170: Technology and Communication Problems | RSS.com Organizations are created to serve a purpose. For schools, it is (ostensibly) to make people “smart.” We know, of course, that when systems are created, their purpose immediately changes to sustaining itself rather than fulfilling its purpose, but let’s ignore that for this post. We who work in Read More
The role of microcomputers in curriculum and instruction has been debated since the first arrived in schools; some advocate for quick adoption of every new tool while others advocate for avoiding digital technology altogether. Disparate perception of emerging information technologies among educators is not a new phenomenon. In his 2011 book The Information: A History, Read More
181: Where the Rationale for School IT Breaks Down In my experience, that last point is where school IT decision-making breaks down. Organizations have different strategic goals, and they accomplish those goals by setting different priorities and adopting different strategies. IT professionals who have learned their craft in organizations other than schools are often unfamiliar Read More
In addition to the fleets of computers maintained for populations such as students and teachers, schools are places where special purpose computers and peripherals are found. In makerspaces, science laboratories, studios, workshops, and other special teaching spaces, there are computing devices necessary for specialized educational activities. Examples include:
My undergraduate preparation was to be a science teacher. Like most with that career goal, I expected to spend my life teaching high school biology. At the university I attended, there was a small and active botany department (I studied with experts in acid rain) and there was an active pre-med curriculum. Again, like other Read More
School users are also well-known for trading reliability for functionality and ease. IT professionals know that systems can be configured to perform many more functions than are typically used. Further, many users will use only a fraction of the tools and features available in the applications they use. Of course, using these tools and features Read More
Virtual classrooms took on particular importance to teachers and students with the quick pivot to remote teaching necessitated by the COVID pandemic. Even before that, however, virtual classrooms were being managed by school IT professionals and teachers were using them to extend their classrooms and enhance information sharing and interaction. Like other cloud-based infrastructure in Read More
Web browsers allow users to select from one of three levels of safe browsing. Each level uses tools to help reduce the potential for risky web browsing. At the standard level, the web browser warns if you are going to site known to contain malware, phish for credentials, or otherwise risk security. Those protection can Read More
When we design IT systems for schools (and for all other organizations), we must address several characteristics to ensure it functions as we need it to:
The candidate for a vacant technology coordinator position, that filled the role of CIO but also spent a good deal of time sharing the work of technicians during high-demand times. When asked, “How would you respond to the teacher who returned from a conference and asked for help configuring systems to use a tool they Read More