School administrators, the licensed professionals hired by school boards to implement their decisions and policies, have ultimate responsibility for all decisions in the school. Efficacious administrators understand they do not have sufficient expertise to make appropriate and proper decisions. They also understand reasonable implementation will also necessitate they make decisions about the limits to what Read More
Category: Technology Planning
A Little Reality Regarding Technology in Schools
I’ve spent my career working in education… well sort of. I started as a science and math teacher, then became a computer teacher which led me to becoming a technology coordinator—a position that includes many potential job functions. I have filled them all. Several hiring committees have selected me when they needed someone to sit Read More
Collaborative IT Decision-Making in Schools
Coincident with the changing nature of IT in schools, has been an increasing need for a range of IT professionals to ensure the devices are well-chosen, functional, and used for appropriate teaching. It is unusual to find educators who have sufficient technical expertise to manage the enterprise networks that necessary for school operations and effective Read More
Public Users of School Technology
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
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