Collaborative decision making for digital technology initiatives
It goes without saying that technology is one of the most critical investments a school district can make. There are multiple factors to consider and many stakeholders with specific needs and concerns.
The image below shows a selection of broad themes that are relevant regardless of a school’s location, budget, student population, or internet access.
School leaders must involve multiple stakeholders to select the technology options that best meet everyone’s needs and increase learning outcomes, even when they may conflict.
If meetings need to be held remotely, use Microsoft Teams to communicate, conduct meetings, and track ideas and follow-up tasks.
Use these tactics to plan collaboratively and set goals:
- Identify and include key stakeholders in the decision-making process, as well as in set-up and deployment, for optimal buy-in.
- Be sure to include administrators and IT staff members from the beginning, so both groups’ needs and priorities are part of the decision-making process. One of the major pitfalls for schools in making tech decisions has been failing to take the needs of all stakeholder groups into consideration.
- Clearly articulate the “why” of your recommendations and be specific in describing how your technology choices benefit students, teachers, IT administrators, and the school system (and community), as a whole.