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Technology

FIve-Year Technology Plan

5 Year Technology Plan Graph
 
Please click on each section below for detail on each of our District Technology goals. Click here for the complete copy of our Technology Plan.

Infrastructure Wave

Commitment: Develop and maintain a responsible network infrastructure that supports operations and communications.


No organization can function without an appropriate infrastructure. It is not why we come to work, but without it, we cannot function when we arrive. Our infrastructure includes the tools necessary to keep students safe and their identity and data secured and private. It is also the backbone of our communication and day to day operations.


As we embrace new initiatives, we must keep in mind the impact it has on the technology infrastructure. These are constant and iterative enhancements we must make to keep up with the demands of personal technology.


Year 1 Action

Results

Create action steps and replacement cycle to address top issues in the infrastructure audit

Updated all immediate actions from the Infrastructure audit. Began firewall replacement steps to be completed in 2021.

Begin Request For Qualifications (RFQ) process for a phone system replacement project

Phone System replacement de-prioritized based upon needs during Spring 2020 distance learning and COVID-19.

Improve wiring documentation and replace wiring

Began upgrading wireless access points, utilizing only our newest wiring available.

Year 2 Action

Results

Complete bid for Firewall replacement and improve data backup procedures

New firewall implementation has gone live. New backup system is in place.

Reassess wiring design and replacement based upon 1:1 device needs.

Wireless/wired upgrades based on demand. Outdoor wireless upgrade completed at all three properties.

Year 3 Focus

  1. Complete server consolidation and replacement, reducing nine servers to four.

  2. Provision a new phone system for emergency/business continuity as a stepping stone to replacing the current system. Upgrade wired switching in preparation.

  3. Begin enabling advanced firewall features to increase protection against network threats.

Operations Wave

Commitment: Provide access, service, and support that creates the gateway for innovative instruction 


A K-12 technology department provides an enormous set of services to students and staff. The list is ever-growing, and without an appropriate way to manage this growth, the support suffers. Our time with students is incredibly valuable. Any effort to reduce the time required for teachers and students to prepare or support technology should be given special attention. 


Those future choices come with cost and prioritization. We are often asked to choose between resources we would describe as “essential,” “necessary,” and “important.” Throughout the next several years, we will have to prioritize and ask big questions. 


We do not want to focus on the device or “things.” What is important to us is what it unlocks and allows us to do. If we do not provide the appropriate tools, we cannot successfully support the enhancement of teaching and learning.


Year 1 Action

Results

Evaluate the appropriate grade levels to begin a 1:1 device program for students, including a multi-stage adoption plan

Bexley Board of Education approved the purchase of devices for complete 1:1 K-12 adoption. Funding provided for initial costs by the Bexley Education Foundation with a commitment for future support.

Develop a district service catalog, a database of all online services, applications, and programs along with detailed functions, uses, and costs

Completed the first edition of Service Catalog and provided access to parents.

Structure an ITSM workflow for support and help desk management

New ITSM workflow design is completed. Help Desk product to be purchased in 2020-2021 school year.

Year 2 Action

Results

Develop a “Technical View” for our Service Catalog as a management system for service and support.

Service catalog updated with technical tools and operational services.

Purchase new ITSM-Based Helpdesk software and initiate new workflow

Our new helpdesk system has been purchased and will be fully implemented this Fall.

Year 3 Focus

  1. Structure more processes to best support our 1:1 onboarding, offboarding, repairs

  2. Adopt new workflows for our helpdesk to maintain and increase customer service

  3. Increase promotion of tools and apps through professional learning and a finalized Service Catalog

Learning Experience Wave

Commitment: Lead the growth and development of technology integration that will redefine and transform our learning environments and learning experiences.


We want to teach in a space that allows for healthy and innovative uses of technology. We want that experience to be engaging and valuable to a student whose life after graduation will look much different than the world their teachers and parents were taught. Nearly all career paths include an element of using tools that today we call “innovative” that in such a short time will be merely a standard operating tool. 


We must invest in the integration of these experiences now and in perpetuity. We need to find avenues to embrace the learning of today like coding, automation, and robotics while knowing it is the foundation of tomorrow (artificial intelligence, neural networks, and quantum computing). Prioritizing innovative areas cannot take away from our standard classroom content either. The traditional power of technology integration was using the technology to help learn about core content, and in the process you gained a technical skill. Moving forward, we must enhance this beyond a skill, and let it become a craft or competency that engages students into a new understanding.


This does not come without a need for balance. We have students who need assistance with self-regulation of appropriate behavior online, and we have students who do not have internet access at all. Our most difficult work is the moderation of these two extremes while creating a healthy experience inside and outside our classroom.


Year 1 Action

Results

Find appropriate measures and create structure to address digital inclusion and “homework gap”

Successful deployment of LTE equipped devices and Cellular Hotspots provided by the Bexley Education Foundation. Reconfigured District content filter to serve students outside District network.

Increase personal and directed professional learning avenues for teachers

Provided teaching staff district laptops to replace desktop computers to allow for greater flexibility in professional learning. Increased learning opportunities to develop use of modern tools such as Google Apps for Education.

Provide a use-case for technology integration specialists, to be recommended to the Superintendent for hire

Hired Toby Fischer as our first Technology Integration Coach.

Work with area experts on student digital wellness resources to support social and emotional initiatives

Completed a comprehensive development and curation of Digital Wellness resources as part of a consortium with local Districts and WOSU. 

Year 2 Action

Results

Increase and promote additional resources to access for families who maintain difficulty securing Internet access.

Met all requests for assistance in providing Internet access. Provided outdoor wireless access at all properties.

Combine professional learning efforts with technology integration coaching cycles and grade/subject area collaboration.

Tech Integration work supported pandemic needs and focused on relationship building. Work is embedded with instructional coaches while leading individual professional learning and working along our staff in the Ohio Blended Collaborative.

Deliver Digital Wellness resources developed in February of 2020 throughout K-12 instruction.

Promoted digital wellness through counselors, librarians, and tech-assistants.

Year 3 Focus

  1. Structure K-12 Digital Wellness education opportunities and family education

  2. Begin individualized or team coaching cycles, focus on personalized learning and outcomes from investment in the Ohio Blended Collaborative

  3. Continue efforts on digital inclusion, with increase in family education opportunities

Director of Technology

Photo: Brad Pettit

Brad Pettit has been supporting technology in the classroom since 1999. He is a certified Project Management Professional, recognized by the Project Management Institute. Brad was the eighth educator in the state of Ohio to receive the Certified Education Technology Leader credential from the Consortium for School Networking. He has been working in a tech director role since 2010.

 

Technology Department Staff:

  • Reg Haymond - Desktop Service
  • Tracy Fowler - Network & Server Infrastructure
  • Pam Moenter - Student IS & State Reporting
  • Bob Keep - Technology Integration Coach