Implementation Guidelines

Table of Contents

Implementation is an essential piece of the puzzle for engaging learning experiences. Check out these guidelines.

Buy-In

Ensure all stakeholder groups are present within discussions of adoption, implementation, and roll-out. Consider inviting representatives from your Information Technology team, upper leadership such as subject matter experts or chairs, interested faculty members, students interested in pursuing education, eLearning, disability services, and others. These stakeholders will review the technology for integration feasibility, if a technology is already present and in use, accessibility of the technology, data privacy and security, support from administration, creating a roll-out plan, and pedagogical benefits.

Roll-Out Plan

After deciding the tool does not duplicate existing functionality, is accessible for all users, meets security and data policies, engages learners, integrates with learning technologies and student information systems, and has financial support for long-term use. Then it is essential to create a plan to adopt the product, provide training to both faculty and students, and have available resources to provide support. Faculty and student training are vital for the continued proper and future use of technology. It is also essential to determine how long this tool will have a useful life and at what interval to review the product against newer alternatives.

Allow Innovation

During the professional development for faculty and staff, allow them to play directly within the tool in a sandbox environment. Demonstrate how to accomplish everyday tasks and what the technology offers to expand engagement and functionality within the classroom. Allow a time to have faculty and staff explore and reflect on how they can use the technology and share with the group how they can envision using this new tool. Be sure to document the potential use cases from the sessions to develop an online training resource or toolkit for faculty and staff to access sample modules and units utilizing the tool.

Continued Professional Development

All new faculty and staff need to be made aware of the technology, have on-demand, and facilitate training sessions to reach new potential users. These training options provide continued adoption and use of the technology and allow for further creativity, and enables users to become the best that they can be through consultation, collaboration, communication, support, respect, and encouragement.

References

Poole, B. (2011, November 14). Ten pillars of successful technology implementation. Education World.

Wong, W. (2011, November 1). Five best practices for classroom technology implementation. EdTech Magazine.