For generations, a fundamental purpose of schools has been to give students experience using the dominant information technology and data sources. When the dominant data type was printed and scripted on paper, education took a very familiar format. Reading, writing, performing calculations on paper, and drawing on paper became the fundamental skills practiced as one progressed through their education.
In the middle of the 20th century, electronic digital computers were invented, and by the 1960’s advocates were promoting their use in schools. By the 1980’s desktop computers were common in classrooms. In the decades since, high-speed Internet connections, wireless networks, and one-to-one computing are ubiquitous in schools.
This reflects the reality of society at large as well. White-collar work, much blue-collar work, and popular culture are dominated by digital data and electronic digital computing. While there are many reasons why school leaders and educators should be concerned with the amount of access to digital devices, there is general agreement that educators should use these tools in their teaching.
School operation also depends on digital information and IT tools. In addition to keeping the organization operational (for example buying supplies, paying bills, and managing human resources functions), schools collect, manage, secure, and report data about the students they enroll.
When a school is open and classes are underway, there are likely to be thousands of devices powered on and accessing both local area network resources and sharing a connection to the internet. These connections are essential to our work and our teaching. The magnitude of the problem of providing all digital devices on campus with fast and reliable connections is considerable.
When I started in education, tech-savvy teachers could reasonably manage one or two devices in each classroom in their spare time. I know because I did it. Today, we have enterprise IT systems installed. When I started, we spent our technology budgets primarily on devices that users put their hands on. Today, the budget spent on devices users never see or use—switches, routers, servers, access points, and other network devices—and the software needed to keep it updated and operational consumes a large part of the IT budget.
Keeping the enterprise IT systems operational requires staff not necessary when I started. Technicians, system administrators, data specialists, and web masters are employed by schools. The primary focus of this book is the individual who serves as the chief information office in educational institutions. These individuals are responsible for those systems and their use. They oversee the installation, manage the operation, advocate for the support, and plan for the improvement of IT systems.