Schools are places where the public is occasionally invited. Some events that find the public on campus place no demands on IT systems. Audiences at athletics events, concerts, and other performances do not expect to have access to wireless networks, for example. Other events may find individuals or groups from outside the school community that Read More
Category: Technology Planning
Triaging #edtech
IT systems fail. All IT professionals (and all IT users) know this. The reality is that the “to do” list for IT professionals in schools is often too long to allow immediate resolution of failed system. Further adding to the reality is that not all failed systems can or even should be resolved. IT professionals Read More
Yet Another Digital Divide
Digital divides in educational technology have been recognized for decades. While the details have changed, the reality that not all populations have the same technology tools has been a consistent characteristic of information technology. We were first aware that some schools did not have access to enough desktop computers. We have become aware that not Read More
On Customer Service and IT
“Difficult” interactions between IT users and IT professionals are not unique to schools. The difficulties can arise from users’ frustrations that IT is interfering with their abilities to do their work, the perceptions that their priorities are not receiving proper attention, and other factors. In many cases, the IT professionals contribute to the difficulties by Read More
Reasonable Implementation of #edtech
School boards hire superintendents and other high-level administrators to make the ultimate decisions about what happens in the school. These leaders are charged with ensuring all decisions, including those related to appropriate design and proper configuration of IT systems are reasonable. Reasonableness is defined by: Budgets—All decisions must fall within the available budgets and the Read More
Users: The Reasons IT in School is Different from IT in Business
Many IT professional find the strategies that made them successful in business and industry do not transfer into educational institutions. What used to keep users of IT and their leaders and manager content does not produce the same results. The differences between IT users in other organizations and IT user in school can be summarized Read More
What Matters When Designing Technology Solutions
A brief excerpt from a research project: The more active role for the school leaders in these technology decisions appears to have been grounded in their ability to apply their judgement to four variables of the systems and to criticize the technology in these terms. Improvement: Did the solution solve the problem? Ease of use: Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Reasonable Implementation
School boards hire superintendents and other high-level administrators to make the ultimate decisions about what happens in the school. These leaders are charged with ensuring all decisions, including those related to appropriate design and proper configuration of IT systems are reasonable. Reasonableness is defined by: Budgets—All decisions must fall within the available budgets and the Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Properly Configured IT
It is the role of the IT professionals to ensure that technology is properly configured to both provide the services educators need, plus reflect the responsible configuration of the system. Remember, we do not want IT professionals running schools and we do not want educators to be running IT systems. Proper configuration of the IT Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Acceptable Use Policies
The leaders of all organizations take steps to protect them from liabilities and damage resulting from the inappropriate use of IT systems. At the highest levels, the organization’s governing body (school board are generally responsible for adopting policy) will adopt policies to protect the organization by ensuring they comply with relevant laws and regulations, and Read More