In order for technology plans to be effective there are many items that must be considered. Effective technology plans should focus on educational goals, including the steps required to create a community which can shift the culture of the schools over a five year period to support effective technology applications. Effective technology plans should also identify the key characteristics of the information and technology systems most likely to deliver the school districts' technology goals.

1. Clarify Education Goals.

Poor technology plans tend to be like shopping lists. They tend to contain every piece of equipment that the school will ever need over the next five years. This should be avoided. It is imperative to have a technology plan that includes the school's educational goals.

The first element to developing an effective technology plan is to develop a mission statement that will focus on a few key goals of the school district. A separate group of individuals should be formed to perform the technology planning. This separate group of individuals should include a good cross-section of people, including the key stakeholders. This will help to ensure that the educational goals are being met. Additionally, effective plans should include the use of technology that is driven by management efficiency. An effective plan needs to include the goals and strategies of the different departments, school boards, teachers, and most of all the students.

2. Staff Development

This section is addressed in another section of the website. This section will only be mentioned briefly. The staff development section of any technology plan should pay particular attention to:

1. Offer Different Options - Cannot just be a training session, the classroom must invoke technology so that different learning styles (both individual and collaborative) and different levels of development are met.
2. Adequate Funding - Cannot just spend money on hardware, need to set aside funds for staff development and maintenance as well.
3. Implementation - Need benchmarks for staff development, software use, technology curriculum, student and teacher competencies, and support roles

   Infrastructure

1. Connectivity - Need to be able to access information on a 'real time' basis. Additionally, learning needs to be possible regardless of location. Technology plans need to make available the vast resource of information.
2. Community - Effective technology plans need to include both the individual and the community. Effective plans cannot focus only on the individual, but must develop a collaborative effort in order to be successful. The real world values team players. Technologically advanced classrooms need to take this into account.
3. Access - School districts have many different levels within the community. Effective technology plans have to be able to reach all students equitably regardless of income. This is a large social issue. This is one of the harder barriers to overcome. However, if it is recognized by the cross-team of people, solutions can be found.
4. Flexibility - Technology is changing at a rapid pace. Schools tend to behind the times because of basic finances. The technologies that are put in place today must not limit the school in the future. Schools must avoid spending large amounts of capital on technologies that cannot be built upon with newer technology. The more you cement your foundation today, the more costly to change in the future.
5. Ongoing maintenance - Effective plans need to include the regular upgrading of workstations, networks, server and management software.

1. Funding - This is another section of any effective technology plan. It is dealt with in another section of the website. Most technology plans, especially shopping lists, overspend on hardware and leave too little for staff development, instructional materials and technology support. One rule of thumb for funding technology is 50% for hardware, 20% for instructional software and media, 30% for training and teacher support. Also, any effective plan will include the allocation of finances over a multiple year period.