Integrated/Aligned Planning

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Antwon Lincoln on January 11, 2009 at 11:16am

I am working with that as my chief aim as well. This is a discussion and I will follow it to get ideas. Thanks for posting it.

Permalink Reply by Antwon Lincoln on January 11, 2009 at 11:18am

Why is it a cultural shift? What challenges do you see on your side that prevents it from coming together?

Permalink Reply by Antwon Lincoln on January 11, 2009 at 12:25pm

Good Point! - "To be blunt we are janitors; good at doing what we are told, but not to be involved in the thinking / planning phase." I like your candor on this. I can see the other see clearly.

What the IT professional doing to change the perception?

Permalink Reply by Cindy Seibel on January 11, 2009 at 3:29pm

The road to value is an uphill climb. I like your "proof is in the pudding" approach. IT will be asked to the table when it's work is seen not only as important but the language is in that of the educator. We need to talk about student outcomes not bits and bytes, or network capacity, or the size of the computer room. Start with student outcomes and work backward toward the technical needs. Changing teacher practice takes time (that is understood) and so will changing out or upgrading an infrastructure. But meeting the commitment of delivering what I said I would deliver in support of outcomes when I said I would deliver it goes a long way.

Permalink Reply by Antwon Lincoln on January 11, 2009 at 4:02pm

Could you give an example?

Permalink Reply by Antwon Lincoln on January 11, 2009 at 4:03pm

I like the statement of "working backward".

Permalink Reply by Marty Caise on January 12, 2009 at 9:08am

Developing a good model depends on your point a view. In many cases, when these groups come together the discussion can be heated and with little progress made. This is not always a bad thing. It shows everyone how dedicated and passionate you are about the topic or concern. What we have done is set a few ground rules the second time around.

The first time was primarily meetings to setup additional meetings or to voice complaints about technology that was not functioning to the satisfaction of the users - AND an IT group responding that they were unaware of the problem because it was not reported effectively. Priorities were set for new technology projects without consulting IT support. As a result many projects were pushed and users greatly affected. In addition, because of this lack of effective communication, costs were much higher because when some educators look at new technology (especially networked technology), the cost of the project is not just for what the vendor is selling. Servers and other network equipment - not to mention security constraints - can influence the decision to implement the project and as a result those educators are angry because the cost was not what they understood and in some cases responses like "the IT department doesn't care about what I am doing for my kids" or " IT just doesn't want to do it" are sent our way. In reality, as it was explained to me when I moved into IT support in the school system... "As an employee of the IT group, we are here to provide technical support towards the delivery of instruction to the students of the school district."

The second time has been much more productive. The group rules were established early. An agenda is released to all attendees well in advance. Support related concerns must be reported to the support department through their system (Helpdesk requests/ work orders) and referenced on the agenda. This is done so an update can be obtained not so the problem can be addressed in a panic. Existing issues are discussed first and tasks assigned during the meeting. New initiatives are introduced with the understanding that planning may need to be completed. This is not to say this new way of meeting is not without disagreements, but because our meetings are kept on task and everyone has the same information, educators begin to learn how difficult it can be to implement technology and IT support can have a better understanding of how teachers are using their technology and why it is so very important to keep it functional.

Hope this helps

Permalink Reply by James O'Reilly on January 21, 2009 at 9:01am

Check this one... The student-created podcast interfaces with iTunes...

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Matt Montagne from webcastacademy.net is behind this.

Permalink Reply by Samantha Mimbs on January 21, 2009 at 1:13pm

Hi Cindy. Communication between instructional and technical staff members can be obtained. A couple of schools have what they call Technology Meetings. They are comprised of representatives from each grade level and/or department. There is usually a system level technical representative present as well. At the system level, we have had a representative from each school meet at the central office with the system technology staff. It is used to present items that need attention (software, hardware requests, etc.) as well as a time for each representative to share technical issues they have experienced and overcome, or to discuss resolutions.