Cindy Patterson, CETPA CTO Mentor Candidate

 

Outcome

 

TPS-11. Demonstrate the ability to apply what was learned about technology plan requirements to evaluate an existing plan and to create a new one.

 

Context

 

My current role is Manager of Application Support at Santa Clara County Office of Education.  I manage a team of 8 Application System Analysts who support the County Office of Education and districts in Santa Clara and San Benito counties.  In the past I have been an operations manager and supervised desktop, server, and network support.

 

Artifact

 

My artifact is a review of a Technology Plan done as a group with 4 other CTO Mentor Candidates.

 

Reflection

 

CTO in California must be prepared to create a Technology Plan for their district.  Through this exercise I became familiar with the requirements of a Technology Plan and some resources available such as the Technology Plan Builder created by Los Angeles County Office of Education.  Although Technology Plans are no longer directly required for E-Rate it is still required for some types of grants and helps create a roadmap for technology in schools assuring that all components are addressed.  The Five components of a technology plan are: background, curriculum, professional development, infrastructure, monitoring and evaluation.  This needs to be followed by a financial analysis of how these components will be funded. 

 

This was a very useful exercise because Dan Wexler provided a Tech Plan from Golden Valley Unified which aligned was very good and demonstrated how to align with the 5 components.  I think some of think people may see this as administrative paperwork but it is also the easiest way to document and demonstrate budgetary needs for technology – without being the bad guy.  Rather than asking for budget to buy servers you are letting them know how much you will need to buy the servers they need to achieve their goals.

 

Through this artifact I believe I have demonstrated the ability to create a technology plan or review an existing one for plan requirements.