A colleague and I recently had a conversation about “data” and its role in education. I maintained that advocated for using data have a fundamental misunderstanding of science and evidence. I further maintained that misapplication of the principles of science and inquiry makes the decisions made by “data-driven leaders” in schools dubious at best. This Read More
Category: Leadership
Leaderspeak Interpreted
I recently rediscovered a glossary that a colleague and I started a few years ago… we had been collecting terms we heard educational leaders using for years, and we reflected on what they meant when they used them. These still seem very appropriate today, so they will be appearing in this blog until the collection Read More
When Goals Are the Goal
I found this quote in the data for a chapter I am preparing for publication: We spent so much time trying to decide if the goals were specific, measurable, and all of the other adjectives for the acronym, we had no time to think about what we were going to do. Even when we decided Read More
Understanding #edtech
In order to assess the degree to which educational technology is influencing teaching and learning in any school data must be gathered from three different perspectives. It is reasoned that together these provide the most complete assessment of all five dimensions of the instructional and information (I & IT) systems installed in the school. Users’ Read More
Dimensions of #edtech
Sufficient Devices Are there sufficient computing devices available in the school? Sufficiency exists when there exists: Enough devices so teachers’ decisions are not limited; Enough capacity that students can create products teachers deem appropriate; Methods to easily share limited resources. Robust, Reliable, and Secure Network Is the school’s information technology network reliable, robust, and secure? Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Internet-only Operating Systems
The newest type of device to enter the educational market is the Internet-only notebook. When these devices were first marketed, they had no functionality without the Internet, but later generations have added some offline functionality. Still, however, these devices are most useful in schools when they are connected to the Internet. The dominant device used Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Mobile Operating Systems
The two dominant mobile operating systems are Apple’s iOS (which is installed on iPads and iPhones) and Google’s Android operating system (which is installed on a range of tablets and phones). Microsoft makes a version of Windows available for mobile devices and the open source community also makes version of Linux available, but these are Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: On-boarding and IT
There are some tools educators should not be expected to use without direct instruction and IT managers must plan for these needs when newly hired educators are “on-boarded” and to support educators during major transitions. The IT systems that require direct instruction include: • Procedures and credentials for logging on to all systems that are Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Reporting, Ticketing, and Triage
The web service for managing repair requests that is web-based are often called “ticketing systems,” because one submits a “help ticket” that summarizes a problem; the ticket is assigned to someone with the skill and network credentials to fix the problem, and notes regarding steps that are taken are added to the ticket. Once the Read More
#edtech for #edleaders: Fundamental Concepts of Networking
Fundamentally, computer networks are simple systems. To build a network, one provides a pathway to move data from one node to another (through electrical signals transmitted over wires or radio signals that travel through the air), gives every node a unique address (so the network “knows” where to deliver packets), and then keeps track of Read More