will be expected to enter adulthood as critical thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborative, productive team members. I believe that school leaders must model the power of digitally enhanced learning for them, for our teachers, students, and for the community.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:
State the challenges identified, the rationale/need to address these challenges and the conditions to be changed by the project.

Globally competitive students must be taught by 21^st Century educators. I believe that educational leaders must be of the highest caliber. To sustain a level of excellence, I envision technology providing a greater expansion of professional development opportunities.  With all of the emerging technology, educational leaders are able to participate in distance learning, web portals, telecommunications conferences, and use technology devices to ensure that there are lead learners. Really there’s no excuse for learning to be stifled.  All of these professional opportunities support data-driven curriculum content enhanced with technology tools to ensure the success of our students.        

Today’s learning environment is no longer limited by the boundary of the four walls in a classroom.  Using social media and digital tools to access and use information, school leaders have opportunities to expand their educational experiences to the four corners of the globe.

According to Speak Up, an online 2008 national survey, only one-third of high school students think their school is doing a good job preparing them for the 21st century workforce. The digital divide is still alive and well all across the nation. Students regularly use these tools in their lives to organize and create, but educators still too rarely use digital tools in instructional design and day-to-day operations. To create systemic change and institutionalize current technology, decisions and visions must come from the top—our school leaders.

We live in a society where communication and collaboration takes place with abundance and ease, provided by tools such as digital devices, video conferencing, and Web 2.0 collaboration tools.  This ease of information access requires educational leaders to embrace the limitless possibilities that technology offers resulting in the connection to globally, like-minded individuals. Our students are rapidly joining the globally connected communities of the world, and our educational leaders must be ready!

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
The objectives should describe the intended outcome of the project and should be SMART (Simple, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic and Time Bound). Indicate how the objectives will contribute to the achievement of the project, what difference the project will make and the time frame during which this will happen.


This project will allow educational leaders to explore new trends related to both emerging technologies and 21st century skills as they relate to teaching, learning, and effective leadership. Upon the completion of this project, Huntsville City Schools' educational leaders who choose to participate will be able to:

ü  Identify 21st Century Skills, web 2.0 literacy tools, and discuss their possible application and educational benefits in the classroom;

ü  Understand that the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A) enable us to define what administrators need to know and be able to do in order to discharge their responsibility as leaders in the effective use of technology in our schools;

ü  Explore popular tools used to build a personal learning network: Face-to-Face, Learning Networks, Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. The leaders will investigate one or two tools that interest them most and then reflect and share what they discovered with the group;

ü  Demonstrate the ability to integrate mobile technology into their practice in order to become a more efficient school leader;

ü  Utilize their mobile device to collect data during walk-throughs;

ü  Effectively use their device as an organizational, productivity and communication tool during their day to day activities;  

ü  Have an arsenal of tools and ideas to become the leaders in their schools to ultimately build capacity and sustain a 21st century education for all;

ü  Understand the importance and benefits of building a PLN in educational leadership and how networking with other educational professionals can provide expertise, ideas, resources, and collaboration;

ü  Understand and model technology literacy and fluency;

ü  Integrate iPad technology into their practice in order to become a more efficient school leader; and

ü  Discover what educational apps are available and how they can be used in classroom instruction as well as apps that can be used for increased productivity.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN:
Describe the project activities indicating how the objectives will be accomplished, what will be done, who will do it, who are the implementers, partners and beneficiaries and when it will be done. Describe how the project will be sustainable after the funding period.

Activity	Timeline	Who’s Responsible	Resources Needed
Prepare materials and agenda for PLN/iPad professional development session	August 2011- September, 2011	Tammy Summerville	iPad, Wiki
Send an invitation via e-mail to educational leaders to attend PD session	September, 2011	Tammy Summerville	Google Document; Google Calendar
Conduct professional development session with educational leaders	October 2011 -  November, 2011	Tammy Summerville; Educational Leaders	Computer lab, BYOD (educational leaders will provide own device)
Create new posts in The Connected Leader blog with Web 2.0/PLN resources	August, 2011 – May 2012	Tammy Summerville	Access to computer
Pre-and post survey	October, 2011	Educational Leaders	Google Survey
Conduct follow-up professional development, if needed	December, 2011	Tammy Summerville	iPad, access to Internet

PROJECT MONITORING AND EVALUATION:
Describe how you are going to monitor and evaluate the project so as to assess progress during implementation and improve the project efficiency as the project moves along.


The project evaluation will be conducted via a Google survey and conversations with participants. The project developer will communicate with the participants at least once a month to determine the effectiveness of the professional development. Based on the results of the project

DOCUMENTATION AND SHARING RESULTS:
Describe how you are going to document the progress of your project during and after implementation. State how you will document and share your results and let others know of your purpose, methods and achievements.


Materials that are prepared and utilized with educational leaders will be made available via Wiki site. Digital images from professional development sessions will be uploaded to The Connected Leader blog. Participants will be asked to share their experience with the project with other educational leaders during the monthly Principals’ Meetings.


PROJECT BUDGET:
Indicate the total cost of the project and also provide a detailed budget for these costs.


Each participant will be responsible for providing own mobile device. Most of the resources are web-based; therefore, no extra expenses are incurred. However, if the participant chooses to download some selected applications that are shared during the PD session; he/she will incur those expenses.


ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Provide any additional information in support of this proposal application.

No additional information is needed to support this proposal.