"The best way to predict the future is to create it" says Alan Kay, Apple Computer fellow.
While creating the future in education is not an easy task, it is possible on a school-by-school
basis. Technology coordinators realize that the future in schools is not the work of a single
individual but rather the product of all the stakeholders including teachers, administrators,
students, parents, and community members. It involves visioning, planning, and, most
importantly, educating these stakeholders in the possibilities afforded education through the
technology.

This is the beginning of a 4-part series on providing a successful technology staff development
program for your faculty, staff and students. This series will include 1) Planning a Technology
Staff Development Program, 2) Building a Technology Staff Development Program, 3)
Presenting an Effective Technology Staff Development Program, and 4) Evaluating Your
Technology Staff Development Program and Planning for the Future. While this series is
meant to provide guidance, it will be successful only if it prompts discussion between faculty,
administrators, parents, and students. Use these ideas as a framework and build a program
that fits your school's unique situation. Most importantly, send your comments, reactions and
information about your school's technology program to me so we can share with the other 30,000
readers of this publication.

What is a Technology Staff Development Plan?
Beyond teaching teachers about computers after school, an effective technology staff
development program is part of a long-ranged plan for integrating technology into curriculum.
Bailey and Lumley provide a definition for technology staff development which includes
these important elements:

integration of the emerging technologies - emerging technologies goes beyond computing to
encompass the full spectrum of technology that can enhance the learning environment. This
emphasizes that these technologies are more than add-ons to the existing curriculum, they
are the foundation for a new paradigm of education.
planned, ongoing, and comprehensive approach - single, one-shot workshops will not be
sufficient to bring change within the learning environment. New ideas need to be
introduced once and then followed up with subsequent workshops and individual
consultation.
involving leaders who facilitate other stakeholders - change in education will fail without
the support of instructional and administrative leaders who involve the whole community
of stakeholders in education including teachers, students, parents, staff, and community
members.
actively engaged in acquiring, upgrading, or abandoning knowledge, attitudes, and skills -
the learning process must be an active if it is effect changes in behavior. The most potent
part about this phrase is that knowledge is considered selective rather than additive.
Some past knowledge, attitudes, and skills will have to be abandoned to allow progressive
change in learning environments.
technology-based learning environments - the integration of technology can redefine
learning environments. The concept of learning can be extended through distance, time and
medium.

It is part of the plan
A technology staff development program needs to be part of an overall technology plan.
Most schools and school districts have a technology plan (somewhere in an administrator's
office on the shelf in a blue notebook). In some cases, these plans were created because most
funding agencies demand to see a technology plan before they will provide any funding for