K12 Professional Development Project Management Plan

IDE 761
Spring 2019

Dr. Koszalka

Team Members: Amy Bissetta, Joseph Goldberg, David Pax Kokesha

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 Executive Summary
The client is a middle school administrator (grades 6-8) who is in charge of planning
professional development projects involving educational technology with the teachers. The
teachers have struggled to integrate available technology into their daily classroom practice,
operate new educational technology, and modify existing lessons and assessments to integrate
these technologies. A front end analysis needs assessment was conducted and the district
determined the problems are a result of a lack of technology knowledge on the teacher’s part.
The district is committed to teachers becoming more proficient with technology and has set aside
money to train teachers during the school year and summer months. The teachers are on board
with this plan.

The project management plan will use a five-phase approach. This report will include an
overview of the design, development, implementation and evaluation of professional
development instructional solutions to begin in the summer months. The content of the
professional development has been predetermined. Skilled professionals, such as graphic and
instructional designers will be hired to work on this project. The professional development will
include media rich presentations, video demonstrations, instructor and learner handbooks, online
lesson and curriculum templates, an interactive webpage, collaborative activities, and technology
use guidelines and rubrics. There will be three phases to the professional development. The first
stage of the project involves design and development. The second stage concerns
implementation of the professional development. The third stage evaluates the efficacy of the
professional development and concludes by creating a new plan for a future phase based on the
remaining needs. To ensure the scope and schedule are maintained, a Gantt chart has been
developed. The original timeline has been adjusted to meet the client’s request to reduce the
completion date. The graphic below represents the major phases and timeline of the project:

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 Table of Contents

Define…………………………………………………………………………Pages 4 and 5

Plan……………………………………………………………………………Pages 6 and 7

Organize………………………………………………………………………Pages 8 and 9

Control………………………………………………………………………..Pages 10 and 11

Close…………………………………………………………………………..Pages 12 and 13

Appendix A-References……………………………………………………...Page 14

Appendix B-Work Breakdown Structure………………………………….Pages 15 and 16

Appendix C-Gantt Chart, Dashboard, Issues Log………………………..Pages 17 and 18

Variance Report

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 Define
Problem: There is a problem in the middle school. School officials determined that teachers in
the middle school lack basic user knowledge of new technologies and this lack of knowledge is
making it difficult to integrate and operate new educational technologies. The district has made a
significant investment in new technology and wants its teachers to integrate it into their daily
instruction.

Goal: The goal of this project is to plan, design, develop, and implement five professional
development sessions. These sessions will begin during the school year. Originally, the sessions
were going to start in the summer. However, the client has requested the timeline be shortened
by 20%, which will require the professional development sessions to begin during the school
year. The project that was originally slated for 26 months will now be condensed into 21
months. Following the implementation of the professional development, a month will be
devoted to evaluating its efficacy. Based on the evaluation, modifications may be made to the
existing content and a new phase will be determined for further professional development as
needed and as new technologies are purchased.

Objectives: This project includes multiple objectives. As mentioned in the executive summary,
the content of the professional program was determined by the stakeholders. They decided that
media rich presentations along with video demonstrations will be created to transmit learning
content. Handbooks for learners and instructors will created to provide support to the videos and
media presentations. Templates will be developed for online lesson plans and curriculum. The
middle school website will be updated to include interactive learning webpages. Collaborative
activities will also be designed, and guidelines for technology usage and rubrics will be
created. Finally, each professional development session will be planned out. This project
management plan is designed for all of these objectives to be met.

Success Criteria: The success of this plan will be determined based on the creation of the items
outlined in the objective section above and meeting timeline deadlines. Media rich presentations,
video demonstrations, instructor and learner handbooks, an interactive school website, online
lesson plan and curriculum templates, collaborative activities, technology use guidelines and
rubrics as well as professional development sessions need to be planned, outlined and/or
completed by April of year one. Professional development sessions must begin in year one and
begin to take place (3 per month) between May and June of year one. During the summer months
of year two, consecutive two week PD sessions should be underway. Teachers should integrate
technology into their practice during year 2 and continue to engage in 3 professional
development sessions per month (Sept-February year two). Finally, in March of year two, the
professional development should be evaluated and the next phase of professional development
planned. Completion of the aforementioned activities on schedule will indicate success.

Assumptions and Risks: There are a number of inherent risks associated with this plan. First,
teachers are often unavailable or disinterested in school concerns during the summer months,
meaning attendance at any summer professional development might be uneven. Second, during
the school year there might be weather related issues (e.g. snow days, etc.) and/or teachers might
have scheduling conflicts (e.g. standardized testing, illness, etc.) on a scheduled professional

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development day. Internet reliability might be an issue. The internet does “go out” from time to
time and will present a problem if it happens to go out during a planned professional
development session. Additionally, the client has asked that the timeline be shortened. The
design phase timeline was modified from the initial plan draft. The design phase was originally
supposed to take place over 12 months. However, the timeline was winnowed due to the client
request. The professional development materials will now be developed in 10 months rather than
the original 12. One inherent risk with this change concerns quality. This is due to the resulting
increased pressure and complexity as well as more opportunities for errors as more people
potentially get involved or as workloads increase. After the planning began, the client also
identified a new multimedia presentation technology that needs to be created and incorporated
into the professional development. However, this request was early enough to afford minimal
impact by comfortably incorporating it into the existing plan. Finally, another risk with this
project concerns the different levels of knowledge, skill and experience among those
participating in the professional development. Some participants who have prior knowledge
might get bored quickly and feel time wasted during the professional development, while others
lack even basic knowledge which may require extended time for their adequate growth in using
growth.

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 PLAN
Executive Summary

The Work Breakdown Structure divides the major objectives of this project’s plan into three
phases, with the requisite people and skills, timeline (including start and stop dates), and the
deliverables produced for each step.

Beginning at the start of the summer of 2020, and ending 10 months later, phase one includes the
design and creation of the professional development for the teachers in the middle schools. This
encompasses the fundamental education technology instruction, video demonstrations, instructor
learner handbooks, online lesson plan and curriculum templates, the more recently added online
interactive webpage, the collaborative activities, and the technology use guidelines. These
elements of the first phase will be created by the respective technology instructional specialist,
videographer, graphic artist, program specialist, and instructional designers.

In the second phase, teachers at the middle school will put the deliverables produced in phase
one to use by operating the new technology, modifying lessons and assessments using the
educational technology, and will receive five professional development sessions throughout the
school year, as well as three professional development days per month. Teachers will report on
their progress and have the opportunity to share their practices, challenges, and failures, as well
as the chance to build new skills through the process.

In the final phase, as the school year concludes, evaluation of the project will occur, with follow
up professional development. Lastly, the next phase will be planned, informed by the findings
and remaining needs based on the evaluation findings. See Appendix B for the Work Breakdown
Structure and specific Timeline of all of these phases and activities.

The Critical Path

The Project begins with Designing and Developing the Professional Development in the first
year, including (A) the Fundamentals of Education Technology Integration; (B) Operating New
Educational Technologies; (C) Modifying Lessons and Assessments Using Technology, and;
(C2) Web Design, which will happen concurrently, as depicted in the Critical Path graphic
below.

Once created, the PD will be given over the summer in the second year through (D) five PD
sessions, each two weeks in length.

Next, during the school year of year two of the project, two days per month will be given for PD,
including time for (E) reporting on progress, (F) sharing best practices, challenges, and failures,
and (G) building new skills using technology .

Following that, in year three of the project, (H) evaluation of the PD will be conducted, followed
by (I) developing a plan for the next phase of PD. At that point, the project is concluded.

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Project Proposal Statement: In order to improve instruction with educational technologies for
the teachers in the middle school, we propose the aforementioned three phase plan to create the
requisite instructional technology content, professional development training, and evaluation
opportunities to measure the efficacy of the training and plan for future needs.

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 Organize
In this phase of the project, the skills of the support staff required to complete the project are
aligned with an organizational structure on who reports to whom. Tasks and activities have been
organized into work packages and assigned to congruent team members. A list of required team
members and recruiting criteria has been compiled.

Team Organization Structure

The organizational chart below outlines the reporting and communication structure.

Recruiting Criteria for each position:

Job Title Criteria
Project Manager · 5+ year management experience managing educational
instructional
· Leadership and people skills (emotional intelligence,
leading teams, personable, giving direction and correcting
appropriately, writing skills, problem solving and
flexibility, etc.)
· Technical skills (educational project management,
writing project proposals, etc.)
Instructional Designers · Master’s in Educational Technology or related field
· At least 3 years of experience in Educational Technology
· Preference given to someone with a middle
school education background or designing PD for
public school systems
· Design expertise in middle school content and technology

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 Project Management · Experience carrying out PD for educational organizations
Logistic Team · Preference given to someone with experience working
Members in the public education sector
· Strong communication skills, multi-tasking, detail
oriented and time management expertise
Evaluation/ · Master’s in Educational Evaluation/Assessment and
Assessment Team Research
Designers · Preference given to someone with expertise working in
public school systems
· Strong communication skills, negotiation skills, and people
skills
Graphic Designer · B.A. in Graphic Design or related field
· Experience working in the education field
· Must submit at least 3 examples of work upon interview

Videographer · B.A. in Videography or related field

Content Experts
Website Designer
· Experience working in the education field
· Must submit at least 3 examples of work upon interview
· At least a B.S. in educational technology
· Licensed educators that are working in the middle
school that have strong experience with educational
technology
· Departmental Chairs/Instructional Team Leaders
· Overall, preference given to those who have a passion
and interest in cultivating the use of educational
technologies at the k-12
· B.A. in Web Design
· Experience in visual communication, digital arts and
design, multimedia production, Web application
programming and publishing, interactivity and usability
testing
· Experience working in the education field

Work Package Description/Assignment

Once personnel are hired, they will be assigned a work package. Below is an example of one
simple work package that will be presented to the website designer. Each work package is based
on the work breakdown structure in Appendix B.

Personnel Tasks Start End

Website Designer 1.4 Summer Year 1 2020 April 2021
1.42

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 Implementing the Project
Control
Project Management Style: The project manager, Joe, will primarily take a traditional
approach to project management. This approach is easy and uncomplicated. A traditional
approach follows a clear path whereby the project is defined, planned, organized, controlled, and
closed. These traditional steps will be followed, but Joe’s approach will be agile in that he will
rely on teamwork from his team managers, Amy and David. In addition, this traditional approach
with agility will include a critical path. Although Joe’s approach will be largely traditional, he
will have infuse some elements of disparate models to project management. Joe will assign team
managers to oversee tasks. He will also delegate personnel to tasks. For example, Amy will
manage the creation of the video demonstrations. The videographer, content experts, graphic
designers, and instructional designers will work on this project and report to her.

Project Management Tools: The project manager will create a Gantt Chart (See Appendix
C). This bar chart helps plan, coordinate, and track tasks. It depicts the relationship between
activities and the current schedule. Joe will collect status information and post monthly variance
reports. Variance reports report on any gaps between what has happened and what was supposed
to have happened. The project manager will meet with team members who show a variance of
greater than 5 days, based on the project schedule. The Project Manager will also create a
dashboard (See Appendix C) to provide the client with an overview of the progress of the
project. A “dashboard” in project management is similar to a car dashboard. Just as you look at
a car dashboard to gauge your speed, a project management dashboard helps you gauge progress
in terms of budget, scope, and time. It will be especially useful for the client. The client will be
able to look at Joe’s dashboard and quickly gauge progress. Requests for changes will be made
in writing. Team managers will sign off on changes and give it to Joe, the project manager, who
will approve it if it doesn’t affect the budget, scope, and/or timeline. If the budget, scope, and/or
timeline are affect Joe will seek client approval for necessary changes.

Communication: Team members will report to team managers (Amy and David) and team
managers will report to the Project Manager, Joe. The Project Manager will report to the
client. Amy and David will hold “huddle meetings” each morning with the people he/she is
managing. The purpose of the morning huddle, often called a “stand-up” meeting is simple:
check in with team members about the day ahead. It is designed for a quick project status update
and check in with another. These meetings will be short and concise, approximately 15 minutes
in length. Every person at the huddle will be required to contribute. This will augment lines of
communications and create greater commitment and accountability for each team member.
These meetings will serve to prevent conflict as they will help to build trust and a sense of
“team” among members. Amy and David will meet with the Project Manager, Joe, weekly. They
will report on the status of their projects and identify issues affecting progress. Joe will meet
with the client biweekly to report on project status.

Conflict Resolution: Conflicts inevitably arise when engaged in lengthy projects that involve
many people, and they must be resolved to achieve success. In some cases, conflicts may be
fortuitous, as they stem from competing ideas which may be impetus to a superior approach.
However, they typically risk impeding project success. Conflict resolution strategies cannot often

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be predetermined as they are often situational and unpredictable. To keep track of issues as they
arise, team managers will use an issue log (See Appendix C). Issues that require resolution will
be recorded in the issues log and will be prioritized by level of severity (low, medium, high). All
conflict will be evaluated and the most fitting strategies will be used based on the evaluation of
the conflict. A number of strategies will be considered, including avoiding, competing,
accommodating, and collaborative approaches. Amy and David, as the team managers, will use
the appropriate strategies to resolve any conflicts that materialize with their teams. If they have a
question or feel they cannot resolve the conflict adequately, they will seek advice from the
Project Manager, Joe. The log will not only include information about conflict/issues as well as
priority, but also the actions taken to resolve the issue and the ultimate solution.

Contingency Planning Strategies: A number of risks were identified in the define portion of
this plan. The Project Manager, working with his team managers, has developed contingent plans
for the identified risks. For example, one potential risk concerns weather. An unforeseen snow
day on a day set aside for teacher professional development presents a problem. There will be
make-up days built into the calendar during the months where inclement weather is most
likely. Another potential problem concerns teacher attendance at scheduled PD days. The video
demonstrations and teacher handbooks will be designed to serve as a “how to” guide to help
those who are unable to attend. In addition, turn-key trainers will be identified at each stage of
the professional development. These turn-key trainers will be teachers who proved to be
proficient at the PD sessions and are willing to serve as mentors to people in the building seeking
help. They will be released from lower priority duties once a week to sit in the faculty and be
available to answers questions and help.

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 Close
It is important at the end of a project to formally close it. The project team needs confirmation
from the client that the objectives set were met, that what they set out to accomplish was indeed
accomplished. This is critical not only for the project team, but also the client. The client should
feel the team hired was the right one for the job and that they accomplished what they set out and
agreed to achieve. The closure process is outlined below.

Format for Final Project Report

· Executive Summary (evidence of on-time, on-budget, quality deliverables)
· Summary of Define (problem, goal, objectives, success criteria and risks & assumptions)
· Summary of Plan (work breakdown structure, activity schedules, critical path)
· Summary of Organize (work package descriptions, team organization structure,
job descriptions/recruiting criteria)
· Summary of Control (Gantt chart, status/variance reports)
· Summary of Close (project approval, sign-off, disposition of deliverables,
disposition of remaining resources/funds, post implementation audit)
· Appendices

Present Products to Client / Client Sign-off Procedures

1. Document the project by preparing the final report and presentation for a meeting with the
client. This presentation/report should include:
a. A project overview and final report
b. Audit
c. Proof that the project has been completed and can be rightfully terminated
2. Schedule a client sign-off meeting for September 1, 2020. Referring to our organizational
structure in the Organize Phase, the project manager, the middle school administrator and
the central office designee should be present. Other members of the organizational structure
are invited and encouraged to attend (but it is not necessary).
3. Prepare an agenda for the meeting that contains these necessary items of business:
a. Present final report/presentation and audit to client/stakeholders.
b. Obtain necessary sign-off signatures.
4. Close the project with a celebration after the final meeting with a luncheon/dinner party.

Conduct Post Project Audit/Debrief

· Schedule a meeting to interview the client
· Were their expectations met and the goal achieved?
· Areas of improvement?
· Schedule a meeting with the project team to debrief:
· Was the project goal achieved on budget and on time and of desired quality?
· Teamwork: successful or unsuccessful?
· Project strengths/weaknesses?

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 · General challenges & weaknesses? Share successes.
· Prepare copies of final report/presentation for stakeholders
· Prepare protocol for seeking feedback
· Arrange for team member final performance evaluations,etc.
· Complete final audit checklist to close project activities

In addition to formal meetings with the client to close the project, as mentioned above, the
project team and client will gather informally to celebrate the completion of a successful project
and to recognize everyone’s work on the project. This celebration is an important part of the the
close phase. It’s important to bring everyone together in a social setting and thank all for a job
well done.

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 Appendix A

References

Case: K-12 Professional Development Project Management plan. In IDE 761 Strategies in Educational
Project Management. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University. Spring 2019.

Cren, M. L. (2018, July 06). Top 13 Project Management Methodologies and Styles. Retrieved April 2,
2019, from https://blog.azendoo.com/top-project-management-methodologies-and-styles/

How to Use a Project Dashboard to Keep Your Team on Track. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2019, from
https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/project-management-dashboards

Rampe, K. (2017, March 13). The Benefits of a Daily Huddle (or Stand-Up) Meeting for Accounting
Teams. Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://kristenrampe.com/blog/2017/3/13/the-benefits-of-a-
daily-huddle-meeting-aka-stand-ups-for-accounting-teams

Traditional vs Agile Project Management Method: Which One is Right for Your Project? (2019, March
26). Retrieved April 3, 2019, from https://www.proofhub.com/articles/traditional-vs-agile-project-
management

Westland, J., & Westland, J. (2019, March 01). What is an Issue Log? Retrieved from
https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/what-is-an-issue-log

Wysocki, R. K., & Weiss, J. W. (1992). 5-phase project management: A practical planning and
implementation guide. Reading MA: Perseus Books.

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 Appendix B
Planning Phase
Work Breakdown Structure

Objective Task Skill Time Start Stop Deliverable

Design PD 1 Year 1 Summer April See Below

2020
2021

Fundamentals Ed 1.1 Tech Int Year 1 Summer April Media

Tech Ins Specialist; 2020 Presentations
Videographer; 2021
Gr. Artist;
Program
Specialist

Video 1.2 Ins Designer; Year 1 Summer April Videos

Demonstrations Videographer 2020
2021

Instructor and 1.3 Ins Designers Year 1 Summer April Handbooks

Learner 2020
Handbooks 2021

Online Lesson Plan 1.4 Ins Designers; Year 1 Summer April Lesson Plans,
and Curriculum Tech Ins 2020 Templates
Templates Specialist 2021
Web Designer

Online Interactive 1.42 Ins Designers; Year 1 Summer April 2021 Webpages
Webpage Tech Ins 2020
Specialist
Web Designer

Collaborative 1.5 Year 1 Summer April Activity

Activities 2020 Descriptions
2021

Tech Use 1.6 Year 1 Summer April Guidelines

Guidelines 2020
2021

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Operating New Ed 2.1 Teachers 1 Yr Aug Yr 2
Tech

Modifying 3.1 Teachers 1 Yr Jul Aug Modified

Lessons and Curriculum Yr 2 Yr 2 Lesson Plans
Assessments using Specialist
Ed Tech Ins Designer

Implement Five 2 4.1 1 Yr July Aug

wk PD Sessions Yr 2 Yr 2

Ongoing 3 PD 5.1 Teachers Curric. Year 1 May June

days/mn Practice Specialists and Yr 1 Yr 1
Ed Tech Prog. Year 2 Sept Feb Yr 2
Yr 2

Report Progress 5.2 Teachers, Year 2 Sept Feb Yr Updated

Admin, Yr 2 Progress
Ed PM Reports

Share Practice, 5.3 Teachers Year 2 Sept Feb Yr Updated

Challenges Administrators Yr 2 Progress
Failures Ed PM Reports

Build New Tech 5.4 Teachers Year 2 Sept Feb Yr

Skills Yr 2

Monthly Report 6.1 Program Eval Year 2 Sept Feb Yr Data Reports
and Follow Up Specialist Yr 2
Admin.
Teachers

Evaluation Ed PM Program Year 2 March March Yr See Below

Eval Specialist Yr 2 2

Follow Up PD 7.1 Curriculum Year 2 July Aug Yr 3

specialist

Plan Next Phase 7.2 Ed PM 1 Yr July Aug Yr 3 Updated PM

Ins Designer Yr 3 Plan
Program Eval
Specialist

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 Appendix C
Control Phase Tools

Gantt Chart

Variance Report

Dashboard

Project Leader Project Name Time Cost % Complete

Amy Bissetta Video Demonstrations ⬤ ⬤ ⬤
Joe Goldberg Interactive Webpage ⬤ ⬤ ⬤

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 Issues Log
No. Issue Date Reported Priority Impact Action
Description by Level (time, Taken
(EX) (High, scope,
Med, budget)
Low)
1 Need 9/1/20 D.Kokesha High Budget Current
Additional web
Web designer
Designer- given
current work overtime
load too hours at
much for one time and
designer in half rate
40 hour work
week

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