Perspectives on Planning

The potential for dysfunction within the teams charged with technology planning is great, however. Educators and technologists participate in planning and decision-making processes within their specific domains, but those activities are very different within each group. Technologists have recognized and commonly understood guidelines and standards within which they work and design, and most problems can be solved by reference to these. Also, the success of technologists’ efforts can be easily determined by objective measures. Further, the development of technology systems proceeds from proof of concept through testing and then to deployment. Educators, on the other hand, can rely on far less reliable models of action and measures of success; further, they only understand their methods once they are implemented with students, and the success or failure can have permanent influences of the students.