District Technology - Part II

Image by Etolane via Flickr

Last month I posted an entry on how our District Technology Committee was taking a new direction...you can read that entry here.

We met for the first time last week and had, in my opinion, the most productive, thought provoking and visionary discussions this group has had in my 5.5 years as CIO. I give partial credit to some new blood within the group and their willingness to share and offer ideas. We also have the unique perspective of a student (who did a fantastic job) along with community members, board members and school personnel who all equally contributed to the successful meeting.

Out of that meeting came a lot of work into our Acceptable Use Policy and its accompanying documents. We created a more "student-friendly" Student AUP Agreement, refined language / purpose in our Personal Device Policy and approved our newly drafted Social Networking Policy. All of those documents will go before our board of education for final approval in the coming weeks.

We also discussed and revised our Technology Timeline, which serves as the direction for funding, staffing, IT services, student learning and professional development for all things IT related in our district. The timeline was extended to 2011-2012 providing places for such as items as: expanding / increasing wireless, VOIP, replacement schedule for teacher stations / replace with laptops, digital citizenship incorporation in curriculum and staff training.

The group identified our biggest need as that of staff training / professional development. We have been blessed to have the support of our administration and board to successful upgrade major network components and other hardware / software throughout the district. That has been the primary focus of my office for the past 3-4 years and we have accomplished most goals that were set forth. However, we are turning the corner and ready to focus more time and energy on the instructional support necessary to ensure effective use of these tools and resources.

The ideas, strategies and vision laid out in our plan serve as the vehicle to drive the technical and instructional services for our IT department. It is a great feeling to be surrounded by an outstanding committee that puts forth the time and effort to review, give feedback / constructive criticism and help champion our mission and vision.

Thanks to all of those who help carry the banner.

JDS | CIO