The+Two+Headed+Monster

[|Bud Hunt] Instructional Technologist, St. Vrain Valley School District

[|In this short podcast] I lay out some of what I hope to accomplish in this session.

I've sub-titled this conversation "Why the teachers are frustrated with the tech guys, and vice versa," because I know that there are plenty of tensions that exist between these two segments of school district populations - and there shouldn't be. In fact, I find that good communication can solve so many of them. But "good communication" is the tricky part. I feel like maybe I'm not the best person to facilitate this conversation, to be honest with you. But here we are - or will be, or were, depending on how you look at it and when you're reading this.

I'd like to use this wiki page to develop the themes of our conversation, and to begin to address some of the issues that might push teachers into excitement and tech guys into nervous stomachs and dread - and vice versa. Hopefully, we can identify what's working to bridge the gaps between these two groups of dedicated educational professionals, as well as use this conversation about dualities, the "two-headed monsters" that I'm referencing in my title, to think about other gulfs that exists in our educational systems and how we might begin to bridge them for the betterment of our districts, schools and classrooms.

So here are some of the tensions that I see and that I worry about. Let's try to build a list of these two-headed monsters to focus our discussion. I'll start - please feel free to edit away on this page. This is OUR session - not MY session.

1. Ease/convienience of use versus control of data (third-party software versus district controlled learning management systems) 2. Safety vs. Freedom (academic and personal). (We all define these terms differently, I think.) 3. Access vs. Safety. 4. Permission vs forgiveness. 5. The rules versus the practice. 6. Perceived needs vs. actual needs. (And who's defining them as "needs.")

We'll begin with a short time to write (I am, after all, a language arts teacher.) and will them talk our way through some of these concerns, as well as your own. I'm hoping to share out some of what is working for districts, schools, businesses, and other situations in regard to these tensions and the ubiquitious "those darn tech guys vs those darn teachers" third-rail of technology.

Begin comments:

Well, I'd add that from my perspective, being a high school educator, that I don't like being "talked down to". I've been teaching computer science for about over 10 years now and making web sites for over 10 years now (a long time in the web timeline), but I get treated like I'm a ninny by my tech. While I'm not a hardware genius (but can remove cases, inspect level 1 wiring issues, insert/remove cards, hard drives, etc), I know more about web 2.0 and software than many techs put together. I know the basics of networking (from Cisco training I've taken - parts 1-4) but of course do not know the specifics of everything that goes on our LAN/WAN. I also understand the art of teaching -- pedagogy -- and also curriculum development. My tech does not. This is a huge RIFF. What I do in the classroom is why he is here. He seems to have no interest. He is a past elementary teacher (a few years experience) working in a high school as a tech person. He's been here a few years and doesn't have a long term vision for the school and how budgeting should occur -- I've been here for over a decade and know we've got some problems if we don't manage our tech funds wisely.

[added by Nate Lowell: 40yrs in DP/MIS/IT before shifting out of IT and into EDU. PhD in Ed Tech] I've been managing systems longer than most of them have been alive. I still get it because I'm not one of "them" any more. From the other side of the desk, I would point out in their defense, that -- while treating a customer like a ninny is never good practice -- most of the 20 and 30 somethings currently engaged in IT and network management have never been trained any other way. It's a lot like teachers who teach the way they were taught. IT is taught to be the "gatekeeper" function -- to keep the barbarians from the door -- and 99% of the time, a user call reveals a serious malfunction between keyboard and chair.

My solution is to enlist them. Rather than tell them what technical solution I want to implement, I ask them how they'd recommend I do XYZ. I suggest a couple of different ways and acknowledge the *weaknesses* in each. I'm old and sneaky so I let them underestimate me and offer solutions that are sub-standard, below par, or otherwise unsatisfactory and then point out the flaws in their plans. Frequently, we're able to come to some solution that is better than what I could do on my own, and which demonstrates that I'm not a "them" but an "us" ... It takes time, and it's really a question of building relationships ... which when you think about it, is really the core of Web 2.0 as well.

[added by Mari Hobkirk: 17 years teaching, and 8 of those I was also a network administrator] I've sat on both sides of this divide. In my district, which is a very large school district, the district technology people decide what is supported and what is not. Help is not given to anything that is unsupported. One example of this is the web server I use for my classes. Since 1995, I have had a web server that has been dedicated to all of my Computer Science and Web Design classes. I'm not a Linux expert, and occaisionally I need help with this server. Because the district technology people don't support this, there is no help to be had. I've had to spend a lot of time to learn what little I do know. There seems to be little communication between us and them. There also seems to be little room to move ahead or forward, unless the district has decided that's the way we should be moving. Back to my web server as an example. I think I could put Drupal on my web server, or Moodle and use them on this Linux server, but because there's really no help, I've no way of knowing, and it frustrates me that there's no help. Teachers are currently overwhelmed with a lot of things, and I just feel like there isn't any support for those of us trying to move forward.

[added by Corrie Bergeron: M.Ed., background in engineering and education, currently supporting faculty at a 2-yr college] If your local tech guy spent time in a primary classroom, he has to have some understanding of the issues you face day-to-day. As regards the budget, who has the responsibility for that? Do you have any say? Does he? How much? Think about the situation from a pure human-relations standpoint. Might he feel a little threatened by your knowledge and experience? Could that be the cause of his stand-offishness? You both have jobs to do, but you share a mission to educate students. Perhaps if you meet on that common ground you might be able to clear the air and move forward.

[added by Mari Hobkirk] I didn't think of this example yesterday. I believe it is already covered on Bud's list above, but I want to list it just the same, because on the surface one would think this is a simple issue to solve. One of the classes I teach is [|Web Design]. A basic principle of good web design is to check your web site in multiple browsers to see that it looks the same. For a long time I had three browsers available to students in my classroom. I was able to do this because the site tech knew I monitored students as they work in my lab, and because I help maintain those computers, and didn't usually ask for a lot of her time. However, when the district LAN person came in and found out I had Firefox on the computers I was told to take it off immediately or the district would no longer give any support for computer issues in my classroom - ANY computer issues. So now, I'm back to just IE, and students really aren't learning some of what good Web Design is.

Why do I think this happens? I think many of the tech people in my district who are at the district level, not the school level, have NEVER been in a classroom, except years ago when they were a student. I think they are simply dealing with issues in a black and white manner. This is probably the easiest way for them to get their job done, but its not always supportive. It is often pointed out at meetings that as a school or teacher the students are our clients. I think it should be pointed out that teachers, classrooms, and schools are the clients, and the tech people are there to support us. I wish the district tech people were a resource that I could use to make my job easier and the learning in my classroom better.

[added by Shawn Tank - HS Math and Computer Science teacher] I see it as a timing issue. When I am teaching my math classes and a spontaneous teaching opportunity comes up in a discussion, I have the tools at hand to react to it. With technology, that same type of oppportunity can be lost because I couldn't access the resources in the moment. The solution lies in better training for all teachers so the minimum skill level which restrictions are based on rises. This will naturally happen as younger people with more technological skill enter the profession.

[added by Ken Benson - HS Economics, Social Studies and German teacher] The problem I have is the lack of administrator privileges. One evening I found a very cool podcast about globalization for my economics class. Talk about just in time! This was great - it discussed all the relevant information I needed for my next day's lesson and it was oh so timely. When I went to play it on my school laptop, I was told I need Real Player...yes, the dreaded Real Player to play the .ram file. But then I had to put in for a work order to get this software, had to wait for the overworked tech guy to do the oh so simple install, and then, well I moved on to another topic and the moment was lost. I've installed software on my own computer for years. Why not let me do the same to my school computer? It's so frustrating!

Denise Atkinson-Shorey, CTO of [|CBOCES] offers these links and resources for those of you seeking more support, information, or opportunities.

www.cosn.org CoSN is the country’s premier voice for K-12 education leaders who use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning.

http://www.school2-0.org/ School 2.0 is a brainstorming tool designed to help schools, districts and communities develop a common education vision for the future and to explore how that vision can be supported by technology.

www.apqc.org Information technology (IT) organizations worldwide are all faced with the same challenge: doing more with less. That is why APQC is offering in-depth IT benchmarking and best practices that compare your organizational processes and practices to those of relevant peers and world-class organizations in terms of costs, productivity, efficiency, and cycle time.

http://etc.usf.edu/index.html ETC is a collaborative project of the Bureau of Instruction and Innovation, Florida Department of Education and the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida.

http://www.portical.org/techplanningtools.html TICAL's Resource Database contains over 500 carefully selected and annotated resources to help you find quality educational technology resources in a hurry.

http://school20.wikispaces.com/ There is a growing desire to rethink education and learning, and the phrase "School 2.0" is being used to think about what schools will look like in the future.

http://www.schooltechleadership.org/ CASTLE is the nation's only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators.

http://www.classroom20.com/

http://web2tutorial.wikispaces.com/

Bud, I love your thoughts on safety. We need to get into more Internet safety across all our schools. I wonder if the Legislature would fund a program to have our local law enforcement to build programs for communities. I don't see it as a school problem... it is a whole community problem.-Dan Maas