The Power of Blogging
October 29, 2008
This short video does an excellent job of explaining the power of blogging.
Technology “Boot Camp” for Educators
October 16, 2008
Laura Henderson from the Independent School Educators network asks:
I am the “computer teacher” at a small PK-5th grade school of about 250 students. I have a Mac lab of 25 computers. Our principal is very tech supportive. Any teacher who wants a computer and an email account can have one. Only about half choose to. Most choose not to have computers because they do not feel the need to integrate technology into their classroom. Most who do decide to have a computer in their room use it primarily for email. The students rarely touch them. Right now the teachers basically just hand me their students once or twice a week and entrust me to their computer/technical training. I love it and I feel I do a good job. I focus on keyboarding skills, internet safety and research, MS Office skills, etc. My job description does not include any technical support for the teachers or staff who do have computers, but I do try to help them when I can. Most of the questions are quite simple. “How do I make my font larger?” is a common one. Long story short, I would love some recommendations for tech training for our school. We really could use someone to come in and give everyone a basic computer and MS Office intro. There are so many wonderful things our teachers could do with technology and I would love to see that door opened for them. This is something I do not want to do myself. I really think we need a professional who is used to coming into a VERY low tech environment and giving some “boot camp” style training. I would also love any feedback or advice anyone could throw out there for me. I feel technology integration is a VERY slow process for us and I would like to give it a kick start.
What you are describing requires a lot of different components, and is very challenging for a small 250 student school to achieve.
Let me give you a general outline of how I would approach this problem from a leadership level.
1) Work through your administration to convince them that technology training should be a priority FOR THEM given the changes that are happening in the world today. (I wrote a blog post about the role of teachers in effecting change in education.)
2) Think LONG-term. The “quick fix” you describe of having someone come in for professional development in basics for the teachers is not going to be a long-term sustainable solution for your school. You may personally choose to change school districts and all the momentum may be lost. Your school leadership team, school board, school community, and all stakeholders need to be on board with a change management plan for technology. If your school leadership team is not on board with a plan, then aggressively recruiting teachers and community members to join an informal “tech committee” may be a suitable approach to build ground level support.
3) When talking about school technology basics, you should rethink the basics. Is there a technology budget? Do you have a technology plan? How is your school infrastructure/desktop support? Does your school want to move in the direction of thin clients, 1:1 computing, or desktops? Is there teacher buy-in to the technology plan? Does your technology professional development component of your plan support the curricular goals of the district?
4) Find a strong technology vendor to help build your infrastructure/support to truly take care of the “basics” of managing technology in a small district. (Blog post on choosing a vendor.)
5) As you build your plan, make sure that there is a significant emphasis on professional development to help get your administration and teachers up to speed with technology. Try to build capacity within your school by using the most advanced teachers as leaders to propagate change throughout the district.
For more information on supporting technology integration in a small district, please read this other blog post that I wrote.
We have helped change the technology culture at clients much larger than your school within a 12-18 month time period. Therefore, it IS possible - so please do not give up! 
If this was useful to you or anyone, I encourage you to comment on this message or e-mail me at njulka@smartsolutionsonline.com.
New and Emerging Technologies for NSPRA / OSBA Sponsored Event
October 12, 2008
A few weeks ago, Doug Jones, Abby Kelton, and I had the pleasure of presenting on New and Emerging Technologies at an event sponsored by the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) and National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA).
The response could not have been more positive:
“Very stimulating information that I’m ready to go back and try more!”
“Needed more time for this!”
“*** Could have an all-day follow up session.”
“Thank goodness - wish they had more time”
“Wow! Overwhelming - but necessary”
“Enlightening”
“** Awesome!”
The greatest part about speaking at events like this is feeding off of the energy of the crowd. We had an excellent, engaged audience that was embracing our topics.
Of course, we hit on all the usual suspects:
- The growth of technology
- Web 2.0 (The Machine is Us)
- Our Vision of the Role of Technology in Education
- Shared Services Model (Supporting Technology in Small Districts)
- Social Networking in Ohio Education Technology
- Workshop on Use of Web 2.0 Tools in Education
My next presentation will be in Columbus, OH on October 15 at 12:00pm at the Ohio Association of Public Charter Schools on the topic: Technology Partnerships for 21st Century Schools.
The description is as follow:
An effective technology program is integral to preparing today’s students with 21st century skills. Yet, the components of a strong technology department - including E-rate expertise, networking, desktop maintenance, budgeting, curriculum integration, and professional development - are difficult to provide in-house, given budgetary constraints. This presentation will provide charter school leaders with an introduction to the shared services model of technology management and its benefits of increased technology service, stabilized technology budgets, and enhanced technology integration in the classroom.
If you would like me or our team to speak at any event (free of charge of course!), please e-mail me at njulka@smartsolutionsonline.com.
The Role of Filters in a Web 2.0 Environment
October 2, 2008
Will Richardson recently wrote a post titled Filter Fun where he argues that “I truly believe that filters make our kids less safe.”
As a member of the digital native generation, and a large proponent and practitioner of the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into education, I think Will’s post represents a strong, unjustified stereotype of the role of IT in education. He seems to be sparking an “us against them” attitude of IT versus the rest of the school. This is the wrong approach to solving an important school policy issue.
As Web 2.0 tools become more ubiquitous, school IT departments need to continuously revise their policies to move with the times.
In my experience, the best functioning school IT departments partner with administrators, curriculum directors, and teachers to create sensible policies that work for the entire district. In the case of security and content filtering, we worked with one district to create a Wiki for decision-makers to collaborate and design their own sensible policies on the matter. This was a creative way of building a partnership between IT and the school.
It is also important for Will and others to recognize why content filtering exists. For starters, it is the law! The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) mandates that “Internet safety policy must include technology protection measures to block or filter Internet access to pictures that: (a) are obscene, (b) are child pornography, or (c) are harmful to minors (for computers that are accessed by minors).”
Obviously, pornography, obscene language, hate group web pages, etc. have no place in a school environment. School is supposed to be a safe place where parents are led to believe that schools are taking every opportunity to protect their kids.
Policies vary by school district and in some cases, any request made by a teacher to unblock a web site made is immediately acted upon after one phone call to our help desk. In other cases, there must be approval by some district-level administrator. Also, in nearly all of our school districts, group policies are set up for teachers, administrators, and students to have different levels of access.
In Will’s case, if he would have called one day ahead of time to ensure that the sites he needed were unblocked, and then tested his presentation with an IT person on site, then he would not have run into any problems. As the IT partner for a number of school districts, we are constantly doing this type of pro-active support to help speakers at our school districts.
In no cases do I think it makes sense for schools to provide unfettered access to the entire internet.