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leading campus change
CTO/CIOLeadership

Five Steps to Leading Campus Tech Efforts

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

What happens when you blow people’s minds because what you’ve shared changes their perspective in a radical way? What happens when participants get a new way to see teaching, learning, and leading? That’s when counters are reset to zero and learning begins anew. It’s at this moment as you feel unsure about all that you know that your supervisor drops the request. “Can you take the lead in supporting blending technology into what we do on campus?” This blog entry explores five critical steps.

1- Shift Their Thinking

“My mind is reeling. It feels like I missed chances in the last fifteen years in my classroom,” said an ISTE Certification participant. A few moments prior, the workshop participant had completed an activity. The activity involved reviewing education frameworks like SAMR, TPACK, LOTI, and HEAT. I’d seen this reaction before with campus principals. We often get an ephemeral positive feeling about technology when it works. But that feeling doesn’t always align to actual teaching and learning. Observational frameworks like HEAT, when understood, shift people’s thinking.

H.E.A.T. is a four letter acronym that stands for Higher-order thinking, Engaged learning, Authentic connections, and Technology use. The H.E.A.T. focuses on assessing student learning experiences. Because it offers descriptors for classroom walkthroughs, you can use it for peer coaching/mentoring growing conversations.

I recommend shifting people’s thinking as soon as possible. It doesn’t mean people have failed as teachers. It could mean they may have missed teaching and learning opportunities. Some tips:

  • Analyze existing instructional activities with HEAT to get the conversation started.
  • Write new lessons as a team, discussing activities with the framework in mind.
  • Try a Four Corners approach with each aspect of the HEAT framework. Analyze a traditional lesson. Focus on the first three parts (H.E.A.) to get at whether lessons make a difference on an instructional continuum. This can give participants a clearer grasp of what should be happening.
  • Watch videos showing classroom instruction and then apply the framework to those videos. (You can find lots of example videos on YouTube.)

Shifting people’s perspectives involves creating a safe situation. You extend an invitation for them to change their perspective. That perspective may involve them re-assessing how they teach and see learning. That can be frightening. So make it safe.

2- Avoid The Expert Trap

“How do I decide what technology to get for the whole campus?” asked Jane. She was at ISTE Certification training for one reason. The leadership team had given her the task of making technology decisions for the campus. When she told me that, I had a gut reaction. “Set up a committee of stakeholders. Don’t get stuck making the decision yourself.” Avoid the expert trap. If you make all the decisions, you get all the blame. Worse, you’re the only one who does the learning that comes with the work. The work involves researching and trying potential solutions. It means developing a rationale why certain technologies are better. Chromebooks, iPads, Microsoft Surface Go tablets are all great. Yet that’s not all there is to it.

3) Mix and Match the Perfect System

If you don’t know how technologies fit together, you may want to avoid the mix-and-match approach. The reason why is that some districts with this approach dump everything on their staff. Then they wonder why usage is so low. Most teachers can’t handle navigating three ecosystems at once. Trying to remember your login and password for more than one system is a headache for some. For those districts that lack a single sign-on solution (SSO), it can be worse. I’ve seen teachers cry when trying to figure out what to use, when, and where. Every second staff spend in technology limbo, they aren’t impacting instruction.

Consider these key areas the campus team will need to make:

Decide on an ecosystem.

Are you going to use Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams? Will you use G Suite for Education, Microsoft Office 365, or Apple’s Classroom 2.0 and iTunes? This is a huge decision based on new workflows your people haven’t yet adopted. You must try these out ahead of time. They are all free. Put them through their paces. How people work varies and no one will be 100% satisfied. What you need is a consensus that, for work purposes, you will use ONE of these ecosystems. For goodness sake, no split decisions.

Decide on hardware.

Okay, you have convinced yourself one ecosystem is the way to go. Now decide on the hardware that aligns to that ecosystem.

  • G Suites? Get Chromebooks. They are easy to manage and deploy. Sprinkle in a few Windows 10 or Mac laptops for teachers. Throw in one or two iPads per classroom to assist with video editing, science probes, and more. Use the new Google Sites to house all your staff policy documents. Use Google Calendar for meeting and room tracking. Share your files via Google Drive. Issue Gmail accounts for both staff and students so they can communicate with ease. Introduce mobile apps for smartphones and tablets. Learn how to use tools like Seesaw and Peardeck. Make it easy for teachers to get add-ons and extensions.
  • Office 365? Get touch-enabled Windows 10 tablets. Use School Data Sync (free) to set up class rosters in Teams. Teams is Microsoft’s virtual classroom tool. Setup a OneNote Staff Notebook for all staff to share lesson plans, policies, and more. Get teachers and students using OneNote Class Notebook. Introduce Outlook email via the Office 365 portal site (portal.office.com). Get the right license (A3 or A5) so you get the Desktop versions of the Office suite (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel). Introduce mobile apps for their personal and work devices. Load a browser like Chrome and/or Firefox to get past Microsoft Edge’s perpetual beta status.
  • Apple? Get a Macbook and iPad for each staff member. Make sure you have the right case and add a keyboard for secondary students. Show participants how to use Classroom 2.0, iTunes, and other critical apps. Adopt tools like Seesaw and Nearpod. Read the beginner’s guide to iPads in the classroom blog entry.

Set up professional learning with collegial coaching.

If you want to see changes happen, then embrace collegial coaching. This approach involves colleagues supporting their colleagues. Just-in-time learning can make all the difference. Create a culture where coaching about instruction and technology is safe and results-focused.

4) Get a Single Sign-On Solution (SSO)

This may be one of the toughest problems ahead. You aren’t going to get anything done unless you have an SSO in place. That’s because you may have many different online systems. It is unreasonable to expect users to remember account information for each system. Make sure you select an automated system that will ensure your users only need to remember ONE login.

5) Synchronize Your Class Rosters

“How do we avoid having to type in all our class rosters?” asked a teacher in a workshop. For Microsoft Office 365, I was quick to point out her district needed to use School Data Sync. Tools like School Data Sync, which is available for free to districts, make creating class rosters easy. This frees the teacher from having to create class rosters in various systems (e.g. Office 365) one student at a time. Similar systems for G Suites for Education are available, too. Put this solution in place and you save your teachers many hours of tedious work. This is time they can spend using technology to impact teaching and learning.

Planning Ahead

Now you’ve formed your stakeholder committee. They’ve made the right choices about hardware, software, and training plus coaching. What’s next? The toughest part, implementation. You will need to revisit the implementation, adapting your plans to new situations. Need help? Be sure to call on TCEA’s Professional Development team. You can reach us at 800-282-8232 or submit a logistics form to schedule onsite support.

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cyber security
CTO/CIOCybersecurityLeadershipTechnical Support

Resources for Cyber Security Awareness Month

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

As of  2004, Cyber Security Awareness Month has been celebrated in October. This month is sponsored by a division within Homeland Security (the National Cyber Security Division) and the National Cyber Security Alliance. The goal is to encourage all technology users to be more aware of risks and potential online threats which typically target human behavior. You may notice various posts and updates this month across your devices and tools as it relates to cyber security. For example, you may have noticed the Presidential Alert on your cell phone on Wednesday, October 3. Though that alert is to warn of a more widespread disaster, it wasn’t a coincidence that it took place this month. To help you participate, we’ve collected resources, ideas, and activities that can be implemented and shared with students (and teachers).

Resources

Weekly Security Themes – The National Cyber Security Alliance has identified a theme for each week of this month in order to bring more awareness to specific aspects of online threats to consumers, educators/students, and businesses.

FBI Resources for Weekly Security Themes – In conjunction with the NCSA, the FBI has provided specific resources to help educate yourself and students.

CISCO Resources for Weekly Security Themes – CISCO has organized resources that provide more in-depth, relevant information for each week covering topics such as Machine Learning 101 and Data Protection and Privacy.

Science and Technology’s Cyber Security Division Overview Video [4:55] This video shares the major tasks of the Cyber Security Division and how this division brings together government departments and private sector organizations to develop innovative technologies and safer procedures.

Ideas and Activities

CyberSmart! Classroom Activities & Posters – The NCSA partnered with McAfee to distribute free cyber security posters along with accompanying activities to educators. Even if you aren’t able to incorporate the activities this month, consider using them at another time during the year as you discuss various aspects of digital citizenship.

GenCyber Teacher Camp Resources – The University of Tulsa has organized a GREAT list of lesson plans, units, activities, and resources for educators. Be sure to explore and share with others!

Cybersecurity Lab – Teens will find this a fascinating and intriguing game to play as they learn what fosters authentic scientific exploration.  The four major gameplay components consist of Coding Challenge, Password-Cracking Challenge, Social Engineering Challenge, and Network Attacks.

CERIAS Lesson Plans and Presentations – The Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS) has gathered and organized an excellent list of lesson plans for educators. The categories of lesson plans include lesson plans for all grade levels, lesson plans for K-5, and lesson plans for 6-12.

eGFI Lessons and Activities – The Engineering, Go For It (eGFI) organization has put together several activities that you’ll enjoy sharing with your students. Along with the activities is a list of related lesson plans!

NICCS Resources for Engaging Students in Cybersecurity – The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies (a part of the Department of Homeland Security) has put together a helpful guide to lead educators in bringing awareness of careers in the cybersecurity field.

Winning the Cyber Security Game –  If you are a middle school teacher, you’ll enjoy using this lesson plan with your students. Canadian educators will appreciate that it is aligned to the Digital Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools. Anticipate the activity taking one hour for 5th and 6th grade students and up to three hours for 7th and 8th grade students.

Free Resources for Teaching Students Cyber Security – Orion Technologies provided an “ultimate list” of resources for teachers. To better assist you in finding the perfect resources, they have divided them into the following groups: for teachers, for administrators, for younger kids, for pre-teen and middle school kids, and for older kids.

Cyber-Security Starter Activities – STEM Learning provides two starter activities to help get you started with educating students age 14 to 19 in aspects of cyber security.

Unplugged Activities – Did you realize you can teach cyber security concepts without the Internet?! Bits N’ Bytes by Kyla provides you with a lesson plan for 4th through 8th grade students that will take up to two hours to complete.

Find More…

If you would like to search for more ideas and resources, consider doing a Google search using this as your search query [  cybersecurity site:.gov   ]. This query (without the square brackets) will limit your search results to websites that have the .gov domain. If you want to search for information provided by universities, then change the .gov to .edu. Here are the search results for each: using .gov and using .edu.

If you feel like you have the skills and interest to become an ethical hacker, then check out Penny Hoelscher’s post at comparitech, 6 courses to learn ethical hacking online. Other resources to investigate include #ethicalHacking, #hackerNews, #infosec, and #cybersecurity.  And, if you have high school students who seem to have a knack for ‘getting into things,’ then this may be a honorable career pathway for them to make good use of those talents.

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legislative priorities
AdvocacyCTO/CIOLeadership

TCEA Board Sets Legislative Priorities

by Jennifer Bergland
written by Jennifer Bergland

Every two years, the TCEA Board of Directors adopts their legislative priorities. In order to arrive at these priorities, they survey the members, look at relevant research, and review what other states are doing. These priorities are designed to help school districts provide a more personalized education for their students by enabling teachers to customize the content, timing, location, and delivery of instruction that best meets each student’s instructional needs. This goal has been a laudable goal of educators for years, but the ability to differentiate instruction for each student has been difficult to achieve. Technology has advanced to the point where this is now possible.

Every industry and economic enterprise in the world has used technology to completely transform the way they conduct business. The TCEA board’s priorities address six core areas we feel can assist school districts to leverage technology in the same way.

An overview of the recommended strategies are listed below. You can find a detailed list of the board’s priorities on the TCEA website.

Leadership and Planning

Leadership is critical to enacting a change of this magnitude. This will require a well-thought-out plan that includes student outcomes, professional learning, curriculum and instructional materials, digital devices, broadband, and policies that enable a district to allow students to move at their own pace.

Recommendations:

  • Create a Digital Learning Task Force that will help implement the Long-Range Plan for Technology.
  • Establish a grant program to enable districts to reach the goals in the state’s LRPT.

Professional Learning

priorities In order to accomplish the goals established in our priorities, it  is imperative that teachers have a supportive environment in which to adapt their teaching strategies to take advantage of empowering technologies. Teachers recognize the benefits of the use of technology, but don’t always know how and when to use the different technologies that are available. This is why TCEA believes strongly that teachers need ongoing, job-embedded professional learning opportunities that empower them to use appropriate

technology tools to meet various educational needs.

Recommendations:

  • Support educators with ongoing, job-embedded professional development on the use of technology to enhance instruction.
  • Ensure that teachers who receive micro-credentials for skills that meet the demands of the digital classroom are recognized as continuing professional education requirements by SBEC.

Technology and Instructional Materials Allotment

In 2011, the state legislature created an allotment that provides funding for both instructional materials and technology. This dual purpose fund was designed to help districts transition to an increased use of digital instructional materials. Since the inception of the TIMA, only 13 percent of the allotment has been used to purchase technology (TIMA Expenditure Report). This has made It difficult for districts to initiate and sustain broad-based technology implementations. TCEA is firmly supportive of local-control, which is why our approach has been to provide districts with more information about available instructional materials, support the use of Open Education Resources, and work with the SBOE in limiting the size of the instructional materials proclamations.

Recommendations:

  • Provide districts with more guidance on the merits of Open Education Resources and continue to allocate funding for OER aligned to state curriculum standards.
  • Track a district’s expenditures on technology/digital content and tools to identify trends.
  • The SBOE should evaluate a school district’s needs for instructional content and technology and ensure that any proclamation not exceed 75 percent of the TIMA.

priorities

Technology Proficiency

TCEA was founded in 1980 by teachers who were interested in teaching students how to use a computer. Equipping students with the necessary skills to function in the e-economy is central to our mission. This is why we are alarmed that Texas eighth grader’s technology proficiency has declined by ten percent between 2013-2018 (source: Learning.com Texas – TCEA 8th Grade TA-TEKS Assessment).

There is a false belief that today’s students know how to use technology because they are able to connect with their peers via Snap Chat and Instagram. Students may know how to take a pic and send it to their friends, but may not be able to leverage technology to help them analyze and evaluate information in order to create and produce something new. TCEA believes that all Texas students should have computational thinking skills that will enable them to be both users and creators of computing technology.

Recommendations

  • Move the high school Technology Application courses into the CTE curriculum, aligning and removing similar courses.
  • Update the K-8 Technology TEKS to include computational thinking and coding skills.
  • Increase the number of students taking a course that exposes them to computer science or computer programming.
  • Provide additional funding for professional development to increase the number of teachers who can teach computer science courses.

Broadband

Texas has come a long way in meeting the FCC’s minimum goal of 100 kbs per student and access to fiber. The average cost of broadband has also dropped in recent years. However, we have not fully reached the goal of having scalable and affordable broadband for all students both at school and home. Students in districts without adequate broadband capacity or who have limited access to digital devices and tools are at a distinct disadvantage today. Not only do they have fewer options in terms of access to content, they are unable to develop the technical skills associated with navigating the internet and creating knowledge online.

Recommendations

  • Designate a state entity that will identify existing barriers to providing scalable broadband access both at school and in students’ homes and administer a plan to address these barriers.
  • Provide funding for the state E-rate match and for WiFi access within school classrooms.
  • Maximize the Technology Lending Grants in order to assist with home access.

Personalized Learning 

priorities Every student has distinct learning needs, interests, and aspirations. Up until recently, it was extremely difficult to tailor the instructional strategies to meet each student’s needs. Technology can be an enabler of this type of educational model. It allows students to guide their inquiry as they decide how they will interact with the content, including the time and location. This type of learning requires a major shift in the delivery of instruction and involves teacher professional learning, a robust technical infrastructure, the selection of appropriate content, and strong leaders who know how to manage this type of change. Many of the strategies listed above support the goal of personalized learning; however, there are a few that have not yet been addressed.

Recommendations

  • Allow students to receive credit based on the mastery of the content, not seat time.
  • Provide additional funding for blended learning initiatives such as the Math Innovation Zone.
  • Increase the number of students taking TxVSN courses.

Conclusion

The legislative priorities are designed to give TCEA staff guidance on what legislation the association should pursue. If you are interested in finding out more and you are a member, make sure you join the Advocacy group in our social community. If you aren’t a member, consider joining so that you can get involved and help advocate for our teachers and students.

Credits

Photos of the Texas Capitol by Spencer Selvidge

Computer code photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Student smiling photo by Oluwakemi Solaja on Unsplash

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Lone Ranger with his horse, Silver. Public Domain image.
CTO/CIOLeadership

The Lone Ranger CTO

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a lone ranger CTO? The title comes to mind when I consider a conversation I had a few years ago. It also highlights a common problem in districts, the tyranny of competence.

The Lone Ranger CTO

“How many people are on your staff?” I’d struck up a conversation with a district technology director when we had run into each other at an annual TCEA Convention and Exposition. “I’m the only one,” she responded, “chief cook and bottle washer.” “You do the networking AND the instructional stuff,” I asked, “all by your lonesome?” Hard to hide, my shock was palpable. I had avoided those kinds of “demi-god” tech director jobs for years. They represented organizations who didn’t believe in appropriate staffing models. My opinion didn’t stop them, though.

“Yes,” she replied. Her hard smile spoke of grim determination and commitment to a job well done. No matter how wonderful she was, her organization had set themselves up for a difficult time. Let’s explore the role of the leader and a concept known as “tyranny of competence.” Those who embrace the tyranny of competence may be called “Lone Star” CTOs. They seek to dominate the heavens as the source of all knowledge, the star attraction in the Technology Department.

The Role of the Leader

If you’ve taken on the role of a Lone Ranger CTO, you have accepted mission-critical responsibilities. The ISTE Standards for Education Leaders define these responsibilities.

Did You Know?

You can get certified as an ISTE Certified Educator via TCEA. ISTE Certification is a new competency-based, vendor-agnostic educator certification based on the ISTE Standards for Educators. This digital credential recognizes educators who understand how to use ed tech for learning in meaningful and transformative ways. Learn more.

Leaders engage others as visionary planners. They set a vision and a strategic plan in place. They articulate an ongoing evaluation cycle for transforming learning with technology. As a director of technology, you learn how to build a strategic plan. You take an impartial measure of any project’s effectiveness. Then you are ruthless about pruning projects that deal with boxes and wires. You work to safeguard your most important investment, people.

Avoid the temptation to be a Lone Ranger CTO. Build a team that engages others. Once you decide to do that, the question arises: How do you lead teams whose joint work makes strategic plan implementation possible?

Avoid a Strategic Planning Pitfall

One way to lead teams is to assign key staff authority and oversight. This type of delegation works well. Yet empowerment can create a problem without the right relationship in place.

One challenge we face in limited numbers of staff filling many jobs is the “tyranny of competence.” In one district I served, paraprofessional educators filled the role of degreed staff. There, I encountered a challenge I have seen often. It arises in districts where funding is inadequate or not allocated well. Paraprofessionals are tasked with high demand jobs, yet are often not compensated or provided with requisite training.

In those all-too-common situations, one person becomes the problem solver, the doer. The organization comes to rely on the unique technical work that a person does. The more unique the work, the more powerful a person becomes. One symptom is that tyrannical technology staff block instructional goals. I’ve seen this happen in finance departments as well as technology.

When that person exits the district, the organization finds itself in a deep hole. “How did he configure the servers? Who knows the passwords?” are two questions I’ve heard after seeing a network engineer leave. Often, organizations compound the problem. They choose to replace from within. On the surface, this seems sound. Yet in districts with funding issues (many smaller districts), tyranny of competence increases; too much power and responsibility is given to someone who may be too young or worse, young and lacking the technical chops to innovate.

A Problem of Competence

Put experienced people of high technical competence in leadership roles. In this way, when you encounter inevitable problems that arise, they can innovate. That innovation moves the district forward rather than maintains the status quo.

For example, your network engineer is a high school student who began as a technician. Over the years, the technology adept student learned his or her trade on the job under a mentor. When the mentor with more experience or training leaves, the district faces a problem. With a mentor, the mentee could do the job. Alone, s/he lacks the skills and aptitude to research and solve new, complex problems that arise. The district continues with the mentee since it is unaware of the lack of depth or because it lacks funding.

In a few years, problems begin to arise. In no time, the district has assumed that the growth of the network has been commensurate with the needs. The truth is, the network is failing and big issues have grown expensive. A technology audit might catch this issue, but maintaining the status quo is top priority. A failure to cross train has made the district subject to the tyranny of competence.

Did You Know?

Earn TCEA’s coveted Technology/ IT Director Certification. It provides a venue for educators who wish to become, or already are, district-level technology or IT directors. Coursework includes sessions such as Building a Technology Vision and Plan, PLN for IT/Tech Directors, Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas, and/or Social Media in Schools. Register now.

Avoid the Tyranny of Competence

To avoid the tyranny of competence, take these steps when you discover a key team member is leaving.

  • Craft a transition plan
  • Schedule meetings to explore how this person did his job
  • Assign the how of the other person’s job to other staff
  • Adjust deadlines and expectations
  • Get all usernames/passwords for key technologies
  • Get a commitment for ongoing support for three months, at least, with an offer of compensation

Going forward, avoid tyranny of competence. Do this instead:

  • Hire new staff that can 1) work as a team and 2) have the requisite technical skills
  • Change the culture to focus on teamwork
  • Set your team up to avoid making any one person a tyrant of competency in a key area

Avoid Sudden Disasters

When you’re short-handed or key personnel are gone, you have to pick up the pieces. You learn to rely on technologies and teaming that differ from what you’ve done in the past. Avoid putting yourself as CTO under the thumb of tyrants, benevolent or not.

In my own work, I see cross-training as an absolute must. Have an important job assigned to one person? Rotate the job among available staff so each builds capacity. If you have a network gal who is the only one who can do network configuration, then you have to cross train. “No” is not an acceptable answer. We must teach each other what we know. That way, when we get hit by a truck at a gas station, the organization won’t have to struggle to figure out what to do.

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records
CTO/CIOLeadership

Record Retention and Management 101

by Jennifer Bergland
written by Jennifer Bergland

The task of record management is not for the faint of heart. You must know the law, determine the procedures, organize the process, and train the users in all of the above. Since most school district’s records are digital, the chief technology officer has an important part to play in this process. As a service to our members, we recently hosted a webinar in which Joshua Clark of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, provided an overview of the rules that govern the management of school records, including those that are electronic. This blog post is a short recap of what he covered in the webinar.

The Basics

Let’s first define what we mean when we refer to records management. Below is the legal definition for the state of Texas. 

Records

We know it’s important to manage a district’s records because it is the law, but there are other important reasons to do so. Having a records management plan helps you efficiently find records when they are needed, either for legal purposes or to carry out the business of the district. In addition, it helps you control costs by destroying copies you are not required to retain.  

Next, we need to establish the definition of a record. According to the TSLAC , a state record is

any written, photographic, machine-readable, or other recorded information created or received by or on behalf of a state agency or an elected state official that documents activities in the conduct of the state business or use of public resources. 

It might be helpful to also consider what is NOT a record. 

reocrds

Determining Records to Retain

Since there are often multiple copies of a record, the question becomes which record do you keep. Joshua pointed out that the one copy you keep is identified as the record copy. All other copies are considered convenience copies and can be destroyed at any time. It is the district’s responsibility to determine which copy is the record copy and in what media format the record should be stored.  

records

Records Management Officer

Now that we know what a record is, whose responsibility is it to maintain them? Each district is required to appoint someone to be the Records Management Officer. The district’s school board makes this designation. The RMO has the responsibility to oversee the entire process. This includes the establishment of the policies and procedures and includes a retention schedule. The RMO is also responsible for determining the method of storing the records and how they will be retrieved. They must also determine the most economical method for the storage of the files that are inactive.

Records Retention Schedule

Under the RMO’s guidance, a school must create or adopt a records retention schedule. Your district can create their own retention schedule, adopt TSLAC’s schedules, or do a mixture of both. Most districts adopt TSLAC’s schedules.

A school district’s record is grouped with records that are similar. These are called a record series. Each record in a series is required to be kept for the same length of time. It doesn’t matter if the record is contained on paper or if it is a digital record. The record series determines the length of time it’s to be retained. 

records

A retention schedule is not hard to read if you know what to look for. 

records

How Long?

Once you identify the record series and the retention schedule for that record series, you are able to determine how long you must keep the record.

records

 

While we are reviewing the length of time each record series is to be kept, it is important to note the exceptions that prevent you from destroying a record, even if it meets the threshold upon which it can be destroyed. 

records

 

Managing Electronic Records

I often hear someone ask, “How long must I keep a teacher’s email?” It depends. The content of a record is what determines the length it must be retained, not the format of the record.

However, electronic records do pose some problems that a district must consider when storing their records electronically. The RMO needs to determine if the record will be available and readable. For example, if the record is on a floppy drive, but you don’t have a device that can read the floppy drive, the record isn’t available. You must have both the necessary hardware and software that’s needed to access the content of the record. This will be an ongoing issue as storage solutions evolve and change due to technological advances.

Metadata

One thing I learned from the webinar is that the metadata of a file is considered part of the government record. Metadata is data about the data. For example, metadata will tell you who created the record and who has changed it. It also might provide information about the location of its creation and the time and date the record was created. 

records

 

Types of Electronic Records

Email

Email is considered a record if its contents contains government business. The contents of the email determines how long you are required to retain the record. It is important to note that the content of the email, not the device it was created on, determines if it needs to be kept. If the email pertains to school district business, then it is a record that must be managed and retained according to the retention schedule, even if it was created on an employee’s personal device.

Text Messages

Courts have ruled that text messages are also considered a record if it conducts government business. Check out the TSLAC’s blog on ways to capture text messages that need to be retained and other issues related to email.

Social Media

Social media can also create government records. TSLAC recommends that your district create policies and procedures that outline who can post and what they are allowed to post. You have to decide if what is posted is a convenience copy or the official record copy. You also must decide if you are going to allow the public to post on the district’s social media accounts. If so, you will need to create policies regarding this and post these policies on the different district social media platforms. You might want to review the TSLAC’s blog for articles dealing with social media.

Training Available

If you are interested in more training, checkout their website. They have multiple webinars that you and your staff can watch to ensure that your district is in compliance with the law.

Source: Most of this content, including the graphics, were obtained from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Photo of Computers by Gerd Altman, accessed on Pixabay. Creative Commons License: Free for Commercial Use and No Attribution Required.

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staff
CTO/CIOLeadership

Setting Your Staff Up for Success

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

While we all want our staff to succeed, we need to admit that there is a major role that we play in making that possible. By doing (or not doing) specific things as leaders, we can inadvertently hinder their ability to succeed. And, when you think about setting them up to succeed, many of the same strategies that we use for students will also work with our staff. Daniel H. Pink summarized it best when he identified the three things that motivate creative folks: “autonomy, mastery, and purpose.” Let’s take a look at how these might play out on your campus or team as you set them up for success.

Give Your Staff Members Choice

Just as with students, allowing our staff some choice in various decisions or activities can help build buy-in to the activity. Granted there are some things that may have to be assigned. But if the end goal can be accomplished by a variety of folks, why not let them choose who will take responsibility?

Differentiate Your Communication

Sometimes we get frustrated with our staff because they don’t fully understand the vision, goal, or reason why we are doing something. When I find myself in this situation and take a step back, it is usually because I have failed to communicate clearly and adequately with my staff. Unfortunately, I’ve never had any mind readers on my staff! If you  have a similar situation, then you might take a look at how you are communicating. To break it down further, think about differentiating how you communicate by considering the medium that you use. Some folks respond better if they have information in an email while others may not check their email regularly because they find texting their go-to method of communication. Still others may prefer the face-to-face communication that couples body language and tonal inflection for them to catch the “aha!” that you want them to grasp.

Provide Strategic Scaffolding

Whether you have new staff, staff that lack specific skills, or you are the new one to them, it might benefit them (and you) to think through how you can scaffold expectations for them. Those that need the additional support can take advantage of it while others that do not need those supports can bypass them, only taking advantage of fewer resources or procedures to meet your expectation.

Detail Your Criteria

Though you probably won’t have a rubric for folks to use that may be working on specific projects, it couldn’t hurt to write out your expectations in such as way that they understand what the minimum expectation is and what needs to happen to hit it out of the ballpark. With these, though, as with students, you need to review the indicators so that everyone understands what the various levels of quality mean. If not, you may find that everyone may share the same vocabulary, but have very different understandings of the definitions of that vocabulary.

Play to Their Strengths

You might consider doing some type of inventory with your staff to help them (and you) identify their strengths, preferences, and natural inclinations. There are a variety of personality tests on the Internet that are free. If using these, it is best to set the context of why you are providing the test and that there are not any right or wrong answers. Consider providing these at the beginning of the year as an ice-breaker or getting-to-know-you activity. You may find that putting these online in a Google Form can help everyone look at their (and others’) information. The better we know each other, the better we can support each other and move forward. Playing to each individual’s strengths can also increase the quality of their success and possibly connect with more intrinsic rewards.

Start Small and Build

Granted that you may have had a lot of expectations dumped on you that you are now expected to pass on. That doesn’t mean that dumping them all at once on your staff is the best way to go. While you may be able to handle it, you may have staff that find themselves overwhelmed and become shut down or distracted from the end goal, therefore unable to perform up to expectations. Consider how you can start small and add expectations as you go along. It’s like when you see a skilled juggler that is able to juggle seven sharp knives successfully; it’s good to remember that that’s not how he started. He most likely started by juggling silk scarves or just two small balls and then worked his way up.

So, whether you are an educator at heart or have a heart for your staff being incredibly successful, consider implementing these strategies. You might be surprised at the outcome! There are many other strategies that could be listed when brainstorming what you can do in setting up your staff for success. Jump in the comments below and add to our list. We’d love to continue the conversation.

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back to school
CTO/CIOLeadership

Back to School Ideas for Leaders

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Ready or not, teachers and students are about to come back to school! Why not be a little creative in welcoming them back? Depending on what assets you have (time for planning, talent on staff, etc.) may determine if your efforts are a solo act or more of a group effort. Either way, your staff and students are sure to feel welcomed and happy to be back. Here are a few ideas that you might want to consider that won’t break the bank or require you to recruit Disney.

Introductions

Getting to know others is a great way to build camaraderie among your staff. Sometimes, though, the back-to-school to-do list is too full to allow you the flexibility to build in all the activities you’d like to do. Why not use Flip to introduce yourself to the group using this template: share your name and what you do, one thing you are excited about this school year, and one fun thing you enjoy doing when not at school. Here is a sample Flip Intro sandbox that you can jump in and record your own and see what others say that join in (be sure to use the guest password Leadership to access the sandbox).

Microsoft purchased Flipgrid (now Flip) and made it completely free to everyone! Educators can enjoy all the great features without having to worry about freemium issues. This has to be one of the best free tools for educators and leaders to use! And, since each Flip has to be password protected, you don’t have to worry about outsiders accessing your activities or seeing videos of staff and students. To find more great ideas of using Flip, consider searching on Twitter for #flipgridFever or take a look at their blog to more ideas.

YouTube Welcome Back to School

You don’t have to have Broadway in your background to create a great YouTube video that welcomes students and teachers back. It helps if you are creative, but even that isn’t always a requirement – just identify the creative folks around you and ask for their help. Here are a few YouTube videos that might serve as inspiration for a video you might do for your folks. As you will notice, some are more involved than others. But don’t feel that you have to achieve this on your first go round. Let it start a tradition of communicating that “we enjoy being together and working with students.”

Inspire to Make a Difference

Even if you find that you are not one that likes to be on either side of the video camera, you can still find resources that can inspire your staff to make a difference this year like never before. You can find a variety of inspirational videos at http://bit.ly/educatorsinspire. My favorite inspirational video for educators – whether in the classroom or in administration – is by Rita Pierson as she clearly gives a call for action to make a difference with those we serve.

What Will You Do?

How will you start the school year for your staff, teachers, and/or students? Will you design activities that help them focus on the critical nature of their job in supporting students? Will you help them grow in trusting their peers so they are more likely to look for inspiration and great ideas around them to emulate? Or will you use a video to evoke humor amidst the hard work that is already starting for the school year? However you choose to start this school year, we’d love to hear your story and possibly pass it on to encourage and inspire others to do the same. You can drop me a line at bellis@tcea.org and let me know.

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CTO/CIO

Back to School: Five Tips for CTOs

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

As teachers and students head back to school, here are five tips for Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) looking forward to an incoming avalanche of support tickets. Each new ticket begs the question, “What did we miss fixing or doing this summer?” Just as the tide of trouble tickets ebbs in time, so do the critical relationships a CTO must maintain. New principals and central office staff challenge the status quo of previous, well-constructed relationships. In this blog entry, join me as we explore relationship-building tips for CTOs.

Tip #1 – Share Progress on Achieving the Vision and Mission

As a CTO, it’s easy to focus on the boxes and wires side of your work. When returning from a long summer break, you will need to remind everyone of what the district technology vision is. Then, show in measurable steps (including pictures and audio/video interviews with campus/district staff) how you are achieving those goals. This can be as simple as taking the top five trouble tickets at each campus and then explaining how they have been resolved in alignment to organization goals (e.g. strategic goals for technology). Remember to begin with the the problems (it’s best to have a teacher or principal explain it), then share what the technology department did.

Tip #2 – Acknowledge Wicked Problems, Then Show Your Work

Everyone knows that wicked problems, problems that persist in spite of our best efforts, exist. The challenge is what have you done to solve those problems. These are different than problems featured in Tip #1. For example, a trouble ticket for setting up a new computer lab or deploying a Chromebook cart in time for the new school year is a temporary problem. A wicked problem may be that power poles providing electricity to computer labs were never put in place. Thus, each year, teachers who want to use those labs are limited in the total devices that go into a space because electricity is not available.

Read the Solving Wicked Problems series: How do you get things done in your school district? What happens when you encounter wicked technology problems? Read this three-part series on how to engage administration and leaders who control the budget to obtain critical funding to meet the needs of the organization.

Another wicked problem may be that a campus lacks sufficient wireless access points. In the past, the campus relied on desktops and there are sufficient network drops, so everything was fine. As all students and staff receive Chromebooks, iPads, or laptops however, the majority of the network traffic shifts from wired to wireless. Show your work in assessing the situation, ordering wireless access points (WAPs), configuring, and then deploying them. Show technicians on ladders hanging the WAPs from the ceiling or configuring their use in the network closet. A simple video or photo slideshow with explanations can inform campus staff of what the technology department has done on their behalf.

Tip #3 – Connect with Stakeholders at District, Campus, and Classroom Levels

“Run to the resistors,” David Truss (technology administrator and principal) said to me once. This means embrace the views of those who resist change rather than shut it down. You can connect with stakeholders in simple ways. One approach that someone introduced me to involved quick face-to-face conversations. In each conversation, ask for three wishes and a star.

Listen to the Project Management Fundamentals presentation: It is an audio summary of a presentation shared at the Texas CTO Clinic in the summer, 2018.

The three wishes represent areas of potential growth that need to be addressed. You can capture these ideas, group them, and organize them by priority and funding. When you have a list, you can share this with other stakeholders at the district level. These may become your to-do items for the new year.

The star represents what the technology department is doing well. It is a subjective choice on the part of the stakeholder. It helps you appreciate what the stakeholder values in your department’s work. Post these stars in a public space, not just in the technology department. Each is a cause for celebration that all should be made aware of.

Tip #4 – Cross-train Your Staff

The beginning of the year is hardly the time to start cross-training efforts. It is instead the time to keep track of problems that arise that challenge the expertise of your technical and network staff.  Back-to-school efforts often involve all staff in team-building endeavors. Make sure that your department’s culture will flourish beneath these district start of the year activities rather than leave staff muttering angrily. Renew again your collective commitment to work as a team and focus on teamwork. Avoid the tell-tale signs of a failed team:

  • A team of all-stars who compete against each other for success, praise, and reward
  • Individuals who are quick to re-assign trouble tickets to others because they prefer different work
  • Individuals who hold all the usernames and passwords to a particular program

Building a culture of cross-training, engaging in team-building, and making a note of growth areas can define the depth of your team’s success.

Tip #5 – Build Your Own Leadership Skills

“Core leadership competencies matter more than subject matter expertise. An ignorant person with leadership skills goes further than an expert who can’t lead,” says Dan Rockwell (Leadership Freak). You may be an expert at networking, but if you lack customer service skills, you’ll soon be unemployed. As the people you serve begin to return to school, get back to the basics of customer service and leadership. Some tips for you include:

  • Meet people face to face, building authentic relationships with anyone and everyone. You never know from whom or what situation you may learn something to assist and grow.
  • Never miss an opportunity to listen and share solutions that matter to those you serve.
  • Start a book study, article review, or a read and reflect opportunity for different stakeholder groups.

In each situation, hone your core leadership skills. Some describe these as inspiring or motivating others. Practice honesty and integrity, analyze and solve problems, and push for tangible results.

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OER implementation
CTO/CIOEducational TrendsFundingLeadership

OER Implementation in Six Steps

by Jennifer Bergland
written by Jennifer Bergland

Over the past twenty years, school districts have become much more prescriptive about what happens in their classrooms. Teachers no longer open up a textbook and start on page one and progress through the book until they get to the end (or the school year comes to a close). Many districts not only provide a scope and sequence so a teacher knows what to teach and in what order, but in many cases, they also provide lesson plans so that every student gets the content taught in the same manner. The creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) for these districts is the next logical step in tailoring the state standards for their student’s needs.

Why OER?

In a recent survey, Texas technology directors indicated that 30 percent of their school districts are currently investigating the use of OER and 56 percent say they are open to their use, but need more information. Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under a license that permits their free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with others. Over the past year, we have published several blog posts related to OER. So if your district is in the beginning stages of looking into OER you might want to read some of the following posts

Ready to Go Further?

If your district has already investigated the use of these resources and decided to begin the process of implementing these free instructional materials aligned to the state standards, the following steps may help guide your efforts. These steps, created by Achieve.org, were included in a document designed to help states implement a state OER initiative. I’ve adapted the steps so they fit within the context of a school or district.

1. What’s your vision?

OERThe first thing you must do is make sure that you know how OER will be used within your school or district. You must be able to envision what the ideal OER system would look like, including the expected impact it will have on your teachers and students. Below are some of the questions you should be able to answer:

  • Why is your school or district considering the use of OER?
    • Is it it reduce the costs of instructional materials?
    • Do you want more control over the instructional materials used within your classrooms?
    • Do you see it as a professional learning opportunity for your teachers as they curate and create instructional materials?
  • What will be the impact on teachers?
    • How will you manage the process so that it empowers teachers?
  • What will be the impact on students?
    • How will you ensure that every student has access to the instructional materials whether they are at home or school?
    • What needs to be in place to make this happen?
  • How will you measure success with teachers?
  • How will you measure success with students?
  • Who do you need to share this vision with?
  • How will you get them to buy into the vision?

2. What resources do you need?

You next must determine what resources you will need to deploy the OER to your teachers and students. This includes key personnel, technical infrastructure, instructional materials, and software. One of the biggest issues you will need to deal with is the quality of your OER. Your team will need to answer the following questions:

Access

  • What portal or system will you use to share resources?OER
  • Is there an existing system you can use?  
  • How will you handle licensing/copyright?
  • How “open” will materials be?  
  • How will you address technology infrastructure challenges?
  • What devices will be accessing your OER? If devices are necessary, do all your students have a device that can access the OER and, if not, how will you overcome this barrier?

Content and Policy

  • Will you curate existing resources, create your own, or a mix of the two?
  • Will you use the OER that were produced for TEA by OpenStax or Study Edge?
  • How will you work within or address curriculum and textbook adoption policies and funding restrictions?

Quality

  • How will you define quality?
  • What rubrics will you use?  
  • How will you evaluate quality of the OER curated or created by your teachers?
  • Who will conduct the evaluations?

3. What’s your timeline?

Now that you know what you want to accomplish, you can begin to sketch out the timing of the each of the steps. Use these questions to guide your discussion.

  • What is the timeline for implementing priority activities?  OER
  • Is there a final deadline you are working toward?  
  • Are there other time-sensitive activities to consider?  
  • When will each activity need to be completed?  
  • Are there deadlines or milestones along the way?  
  • What timelines already exist for roll out of instructional materials or professional development that you could build upon?

4. Who will design and implement the plan?

You will need to identify the key stakeholders and define their roles in the creation and implementation of the OER. For each of the stakeholders, you will need to answer these questions:

  • What part should each stakeholder be responsible for?
  • What do they need to know, understand, or be able to do?
  • What kind of training do they need?

5. What’s your communications strategy?

For any new initiative, communications is key. It is best if you include this in your plan. Identify the groups you need to communicate with and consider the following questions:

OER

  • What is the stakeholder’s current level of engagement? High or low?
  • Ideally, what would the engagement of this stakeholder look like?
  • How will you engage this stakeholder?
  • What is your message to this stakeholder?
  • How will you know your message is reaching this stakeholder?

6. How will you know if it’s working?

Finally, plan now how you will determine if you have been successful in the creation, distribution, and implementation of your OER. The following questions can guide you as you design your evaluation process.

  • OERHow will you measure success?
  • How will you determine whether the OER is having the intended impact on educators and students?
  • How will you determine whether your activities are being implemented as intended?
  • What metrics will you use to assess the implementation progress?
  • Who should be involved?
  • Who is responsible?
  • What data will be reviewed?

As you grapple with these questions, keep at the forefront the reasons why your district chose to consider Open Educational Resources in the first place. OER is more than just a way to reduce the cost of your instructional materials. The process of creating them has proven to be an excellent professional development experience for the teachers involved. The creation or modification of OER also enables you to design your instructional materials to meet the educational needs and struggles of your particular students. These questions will help your district as you move through the process of adapting and creating your own instructional materials.

Open Photo by Finn Hackshaw on Unsplash

Stickies on Chalkboard Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash 

Clock Photo by Sonja Langford on Unsplash

Teacher holding Comment Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Puzzel Pieces Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

 

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tcea responds
CTO/CIOGoogle Tips and TricksMicrosoft

TCEA Responds: OneNote with Google Classroom?

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

Do you have any resources for a few elementary teachers that teach at a Google school, but want to use #OneNote and Class Notebook? Does each student need an Office 365 account? All our students have Chromebooks. Any help would be awesome!

Thanks, Vander

Dear Vander:

What an exciting set of questions. In my work, I often encounter organizations that have embraced a wide variety of technologies. While this can be beneficial, single sign-on (SSO) often causes problems for educators and students alike. Let’s explore some problem scenarios you want to avoid. Afterwards, I’ll share some workarounds for your situation.

Update 07/23/2018: OneNote Class Notebook + Google Classroom

Please be aware that as of 7/23/2018, the Windows 10 OneNote app supports Google Classroom. Great news that comes to us via Mike Tholfsen. Mike had shared this feature was coming a few weeks ago via Twitter. Now, the wishes and desires of educators around the world has come true. OneNote’s Class Notebook supports learning management system (LMS) integration with Google Classroom. This makes it possible to use Google Classroom as the virtual classroom space, answering the need of many educators who work in both Office 365 and Google Suites for Education environments. What’s more, this functionality is enabled for OneNote Online and OneNote on iOS as well. Chromebooks can access OneNote Online. Don’t forget that Microsoft offers free Office 365 accounts for students and/or staff. You can see a screenshot below:

Image Source: Mike Tholfsen (@mtholfsen)

Video Walkthrough of Connecting OneNote Class Notebook to Google Classroom

Note: As of Friday, July 27, 2018, the functionality is now missing in Windows 10 OneNote app. You will see that in Part 1 of the video series I was preparing to showcase the Google Classroom Connection in OneNote. Part 2 of the video shows the working connection to Google Classroom. It works well.

  • Part 1: In this video, I provide a little background and walkthrough. Unfortunately, this video documents my failure.
  • Part 2: In this video, I share a late-breaking announcement that changes in Google Classroom has broken the Windows 10 OneNote app’s connection to Google Classroom. However, OneNote Online’s Class Notebook connection to Google Classroom works great, so I recorded a quick, rough walk-through.

Screenshots:

Problem Scenarios

Here are a few common scenarios schools and organizations find themselves in. Avoid them, alone or in combination.

#1-Single Sign-On (SSO)

The organization adopts a variety of technologies (e.g. Apple, Google, Microsoft) without a single sign-on solution (SSO) in place. This requires students and staff to keep track of multiple usernames and passwords. In the end, no one knows where to go or what login to use when creating, collaborating, and sharing.

Solution: Get a single sign-on account management solution. This will allow students and staff to use ONE login and password for all district systems, including Microsoft, Google, and Apple. There are quite a few available you can take advantage of. Several to consider include ClassLink with OneRoster, Encore Technologies’ Enboard, or Rapid Automation.

#2-Split Domains

Some school districts opt to put students on Google Suites for Education accounts, but then keep teachers on Microsoft (or vice versa). This isolates teachers and students on different communication networks, forcing them to work with variety of tools. While some may favor this approach, the end result is often confusion, isolation, and mass abandonment of district tools.

Solution: Pick one and standardize across user populations (e.g. staff, students) to ensure that everyone has access to the same tools. Also, make sure everyone knows what digital tools will be used.

#3-Hardware-Ecosystem Mis-Alignment

The district decided to buy iPad carts for every classroom, then switched to Chromebooks. On top of that, it wanted to continue to use Microsoft for all users. This left people trying to sort out what device they need to use, what account, and trying to figure out whether their Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook will work with iPads and Google accounts for students.

Solution: If you own a lot of hardware, decide what’s the optimum ecosystem (e.g. Office 365, Google Suites for Education, Apple Classroom, or free tools). Your biggest investment is in the hardware, so unless you are going to pay to switch (not a wise use of funds), then align your hardware and ecosystem to each other. If you have Microsoft and want to see everyone adopt MS Teams and OneNote, then take a hard look at getting a hardware solution provider that supports Windows 10. If you are Chromebook rich, then adopt Google Suites for Education. Trying to mix and match pieces only results in confusion, isolation, and lack of usage.

Aligning Solution to the Facts

As you point out, Vander, you are in problem scenario #3, hardware-ecosystem mis-alignment. Let’s review some of the facts revealed in our email exchanges:

  • Teachers and students lack Office 365 accounts.
  • Students rely on Chromebooks.
  • Teacher(s) want to use Microsoft OneNote after attending a one-day Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Teacher Academy.

Given your situation, the least expensive and less difficult solution involves using Google Classroom with Google Drive with students and staff. But they may need professional learning. Here are two resources that may help you get started.  (Note: If you log in to Google Suites first, clicking on the link will make a copy of the document for your use).

For others who need Microsoft OneNote resources, be sure to check out the Microsoft Educator Community (MEC) for free online courses that generate digital badges and certificates for participants.

Detours to O365 Account Roadblock

Still keen on mixing Chromebooks (which can’t run the free OneNote Windows 10 app which provides great functionality)? Let’s explore what happens with teachers who DO have Office 365 accounts, as well as those that do not.

Worst Scenario

With teachers who do have O365 accounts, while working with students who lack O365 accounts for students, it is a bit more difficult. The easiest approach is for a teacher to set up a OneNote notebook using a free Microsoft account. They would share the notebook with students’ G Suite email accounts with rights to edit content. The teacher would manually set up a section for each student, copying and pasting content into each as needed. Once each section was created, the teacher would apply a password. That password for each section would only be shared with each student. This would create a safe space for both student and teacher. Loss of the password would result in the loss of all data stored in the section. This approach is NOT recommended.

Better Scenario

With teachers and students who do have Office 365 accounts, the teacher can use the OneNote app on Windows 10 with the Class Notebook built-in functionality. They will be able to create class notebooks for each of their students. Students will then access the OneNote Online version of the Class Notebook. They won’t have all the functionality, but they will be able to do quite a bit via the OneNote Online interface on a Chromebook. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only way OneNote Online would work with students using Chromebooks. Students could also access the Class Notebook on their other devices (e.g. Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac). The best scenario would have students using low-cost, high quality Windows 10 tablets with keyboards. Google Classroom and OneNote Class Notebook now work together, so educators and students can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Amazing Updates

What’s even more exciting, the Windows 10 OneNote app now supports Google Classroom for teachers/educators who want to connect OneNote Class Notebook to a Google Classroom. This works for OneNote Online and OneNote on iOS as well.  Isn’t that amazing? Special thanks to Mike Tholfsen for providing this insight. See screenshot below:

Image Source: Mike Tholfsen (@mtholfsen)

Final Thoughts

As you consider the best way to deploy technology, avoid the mis-alignment of hardware and ecosystems. Instead, plan ahead, aligning the strengths of two matched systems.

 

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