Technology Planning With Purpose

When Dallas ISD (DISD) needed a master plan for facilities and a plan to spend 100 million dollars of technology bond money, Dr. Michael Hinojosa went back to a phrase coined by one of his Trustees in a former district, “Let’s make sure that instruction drives construction.” Dr. Hinojosa and his team hired PBK architects who partnered with engage2learn to use a three-step process:

• Engage the community
  
• Design a vision for learning
  
• Create a technology and facilities plan aligned to the vision for learning.

e2L met with multiple stakeholder groups in summits, focus groups, and district committees to gather input from teachers, families, leaders, community members, and students including several student panels. Then, a design team of these stakeholders met over several months facilitated by e2L to design the DISD Learning by Design Framework and subsequent Design Principles to inform to the learning environment and technology decisions. The team also designed a comprehensive technology plan centered around supporting the implementation of how stakeholders had envisioned the modernized learning experience in DISD Learning by Design.

Finally, the design team created a three-year responsible rollout based on the technology profiles and then the future state was complete. Once the strategy was in place, e2L facilitated the Learning Environment Assessment of Readiness and Skills assessment of current state in relation to the ideal as defined in the rubric. Each campus now has a personalized facility and technology plan so they can achieve an equitable learning experience in every learning space.

As a first step, Dallas ISD is partnering with e2L to modernize their library program and build capacity among library/media specialists in supporting the learner experience through Game Changers Coaches Academy (GCCA). In subsequent years, additional cohorts of librarians will participate in GCCA until the entire Dallas ISD librarian team is ready to sustain the culture and serve as leaders in best practices for a learner-centered experience.

Dallas ISD now has a solid plan for facilitating a strategic technology rollout and facilities modernization program that has the potential to truly impact every learner and create equity of the learning experience across the district. That is reimagining education from a systems perspective!