Plan+Formation

Strategic Plan Formation: Analysis of the Situation
The strategic plan to renovate the current IMC library into a 21st century media center is the result of an involved decision-making process. The implementation of this plan will have an affect on many aspects of our school community. These affects on factors such as student learning, staffing, teacher professional development, and building maintenance are just a few of the elements that impacted the development and formation of the overall plan. These affects on various key consideration factors are explained below.

**School Characteristics Impacting the Plan:**
The fact that the high school building has a total of three libraries has allowed this plan to take shape. If the IMC was the only library, it would be much more difficult if not impossible to generate support for such a renovation because of a complete loss of traditional library space and print material. However, the other two libraries can fulfill the more traditional library role and absorb some of the displaced materials from the IMC. By running in parallel, these different approaches to school library/media materials, all facets of student and staff research and information gathering can be accommodated.

**Considerations:**
While developing this plan, there are obvious considerations to be made with regard to staff and students. However, in addition to these internal considerations, there is also an external consideration of public opinion. Parents and community members who, through their property taxes, provide operational funding for the district correctly demand that their money is spent responsibly. This public demand must be considered and justification for this expenditure must be communicated to the local community.

Directly related to the consideration of public opinion, there is a necessary financial consideration. A renovation of this size and detail will require a substantial financial commitment on the part of the district. As a result, during the budgeting and quoting/procurement phases, price should be analyzed by comparison bidding and purchasing. Several vendors will submit prices to ensure the lowest price is paid for all equipment and services.

** Factors Necessary for Success: **
Several factors play a role in determining the success of this plan. First and foremost, the planning stage must not be rushed and input must be provided by all impacted groups. The planning stage will span multiple months and represent a large percentage of total project time. The 21st century media center must be done correctly the first time, and through proper planning this can be achieved.

Second there must be "buy in" by top level district administration, the superintendent, and the board of education. This renovation is a large change to a very traditional way of conducting learning at the high school. Without support from the top, successful adoption by the staff and students would be difficult. As Zaltman and Duncan note in their book //Strategies for Planned Change//, one way to combat resistance to a large change is to have top level administration support the change and utilize the innovation themselves.

The use of the innovation, in this case the 21st century media center, leads to a final factor necessary for success. It is imperative that all staff are properly trained to use the equipment in the media center. This will require staff development opportunities that will allow teachers hands-on experience with the equipment and time to develop lessons that capitalize on the newly available technology. A plan absent of this development would lead to underutilized equipment and little to no improvement in the current library configuration.

** The Affect on Students :**
Today's 21st century learner must be prepared for the demands of the 21st century world. To become effective and successful in a global economy, students may no longer be passive recipients of knowledge. Instead, today's learners must be actively engaged in learning and not only receive knowledge but develop their own products in an effort to share knowledge. At the core of this mission in any district should be the library/media center. Currently our library does not provide the ubiquitous access to technology for students and staff that is necessary to foster 21st century learning. The renovation of the IMC library will address this need.

However compelling the aforementioned arguments may be they are, admittedly, rooted more in opinion than fact. We, as a school district, should not base curricular or any decisions simply based on rhetoric. As a result, the development of this plan was guided by state and federal education standards and guidelines. These standards and guidelines for both technology and library/media provide a solid basis for the development of a 21st century media center in our school. These standards, described below, when used as aid in the decision-making process help ensure a positive affect on student learning.


 * **State of Ohio Library Guidelines:** The Ohio Department of Education's Office of Curriculum and Instruction has established guidelines for effective school library media programs. Specifically, the plan to create a 21st century media center meets the benchmarks and indicators for the following guidelines.
 * **Guideline: Library-based Technology** - Effective school library media programs provide, integrate and utilize a technology rich environment to support teaching and learning.
 * **Benchmark B:** Provide networked computers for staff and student use.
 * **Indicator 1:** Provide computer networks which enable the acquisition and transfer of information.
 * **Indicator 2:** Provide internet accessibility
 * **Indicator 3:** Provide e-mail accessibility
 * **Benchmark C:** Demonstrate effective usage of library-based technologies, including the Internet and other electronic resources for teaching and learning.
 * **Indicator 3:** Lead the integration of library-based technologies into the curriculum
 * **Indicator 4:** Demonstrate technology projects that utilize active learning.
 * **Indicator 5:** Provide access to multimedia equipment (e.g., computers, cameras, sound devices, projectors, portable devices).
 * **International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards (NETS):**
 * **Creativity and Innovation:** Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
 * Create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
 * **Communication and Collaboration:** Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
 * interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
 * communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
 * contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

**Problems and Opportunities:**
Two problems within the district are addressed by this plan and lead to new learning opportunities for staff and students.
 * 1) **Lack of Centralized Technology:** The current school libraries lack ubiquitous access for students and staff to various forms of modern technology. Students, with the creation of the new media center, will be able to utilize technology as a tool to create their own unique works while improving their collaboration and creative thinking skills. Students will now have the opportunity to record interviews, perform research, and give presentations without concern about whether or not their teacher's classroom has the necessary technology available.
 * 2) **Middle School and High School Inequality:** The district's middle school building does provide many of the technological and media tools that are being planned for the IMC library renovation. Currently middle school students are creating collaborative works using digital video, audio and web 2.0 technologies. As students advance through middle school and into the high school, there is a drop off in their ability to continue creating similar technology-based products. In order to provide students with the opportunity for continued technological growth as the progress through the district the creation of a high school 21st century media center is necessary.

**Who is Involved?**
Successful completion of this project will required the input and expertise of various district personnel. The department and title of the individuals along with their roles and responsibilities are summarized below.
 * **Department or Committee - Title** || **Role(s)** || **Responsibilities** ||
 * Library/Media Services - Director || Advisory / Planning / Procurement || * As a certified library media director this individual will be responsible for providing advice and planning decisions that ensure alignment to the aforementioned state and national technology / library media standards.
 * The procurement of media such as subscriptions to online research databases (i.e. Infohio).
 * The materials located in the current IMC library will be displaced upon implementation of the plan. This individual will plan for the removal of outdated materials from circulation and the reorganization of the two other libraries to accept the materials that are retained. ||
 * Technology - Director || Advisory / Planning / Procurement || * Advisory responsibilities to ensure all network cabling, phone cabling, and power needs are correctly installed and tied into the current building network infrastructure.
 * Quoting and purchasing of all new technical equipment including laptops, laptop carts, wireless access points, SmartBoard, ceiling mounted projector, workstations, printers, scanners, digital cameras, video cameras, microphones and headsets.
 * Scheduling of vendors and contractors for installation of all cabling and purchase, delivery, and installation of all new computers and peripherals. ||
 * Business Services - Director || Advisory / Planning / Procurement || * Hiring of architectural contractor for the development of floor plans and design considerations including desks, carpeting, lighting, window treatments and ADA accessibly and the eventual quoting and purchasing of these items.
 * Ensuring all plans and installed equipment and wiring meet all building codes and schedule necessary inspections by local fire marshal and building inspector ||
 * Curriculum and Instruction - Director || Advisory / Planning || * Work in conjunction with the Library/Media Services director to align the goals and implementation of the new media center with the district curriculum standards and objectives.
 * Arrange with the district technology specialist to provide staff development on all aspects of the media center ||
 * Technology Committee - Teacher Representative || Advisory / Planning || * Represent building staff to ensure the needs of teachers and students are met by the design of the media center.
 * Act as a liaison between the teaching staff and district administration to ensure the media center is conducive to group learning as determined by building teachers. ||
 * Superintendent of Schools || Approval || * Approve all design plans at all major project milestones ||
 * Building Principal || Advisory / Planning / Approval || * Advise on the layout and design of the media center
 * Approve all layout and design plans ||
 * Public Relations - Director || Informational || * Communicate the planning and progress of all phases of construction and implementation to the community via newsletters and television broadcasts on the district's educational cable channel ||