Instructional Time

Too often in the land of educational technology we get lost in the tools, their functionality, professional learning, technical features, etc.  What we often fail to discuss with other educators is an essential question:  How does this tool provide more efficient and effective use of instructional time for my students?

At the end of the day, time is invaluable.  We are constantly competing with the social lives' of our students, other initiatives within our buildings that compete for the time and attention of our students.  Time is a commodity.  Anything that can provide a more efficient utilization of our instructional time with students should be highly valued. 

Let's look at a scenario.  A classroom full of students have an assignment requiring them to do research, take notes, and create a media project to share with their peers.  Unless the building already has an established 1:1 initiative in place, or a successful BYOD program (depending on the age of the students), this classroom would be competing for shared resources within the building, i.e. a cart of devices. 

Option 1:  The students check-out laptops that are district resources and proceed to power on the device, wait for it to boot-up, log in to the network, and launch the application (browser, productivity tool, etc.) they are utilizing first.  What is the time to accomplish this above in your environment?  5 minutes?  10 minutes?  You also have to ensure these devices were fully charged when picked up by your students.  Otherwise, students could be scrambling to find a power source to complete their work for that day.  At the end of the period, time must be allowed for the students to save their work, log off / shut down and return the device to its location.  What is the time for these activities?  Another 5 minutes?  So let's assume the class period was 50 minutes.  Right out of the gate you, as the instructor, have lost 10-15 minutes of instructional time.  This is assuming there are no other technical issues requiring you or an expert's troubleshooting.  That is 20%-30% of your entire class period that is lost instructional time. 

Option 2:  The students check-out devices that are district resources that have an instant on.  This could be an iPad, Ultrabook, etc. - any device that allows for the immediate on, with a long battery life - not requiring the lengthy boot-up time and log in process.  Once the students have the devices in their possession they launch the application they are preparing to utilize and begin their work.  What is the time to accomplish this?  1-2 minutes?  At the end of the period, students save their work, power off the device and return it to its location.  What is the time to accomplish these tasks?  2-3 minutes?  Again, assuming the class period is 50 minutes.  You have only lost 3-5 minutes of instructional time, or 6%-10% of your overall time with students for that period. 

Let's look at these scenarios over the life of the project.  Let's make an assumption that to complete the entire project takes 5 class periods.  This includes research time, organization, collaboration, and creation. 

• 5 class periods = 250 minutes of instructional time
• With Option 1, students would only have 175 minutes of instructional time.  They will have lost the equivalent of 1.5 class periods.  
• With Option 2, students would have 225 minutes of instructional time.  They essentially gain back one full class period of work. 

I am not here to advocate a specific device as the 'solution' to an educational environment.  However, I am a firm believer in maximizing instructional time for students.  As our technology vendors continue to provide solutions that have longer battery lives and instant ons - the winners are our students.  Think of what you could do with an 'extra class period' each week as an instructor? 

JDS

Innovate, Innovate, Innovate...and Innovate

Innovation. Defined as 'to renew or change' or 'to introduce something new'.

This word can sometimes be overused, both in industry as well as education. But, why? It shouldn't be overused. Innovation should be something we strive to do on a daily basis. It should be our mission and goal to constantly innovate and create new ideas / opportunities for our teachers and students. Innovation should never be stifled, it should be fostered and rewarded.

As leaders in the field of educational technology, it is imperative that we strive to innovate, alas renew, change and introduce something new, the way our students are learning and the way our teachers are teaching. Technology should be viewed as a tool, or vehicle, that enables the innovation - not drives it. Good instruction, a solid curriculum, engaging teachers and visionary administrators should be driving.

My challenge to all. Don't stifle innovation. Encourage and provide opportunities for your colleagues and peers. Enable them to utilize technology as a tool that extends the walls of the classrooms and provides engaging / exciting ways for students to communicate, collaborate, share and learn in ways not previously possible. To the innovators out there...keep pushing forward. Continue to stretch the walls and push the boundaries. You are the difference makers and you will continue to move us forward.

JDS

Related articles

• Blended Learning as Disruptive and Innovative (19pencils.com)
• 21st Century Educating, Part 3: Innovation (azjd.wordpress.com)
• CIOs are trying to do innovation the wrong way. (bramvangrimbergen.wordpress.com)
• Innovate, Collaborate and Achieve! (edtechinnovations.com)

Transforming the Classroom

It has been a few months since my last post. I certainly haven't forgot about the blog, just taking a little break while focusing on other things in my life. But I'm back and hopefully recharged about utilizing this as a vehicle to share, collaborate and communicate with others about educational technology happenings.

A buzz word that has been around education for the past 3-5 years is 'one-to-one'. School districts across the country are spending millions of dollars to provide students and teachers with district-owned mobile devices. These devices are typically laptops, tablets and now a growing trend towards iPads. My question to those districts is: what is your value add with those devices? Is it tied to assessment, attendance, behavior, 21st century skills, etc.? How has placing a device in the hand of every student (or students having access to these devices) transformed the learning process? That is the key question.

When we talk about transforming the classroom and learning process, it has to start with teachers. Too many times I read about school districts investing in these 1:1 initiatives and then discussing professional development for teachers AFTER the fact. School districts must be proactive in engaging, educating and preparing their teachers for what a 21st century classroom looks like, and more importantly how does that change their teaching style? When school districts begin to have those conversations FIRST and outline a vision, goals and a roadmap to accomplish, the transformation is much more powerful and immediate.

Teachers must be engaged from the very beginning for the change to be successful. This can not be a 'top down' initiative. Teachers must add value, be at the table and help steer the ship, if the district is reap the full rewards from the initiative. Districts can do this by inviting teachers to visioning days, allowing teachers to facilitate and guide the professional development, and utilize professional learning communities to foster conversations and strategies among team members.

The transformation process isn't going to happen overnight. But if a school district outlines their process effectively and stays the course, they are less likely to see resistance and more likely to see positive, successful results in a timely manner.

JDS

iT203 Update: Instructional Technology

2 Months on the job and nearly 3 weeks with staff/students back, things are certainly picking up for the iT203 staff. We have many initiatives underway and several other projects on the horizon.

• Student Information System
  Our SIS project is moving along as scheduled. This past week we completed our 'Champions Training', where 25 District 203 staff members gained a high-level overview of the new tool and its many modules and features. The purpose of the training was for this group to champion the tool amongst their peers, colleagues and work process groups. I felt this training was a success as many of our staff members were able to see first-hand the improved system we will be putting in place over our soon-to-be legacy system.
  
  
• Electronic Communications Policy
  We have had a team working to create an Electronic Communications policy / guidelines that help accomplish 2 goals: 1. Provide a framework for 203 staff and students to utilize social networking sites / social media during the school day for the purpose of improving collaboration and communication both inside and outside the district. 2. The provide guidelines and recommendations for appropriate student / teacher communication on many devices / resources. This document is in its final draft form, coming soon to our cabinet and board of education.
  
  
• Service Catalogue / Disparity Issue
  The instructional technology team has been working on developing a service catalogue that captures the value add of all classroom technology components. It also allows us to gain a snapshot of the current hardware, software, PD, staff, funding and other value drivers at each of the 22 schools. This moves us one step closer to developing a disparity recommendation to 'level the playing field' for all schools and provide a benchmark of technologies across all of our classrooms. This is certainly one of the more exciting and impacting projects for our team this year.
  
  
• Student and Teacher Technology Assessments
  Our staff is currently taking a look at several vendors that provide assessment tools for measuring technology competencies of our staff and students. From a staff standpoint, this data will help drive the professional development opportunities in our buildings by providing just-in-time necessary trainings that address gaps in our staffs and buildings. From a student perspective, it is the first step in developing a scope / sequence tool that will give a high level overview of expected skills / knowledge across grade levels.
  
  
• Learning Management System
  Our team continues to review technologies that have the potential to be a player in the future in our district. A core team will be assembled shortly to manage this project very similar to how our SIS project was managed. We will be assembling requirements, top vendors, review / pilot and RFP. We are leaning towards a phased implementation process, given that our SIS project has top priority in the district. A phased approach would allow our users to migrate slowly from any existing system they would be using to a new system.
  
  

As you can we have several tasks ahead of us as we continue to make iT203 one of the leading K-12 IT departments by providing world class innovative technologies and stellar service in an effective and efficient manner.

JDS

Making Our Mission Come To Life

I have spent the past two days in our Administrator's Kick-Off event. The purpose...making our mission come to life. I must start with the mission itself. Not only is this one of the most inspiring and simplistic mission statements, every member of the organization from top to bottom believes and lives this mission statement every day.

Our mission...is to educate students to be self-directed learners, collaborative workers, complex thinkers, quality producers and community contributors.

My job as Director of Instructional Technology for District 203 is to ensure that our mission is at the forefront of every decision that we make. Ensuring that our students utilize technology tools to become more self-directed. That they collaborate between classrooms, schools, communities, cities and countries. That they utilize technology tools, resources and applications to become complex thinkers. By allowing unfettered access to appropriate tools they are able to produce quality real-world work, work that allows them to pursue educational or work related opportunities upon graduation. And finally that they understand what it means to be members of a community and how to appropriately utilize technology tools as a productive member of society.

I look forward to this challenge and am excited for the opportunity to work for a school district that truly understands the purpose of education.

JDS

2 Jobs

The struggles of trying to keep up with two jobs. I am down to 9 official working days as CIO of MCPS. Closing out projects, collecting information for a new person, meeting with staff, preparing next year's budget / projects - that in itself is quite the time commitment.

But I am also trying to get a head start on my new role. Director of Instructional Technology for the Naperville 203 School District. 203 is winding down a search for a new Student Information System and I have been involved in that process for the past month. Combine that with learning people, processes, etc. and I feel I am getting somewhat of a "leg up" on July 1.

The next month will be quite the whirlwind. Combine the above with selling a house, getting married, purchasing a new house / relocating out of state and as one of my good friends and colleagues and MCPS said "you are doing six MAJOR life changing events within about 2 month period...try to stay sane". I will do my best.

I hope to resume regular blogging in July and start sharing information about Naperville 203 and the wonderful opportunities that lie ahead.

Until then...

JDS | CIO....or should it become JDS / DIT......I think I like the first one better.

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New Challenges

I have made one of the most difficult decisions of my short lifetime and accepted a new job in a new location. I will be leaving the Marshall County School District as CIO in June, a district that has been my home, my family, my friend and my life for the past 30 years. I am thankful for the many relationships I have developed over that time and look forward to reading and watching how the faculty, staff and students of MCPS shine bright.

My new home will be Naperville, IL - specifically the Naperville 203 school district. I will begin July 1 as the Director of Instructional Technology working with a top notch administration, technology staff, school district and community. I am excited for this new chapter in my professional career. Naperville 203 is a highly respected school district in this country and I am honored to begin working within its walls.

Watch this blog over the next few weeks / months as I tell of my transition from CIO in Marshall County to my new adventures in Naperville.

JDS | CIO (guess I will have to change this, huh?)

Framework of Essential Skills for the K-12 CTO

CoSN (Consortium for School Networking) recently put together a Framework of Essential Skills for K-12 CTOs / CIOs. CoSN, widely recognized as the leading organization for educational technology leaders, worked with technology leaders from across the country to assist in the increase of knowledge and skills.

The four main areas identified within the framework are: Leadership & Vision, Understanding Educational Environment, Managing Technology & Support Resources and Core Value & Skills.

For more information on CoSN's Framework of Essential Skills for K-12 CTOs / CIOs - visit their website at: http://www.cosn.org

You can view the entire framework here.

JDS | CIO

Conferences

Image by bryankennedy via Flickr

As an educational technology leader, we are always looking for the next big event, workshop or conference to attend that will bring advancement, a new technology or idea back to our district. Trying to do that during an economic crisis, isn't always the easiest to do. We have to pick and choose more carefully than ever, what we attend, when we attend and even how we attend.

So what conferences out there are worth your time and your money? I am going to offer my top ten of the leading edge technology conferences regionally and nationally. (One regional event and 10 national events.) If you have attended other events or know of other events out there that offer cutting edge innovation techniques, educational technology applications and integration at high levels - please feel free to share.

KySTE - KySTE's (Kentucky Society for Technology in Education) Spring Conference (March 10-12, 2010) is quickly becoming the technology conference in KY and the surrounding states. Growing at a rapid rate and keeping the emphasis on education technology (integration, implementation and innovation), this event has the potential to become something special. This year's event will highlight nationally renowned speakers, KY leaders and sessions centered around leadership, technical, planning and resources. If you live in/around KY (especially the Louisville, KY area), I highly encourage you to attend this year's KySTE event.

NECC - I have attended 3 NECC (National Educating Computing Conference) conferences over the past 6 years and each one offers unique and different options and sessions. The events I have attended always offer quality sessions, national speakers/keynotes/presenters and a top notch vendor hall. I have used NECC events to see what other districts are doing across the country, as well as take a look at vendors that don't always make it into KY. If you have never attended an NECC event, try out this year's event in Denver, as I believe as an educational technology leader it is worth the trip.

FETC - Florida's premier technology conference is quickly becoming one of the nations top educational technology events. I had the privilege of attending a portion of last years FETC event in Orlando as a part of some BLE CIO panel sessions and was amazed at the size of the event. FETC is able to attract some of the premier educational technology leaders while offering cutting edge sessions centered around technology in the classroom. I believe this event is worth at least 1-2 trips for any ed tech leader looking to see what a large scale state conference looks like and how leaders across the state of Florida communicate and collaborate.

EdNet - While I haven't actually attended any EdNet (Educational Networking Conference) sessions, I heard many positives about the event while in Chicago last year. EdNet's purpose is gather for networking opportunities, discuss emerging technologies and see what is ahead for the market. From my understanding, the event is designed for businesses to grow and stay involved in Ed Tech trends, etc. but it also provides ed tech leaders the opportunity to connect and network with those said vendors. Great possibilities for those able to attend.

CoSN - The Consortium for School Networking is probably the premier organization for educational technology leadership in the country. CoSN provides exciting keynotes, great networking opportunities, dynamic presentations and new emerging technologies. I have never attended CoSN's event either, but am already making plans for this years event in DC. If you are interested in Educational Technology Leadership and networking with some of the best across the country, make plans for this event.

CES - When you hear of CES or Consumer Electronics Association's event in Las Vegas, only thing comes to mind: New Technologies. CES has made a history of being THE premier event for new and emerging technologies across the world. Whether your interest is emerging tech, audio/video, wireless or even gaming - CES will be showcasing the latest and greatest from top vendors. If you have never attended a CES (aside from it being in Vegas), make plans to attend one. You will come away with new ideas and products that could be of benefit to your district.

TCEA - The Texas Computer Education Association makes a claim about their organization and conference, no one else can: It is the largest state organization dedicated to the use of technology in education. Much like Florida's FETC, TCEA has emerged as one of the "go to" state technology events. Having a large bass of districts and vendors (home of Dell, AT&T, HP, Nortel/Avia and of course Texas Instruments) TCEA is able to pull large groups of ed tech leaders and followers into a single setting for a powerful event. This year's event is the 30th annual TCEA and promises to be one of their best.

BLC Conference - The Building Learning Communities / November Learning conference has emerged as one of the most innovative and fastest growing educational technology events in the country. Featuring renowned technologist Alan November and his team, the BLC conference is designed to create a global community of dynamic educators. The keynote sessions, pre-conference workshops and main sessions all are designed to challenge your thinking with innovative ideas about empowered teaching and learning. I believe this conference is a must for leading educators and one districts must seriously consider as an event to send an entire team to attend.

NSBA T+L - The National School Board Association's T+L conference is one of the nation's most recognized education technology conferences. The conference centers around technology but also provides vision, leadership and other areas of education for all members of a school district. I had the opportunity to attend a few sessions at the 2008 T+L in Seattle, WA along with visiting the exhibit hall and liked what I saw. My hope is that when the next T+L event is within driving distance of my district, we can take a team to experience what it has to offer.

Northwest Council for Computer Education - This is a new one to me. I actually came across it today in looking for other educational technology conferences across the country. NCCE is a non-profit organization that supports effective use of technology in education to the Pacific Northwest. Their conference is designed to showcase the latest programs, projects, lessons, ideas and concepts not only in the NW but the country. From what I have read it is one of the premier conferences in the country.

TechEd 2010 - Another new one to me. I came across this event while searching for premier events. Tech Ed appears to be one of the leading conferences in California. This year's event is in Pasadena in April, so for those on the west coast, if you haven't already, check out Tech Ed.


Please feel free to offer thoughts on the conferences above and add any information about conferences/events/workshops that you have either heard of or attended.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!


JDS | CIO

EdNET / BLE

Image via Wikipedia

I am traveling to Chicago this coming weekend and looking forward to the opportunity to attend EdNET (click here for more info on EdNET) and work with my colleagues in the BLE group.

The BLE group is a group of nation-wide CIOs, Superintendents and Educational Technology leaders who help vendors review existing and new products designed for K-12 environments. I will be sure to Tweet and Blog about my experiences next weekend.

JDS | CIO