39: Don’t Be The Department of “No” | RSS.com It is conference season for educators. It comes three times per year: In the middle of fall, after the semester has gotten started, but before the end of the term crunch starts. Again, in the middle of the spring semester and finally (to a lesser degree) Read More
Category: Technology Planning
It Isn’t Your Parents’ #edtech
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 Read More
Elevator Pitch: IT Leadership
When the leadership team comprises individuals who admit they are not “technology people,” they will often defer to the technology leader on all decisions other than budgets. They reason, “as long as they have the budget, I trust them to keep stuff up and running.” This makes sense as education leaders lack the expertise to Read More
Another Look at TPCK
Several years ago, I posted on TPCK. This post further develops my understanding of it. In 2006, scholars Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler from Michigan State University detailed the TPACK framework. According to this model, three types of knowledge affect educator’s use of technology. These three define seven independent and combined domains of knowledge. Read More
IT and School Curriculum Planning
Educators are constantly reviewing what they teach. Many regulatory agencies require curriculum documents to be updated, and professional organizations update curriculum suggestions as well. IT professionals are often expected to participate in some of these efforts. Although IT professionals will not make recommendations about what should be taught, they are asked to participate in curriculum Read More
Cheap, Good, Fast: Choose Two
Conflicting goals or purposes is a theme commonly encountered in technology planning. There is a well-established heuristic that originated in project management that is used by technology leaders to describe computer and network system design and purchase options for the organizational leaders. It is frequently with humor that technology leaders will say, “Cheap, good, fast, Read More
A Harsh Reality About IT and School Leaders
Information technology. All schools need it. All schools have it. All schools hire individuals with expertise in managing it to… well… manage it. In this post, I describe a reality that many recognize in their schools, but they are reluctant to admit it. This post calls out the inability of school leaders to provide effective Read More
Let’s Diversify Computer Education
40: Let’s Diversify Computer Education | RSS.com I heard through the grapevine—one comprising trusted individuals—that a former student was interviewing for a job as an IT professional. My name came up in their conversations as members of the interview team know me and knew the candidate had been my student. The message I got through Read More
IT for Teaching
The tasks that teachers accomplish using IT systems can be differentiated into two categories. First, are the highly predictable tasks that resemble those performed by business users. IT professionals can plan and test functionality. These tasks include many of the data management tasks such as recording attendance and grades for which teachers are responsible. It Read More
Elevator Pitch: School IT Decisions
It is important for all IT professionals who work in school to understand the nature of the users and their specific needs. Every decision made and every action taken by IT professionals (regardless of their role) affects end users either directly (by providing troubleshooting, training, and other support) or indirectly (by installing and configuring systems Read More