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SpeakUp
CTO/CIOLeadership

SpeakUp Survey Is Open!

by Jennifer Bergland
written by Jennifer Bergland

It’s time for students, parents, teachers, principals, librarians, technology leaders, superintendents, and more to Speak Up via the annual Project Tomorrow’s digital learning survey. Share your thoughts and experiences on education issues such as:

  • Learning and teaching with mobile devices, digital content, gaming, videos, and virtual and augmented reality
  • Internet access at home and in school
  • Importance of math and best ways to learn math
  • Digital citizenship
  • And much more!

The free surveys take less than 20 minutes to complete and are completely anonymous. Join more than 500,000 people from more than 10,000 schools to be sure your voice is heard this year!  Your school or district’s data will be made available to each entity. This data can help guide your efforts to expand digital learning opportunities for your students.

2017 SpeakUp Data

Below is some the Texas data from the 2017 SpeakUp Survey:

speakup

  • 34% of Texas 3rd-5th grade teachers indicated there were not enough computers for students to use at school.
  • 48% of Texas 6-8th graders and 39% of students in grades 9-12 said they were not allowed to use their personal mobile devices at schools.
  • 31% of school administrators and teachers said the availability of technology for student use at school was a challenge for technology integration.
  • 44% of school administrators and 43% of teachers listed digital equity issues such as student access to technology and internet at home as major challenges.
  • 46% of school administrators and 69% of teachers said that motivating teachers to change their teaching practice to use technology in their classrooms is something they still struggle with.
  • 59% of librarians said helping teachers move from sporadic to sustained usage was one of their top challenges while 47% listed students not having enough access to computers or the Internet outside of school as one of their challenges.
  • 48% of librarians indicated the integration of digital content components into a teacher-friendly system was a major challenge.
  • The number one issue (57%) for technology leaders when it comes to cloud computing is ensuring that the data is secure.
  • 47% of the technology leaders consider the homework gap (students lack of access to the Internet at home) and teachers lack of understanding cloud applications are the next two biggest challenges in implementing cloud technology.
  • The next challenge facing technology leaders in this area is having multiple sign-ons with different products (41%).

Specifics

As you can see, we can learn a great deal about the technology implementation across the state from the SpeakUp Survey. Every school and district will be given access to their own data. If you have never participated in the SpeakUp survey, I HIGHLY encourage you to consider doing so this year. You can start small and only do a few campuses or a few grade levels. This is completely free and your data is never shared with others except in an aggregated form (i.e. Texas or national). It is a wonderful tool to use in your planning. 

speakup

Surveys are open through January 30, 2019. They make it easy to promote your survey with their promotional materials. This flyer is an excellent promotional resource. Also, they are super helpful, so if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them.

 

Credits:

Photo of data chart was created by rawpixel on Unsplash

Photo of students using laptops was created by NESA by Makers on Unsplash

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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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team
Leadership

Join Our Team in Serving

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

I remember when someone first asked me to serve on the TCEA board of directors. I was working as a tech director in Bastrop ISD and had attended the TCEA Convention and Exposition since 1982, often volunteering there. TCEA President Kathy Kothmann asked me to take over for the Area 6 Director who had to resign and I was so thrilled to be asked to join their leadership team. Every time I attended a board meeting, I was amazed and impressed at the other board members and their tremendous dedication not only to TCEA, but also to its mission and goals. I went on to work on the board for 13 years, eventually serving as convention chair and then president. I can quite honestly say that it changed my life, both personally and professionally.

TCEA Board Election

Because I know the value of working with an unbelievable team of individuals all working toward a common goal, I would like to invite you personally to consider serving on the TCEA board. Nominations are open now through November 2, 2018 and the election will be held from November 5 – November 16, 2018.

To be eligible to serve, you must meet the following criteria:

  • Be a member in good standing of TCEA
  • Be employed by an educational entity (public and private schools, colleges and universities, and governmental agencies concerned with education) in the state of Texas
  • Reside or be employed in the Area in which you are running for office
  • Have a servant’s heart and a strong dedication to the improvement of teaching and learning through the use of computers and technology

The board of directors meets four times a year and may also have some special virtual meetings. They also work the convention. In addition, they have other duties as designated in the Bylaws. These are not onerous duties; in fact, they are actually a joy to do as you help other educators become more fully versed in teaching and learning in a digital world.

Board positions up for election this year are directors from areas 2, 4, 8, 10, 12, and 16. Each of these who are elected will serve a three-year term.

Step Up to Our Team

TCEA is blessed to have so many fantastic members like yourself. Isn’t it time you took your career to the next level and joined our team of leaders? Fill out the online Nomination Form and follow with an email to nominations@tcea.org that contains a digital photograph (professional headshot preferred if available) of the nominee. I can promise you that serving as a TCEA board member will be highlight of your career!

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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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leaders
Content AreasLeadershipProfessional Learning

Three Tips to Help Content Leaders Become Tech Savvy

by Dr. Bruce Ellis
written by Dr. Bruce Ellis

Content leaders have many strengths. They not only know the depth of their content, but they understand how it looks when sequenced both horizontally and vertically with their teachers. Pedagogy is a given when it comes to teaching their standards…possibly equal to or second to their teachers’ understanding the content themselves. But with all their strengths, many content leaders may be at least a little deficient in being able to identify relevant technology to support their content standards without the help of vendors. While vendors can be helpful, you run the risk of having a biased and/or limited view of what is available. Here are three tips to become a more tech-savvy content leader.

Listen to Your Innovative Teachers

It is easy to identify those teachers who are the innovative ones. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are the tech-savvy teachers, but they are typically the ones who have a firm grasp of the content and discipline and can focus on adding richness to their lessons to make learning more exciting (and possibly boost test scores). Consider creating a round table discussion that meets once per six weeks to ask this group for their input. Ask them to explore different apps, devices, and other tech tools that can be (easily) used to help differentiate the content, reinforce main concepts, or capture learning in a possibly better way than they are currently doing. Give them permission, and possible the challenge, to look at tools and apps that may be outside their content area but can be adapted with ease for a great fit. You may find that this feedback and insight will also be great information to share with the instructional technology department, especially if they are wanting to implement technology relevantly in curriculum areas.

Look for Open-Ended Apps and Technology

When asked what is a teacher’s favorite app for ___________ (fill in with content area), you may find that many answers are apps that are geared toward specific content standards they teach. That’s great when you are teaching those standards. For the rest of the time, consider what open-ended apps or tools are available that might allow you to support many of your content standards. Open-ended apps lend themselves to being used more often and are great when differentiating with students. Having a variety of these open-ended apps will help ensure that students don’t get bored. Even if you use Kahoot, you definitely don’t want to get to the point where, upon hearing that the next activity will be Kahoot, a group moan occurs and at least one student mumbles “Kahoot again?!” If you are new to using open-ended apps, consider looking for apps and tools whose main function is to record the student (video, audio, screen, etc.). You will find that these allow you to keep a freshness to your lessons that one-trick-pony apps and tools may not.

Learn at Educational Technology Conferences

Hardly any one will deny that conferences offer great learning experiences and provide more selection for the price of attendance. As such, many content leaders depend on regional or state conferences within their content area to help them keep up with best practices, updated content standards, and the latest trends. But with all those benefits, you are still limited to folks who are thinking within the box of your content area. You don’t have to give that up; those conferences are definitely helpful and provide like-minded conversations and connections with other content leaders. To assist in becoming more tech-savvy though, consider attending a conference whose main focus is learning with educational technology. There you will find people from all content areas sharing their ideas of tech tools to support their (and other) content areas. And, because the presenters may be ed tech enthusiasts, they may tend to present at these types of conferences as opposed to the content-based conferences, even though they are in favor and support that specific content area.

If you have not taken the opportunity to attend an educational technology conference, then considering attending the TCEA Convention and Exposition. For a great price, you will find more than 1,100 sessions offered with specific strands identified to help you follow the flow of sessions that will be most meaningful to you. This conference takes place during the first full week in February with very targeted, longer sessions offered on Monday and Tuesday, while Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday provide the full conference experience. You can find resources for attendees at https://convention.tcea.org/attendees/resources/ .

Become a more tech-savvy content leader this year by following these three simple recommendations. If you need help with any of the three, be sure to shoot me an email at bellis@tcea.org. At TCEA, we are here to support you and help ensure that you and your students have an amazing learning experience.

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Leadership

Successfully Implementing Lasting Change

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

There are probably a lot of things that each of us wants to change in the world today. Whether that’s how classroom teachers implement technology for learning, how people respond to each other, or just getting our children to put their toys away, change is something we are very familiar with and often seek. It might be a good idea, then, to look at what the research has to say about how to best foster change in whatever we are attempting.

The Latest Research

Grant Lichtman took a graphical representation of the steps needs for successful change done by Timothy Knoster and others in the Managing Complex Change Model first published in 1987 and added the steps he believes are necessary for school implementation of change. The graphic below illustrates those steps.

change

What This Means

The concept is clear. In his research, if any of the steps are not present, then a less-than-effective implementation of the new process will occur. The best way to think about this is with the illustration of rock climbing. There are a number of ways to get to the top. However, if you miss a hand or foothold, then the journey may not turn out like you hoped.

There are eight critical pieces involved in sustainable improvement:

  • Leadership
  • Vision
  • Inclusiveness
  • Timeline
  • Skills
  • Resources
  • Commitment
  • Communication

(Lichtman does an excellent job of defining each of the above steps here. )The failure to plan for any one of these will result in anything from a complete failure of the new initiative to confusion, silos, and disconnects.

As we look at implementing a new professional development program, a new technology, a different lunchroom process, whatever the change may be, we must be sure to include the eight critical steps that will ensure the new program and all of our hard work are successful.

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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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