Phase IV: Implement Your Solution

Congratulations!

You have decided on the solution(s) that will work best for you community. Now it's time to plan for success. In addition to items like funding and logistics, it is important to consider the supports you will put in place for your stakeholders.

Funding

Depending on the solution you selected, you may have more or less financial needs to implement your Access Project. As listed on during Phase III, some of these solutions have resources that might help your organization fund the solution. For example, Kajeet offers up these resources where they track local grants and other funding options that might help you out as well.

State education agencies often have grants that may support as well. In Utah, we were able to take advantage of the state's Digital Teaching & Learning grant to fund our pilot programs. This supported our team's pitch to district leadership about future funding as a core need for our students.

Other demographic areas may have similar resources as well. The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) offers a few such solutions that may support your organization. (SETDA, 2019)

Logistics

Whether you chose a wifi map, hotspots, community wifi, low-cost solutions, or a combination, you will need to consider how to manage and advertise for your project.

Here are a few questions you may want to consider:

Where will devices be kept until check out?
Who will manage the check out process?
Who will work with businesses to join your wifi coalition (map)?
What connections are needed to set up community wifi?
Who will make the purchases?
What advertising resources are needed (purchases)?

Working with your team, decide how to proceed with these items and any others that might come up. Also be sure to include your advisory group to help make sure you aren't missing important resources for any given stakeholder group. Be sure to communicate your plans to any necessary leaders who may need to be involved.

The creation of this plan and the artifacts that come out of it will be the basis for your Access Project and will support your students and other stakeholders ongoing.

Stakeholder Support

Next, list out all of the stakeholders who may be involved or impacted by this project. Depending on whether you are a school/district or community organization, you may have different lists. Be sure to include stakeholders who are directly involved and those who are related indirectly. Then, answer the following questions for each group:

What does this stakeholder need to know about the project?
What is the best way to communicate with this stakeholder?
What training does this stakeholder need to be successful?
What resources does this stakeholder need to be successful?

Based on your answers, create a plan that meets the needs of each group. This is where you can make sure you are addressing all needs and concerns and planning appropriate details for each group. It is important to make sure that each stakeholder group, with unique needs, feels supported. As you continue working with these groups over time, consider if there are changes with any of these questions that may require an adjustment of support.

Branding

With any major project within your organization, you will likely want to assign it a name and theme. This will help meet the above needs for all stakeholders we well. By having a theme, your community will be able to quickly connect new details about the program to past communication. With your theme, consider how you might utilize posters, a website, stickers, flyers, signs, and more.

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