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Leadership

Explore tools, strategies, and insights for educational leadership. Discover resources to inspire and support effective school and district leaders.

Effectively Assessing Digital Learning

by Miguel Guhlin November 19, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

“I’m working on a technology grant. We have to assess students in grades 5-8. I need a free, cheap digital literacy assessment for 5-8th grade,” Janet said. “Do you have any ideas?” The question made me pause for a moment, casting back over time. Where had I seen such an assessment before? Mankato Public Schools had one, a simple listing of technology skills for students. That had been over twelve years ago. Learning.com has such an assessment, but it costs money. Then, I had a flash of insight. Was a list of digital skills the best way to approach this?

In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few of the challenges with digital skill lists. The road to digital assessments is fraught with good intentions.

Good Intentions

The reason why is simple. The question make some suppositions. It suggests that student technology assessments center around digital SKILLS. Instead, digital learning is the desired focus. I’m tempted to offer a list of digital skills/tools that students need to be familiar with. We achieve effective digital learning when students exhibit control. That is, control over time, place, path, and/or pace (Source: Digital Now report as cited by Dr. Chris Moersch). This suggests that students must have control over their own learning.

How Students Learn Best

When you consider how students learn best, you are not alone. We know how they learn best. This Adobe Education Report highlights best learning strategies. It suggests that students learn best when teachers:

Use digital media (videos/podcasts)
Engage learners with hands-on experiences
Scaffold team-building skills
Pose real-world problems for solution development

Assessing Student Learning

As you might imagine, assessing student learning is not a spectator sport. Rather than administer a survey, walk the campus to see what is happening. Use an observational framework, like HEAT or Triple E, to gain insight. You can’t assess students’ digital learning without considering how teachers teach. You could plan a survey with simple list of technology skills, but how effective is that? This will gain you a self-reported, invalid, and perhaps unreliable instrument.

Instead, use a research-based instrument such as the two observational frameworks mentioned. Still want something your students can pass out? Brightbytes’ Clarity has a student survey that provides some insight. Or, if you are gathering information, consider using the Speak Up Survey questions. These would provide some information, and you might mix-and-match the following:

You will want to check with the Speak Up Survey developers due to copyright.

Want to try something else?

Create Your Own Survey Instrument

If you want to create an instrument that is not researched (valid or reliable), you can try this approach for fun. Take the HEAT Lesson Scoring Guide. Develop questions based on that framework, which will result in a shorter survey. This may focus less on digital skills and more on digital learning taking place.

You can use a tool like Microsoft or Google Forms to collect data. This would capture the results and then summarize them in graphical format. In the next section, you will find sample questions you can customize for your own use.

Sample Student Assessment

Below, please find an unscientific assessment keen on measuring digital learning.

Question #1 : What kinds of things do you create with technology? (Check all that apply)

Videos
Audio/podcasts
Slideshows with audio or video
Typed documents I share online via the web (e.g. blogs, wikis)
Typed documents I turn in to my teacher or are printed for sharing
Information with numbers and graphs
I don’t use technology to create anything

Question #2: How do you show what you know?

I decide what problem I’m going to solve and I work with others (outside my classroom).
I decide what I am going to do when working on a project with others (inside my classroom).
I decide what and how I’m going to work on something using technology.
I do what the teacher tells me to do.

Question #3 – Does the work you do as a student impact a real life issue, theme, or problem?

Yes, I use technology to create solutions for real problems.
Yes, I use technology to explore real-life problems to solve with my teacher’s help.
My teacher tells me what real-life problem I will solve.
My teacher tells me what to do; I don’t know if it’s a real-life problem or not.

Question #4 – How do you decide what technology to use?

I decide what technology I will use to learn something.
I decide what things (not technology) I will use to learn about something and do it.
My teacher decides what technology and/or things I will use to learn something.
Technology and/or things are not needed to learn something, but they are nice to have.
Technology and/or things to help me learn are not available or used.

Assessing Digital Learning

Don’t like these questions and responses? They may work for fifth graders and above. That aside, how are you assessing digital learning for students and staff in your organization?

November 19, 2018 1 comment

Find Your Tribe: Join a TCEA Special Interest Group

by Chance McKee November 1, 2018

written by Chance McKee

Are you a TCEA member who wishes to tailor your membership experience and become more involved in certain aspects of educational technology? Join one or more of our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) listed below and find the TCEA members who share your interests, challenges, and career goals. Membership in TCEA SIGs starts at just $10.

Here’s a little more about each SIG and what they bring to the table.

Campus Technology SIG (CAMP-SIG)

Calling all campus instructional technologists, technology coordinators, district trainers, and tech specialists! CAMP-SIG provides you with networking opportunities, tips and resources, coaching and mentoring methods, and more. They also host annual meetings for members to learn, share, grow, and network together.

Free and Open Resource SIG (FORE-SIG)

Are you a big supporter of the role of free and open source software solutions? If so, you’ve found your people at FORE-SIG. The purpose of FORE-SIG is to build and activate a community of educators who promote and support opportunities for technological advancement and a broader educational foundation that these solutions bring to PreK-16 education.

Library SIG (LIB-SIG)

Librarians have such an important roll in supporting the growth of well-rounded, digitally literate students. LIB-SIG brings together librarians who want to increase their technology skills and integrate those skills into the learning environment. They also write a monthly blog series right here on TechNotes.

Robotics SIG (ROBO-SIG)

If you live and breathe bots or if you’re just interested in how robotics can benefit student learning, ROBO-SIG is for you. Their mission is to become a network hub for educators involved in robotics, advocate for robotics as a classroom tool to teach and engage students in STEM, assist members in acquiring classroom robotics pedagogy and knowledge base, and prepare sponsors for the challenges of student competition.

Tech-Apps/Computer Science SIG (TA/CS-SIG)

Do you teach computer science or Technology Applications classes K-12? Welcome to your flock. TA/CS-SIG provides a forum to promote and support technology applications, computer science, and information technology educators and curriculum across the state of Texas.

Technology Coordinators SIG (TEC-SIG)

TEC-SIG is proud to be the largest of TCEA’s SIGs. Since 1989, it has provided communication between CTOs, technology directors, instructional technology leaders, and other administrators throughout the state. TEC-SIG furnishes its members with up-to-date information on legislation, happenings within the Texas Education Agency, grants, and more. Members share their own technology-related experiences at two yearly meetings in an effort to educate and inform each other on what is happening in the field of technology and how they can support staff and student use.

Virtual Learning SIG (VL-SIG)

With digital technology, learning doesn’t have to be contained just within classroom walls. VL-SIG supports collaboration and communication among virtual learning coordinators, online course instructors, and online curriculum developers. It also promotes and advocates for virtual learning to support the modern learning environment.

Joining a Special Interest Group

Each SIG will allow you to network with educators in similar roles or with similar interests to share ideas, challenges, and solutions in order to further enhance your knowledge and understanding of these specific areas of technology. TCEA SIGs also have a dedicated set of members who serve as SIG officers and help to plan SIG-specific webinars and networking events year-round, including at the 2019 TCEA Convention and Exposition.

SIG memberships do require you to be a current TCEA member. These groups allow you to access the private SIG area within the TCEA Social Community to better connect with your fellow SIG members.

Don’t delay. Join a TCEA SIG today to network with your peers and help meet the needs of your individual role or focus.

November 1, 2018 0 comments

Leadership STEM/STEAM

Three Evidence-Based Tips to Reduce the Shortage of Women in STEM

by Guest Blogger October 30, 2018

written by Guest Blogger

The number of women in STEM is of continuing concern for educators and governments internationally. Despite a huge amount of research and high exposure campaigns, a disparity still exists between men and women in STEM fields.

The Stats on STEM

In the US, it is estimated that the percentage of women working in computing, engineering, and advanced manufacturing has seen no growth from 2001 to 2014. In fact, two of these sectors actually saw the number of female workers fall by 1 percent over this period. Considering women make up 47 percent of the overall workforce, these figures are alarmingly low.

Even when taking into account all STEM occupations, including physical and life sciences where representation is higher, women still only made up 24 percent of the core workforce in 2015. But why does all this matter? What’s so great about STEM jobs anyway?

Firstly, women in STEM enjoy a 35 percent premium on earnings compared with their non-STEM counterparts, so increasing representation in these fields is key to improving wage equality in the labor market. Additionally, STEM jobs are projected to grow at nearly double the rate of non-STEM and enjoy half the unemployment rate. Therefore, they provide much better future employment prospects in a time where many jobs face the threat of automation.

So, if STEM occupations pay so well and offer greater job security, why aren’t more women entering them? The answer to this question is a complex one and the topic of much debate and ongoing research.

The Aptitude Argument

Probably the most extensive evidence that refutes this theory comes from a research program carried out by the OECD called the Program for International Students Assessment (PISA). This extensive survey has been assessing the science, math, and reading ability of 15-year-olds in a total of 72 countries around the world since 2000.

The most recent PISA survey in 2015 found little difference in science performance between boys and girls. On average, boys outperformed girls by just 1 percent and scored higher in 24 of the countries assessed. However, in 22 countries, girls actually outperformed boys!

When it comes to math, the PISA survey found, on average, boys outperformed girls in all countries tested. However, this was only by 2 percent and certainly does not explain the huge shortage of women in STEM careers. Furthermore, a meta-analysis summarizing data from 242 studies on math performance in the US found no significant difference between genders. Many other studies have shown similar results.

If research shows there is little difference in science and math ability levels between boys and girls, there must be other factors at play here.

The Role of Gender Stereotypes

Despite huge progress in recent years, gender stereotypes in society are still alive and strong. We’ve all experienced it at some point. Dolls for girls and building blocks for boys. Pink is a girl’s color ,and blue is a boy’s color. While this may seem harmless, it would appear we are only just beginning to understand the true impact, especially when it comes to child development and education.

Gender stereotypes are often set in early, with girls thinking math and science are ‘boy’s subjects’ as early as second grade. These ideas continue to grow, influencing everything from test scores to career choices. So, rather than a lack of ability, it is the belief that these subjects are not for girls that results in fewer women pursuing STEM subjects.

This belief is so powerful that even in Sweden, one of the most gender-neutral countries in the world, a shortage of women in STEM still exists. Researchers found this was mostly due to girls’ low self-efficacy rating for STEM subjects which deters them from studying them.

What Can Educators Do?

The lack of women in STEM is clearly a complex issue, and we have barely even scratched the surface. That said, there are several simple solutions that educators can implement to improve the learning environment for girls and ensure equal opportunities for all.

Reassurance – Fascinatingly, research has found that when girls were told they were just as capable of achieving good math grades as boys, differences in scores practically disappeared. This is linked to a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” whereby anxieties about conforming to stereotypes result in students performing poorly in tests. Simply reassuring girls that they are just as capable can help to alleviate this, but educating students about stereotype threat has also proven to be useful in overcoming it.
Role Models – When it comes to encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers, female role models have been shown to be highly influential. There are many ways to introduce girls to inspiring role models, such as bringing in local speakers working in STEM fields or promoting female innovators and tech leaders in class. Role models can also include student mentors, so you could use coding and robotics kits to start a workshop where older girls tutor the younger ones.
Reduce Stereotype Bias – Even if you might not think it, there is a good chance you hold some kind of implicit bias about gender, sexuality, age, or race. This doesn’t make you a bad person! Our brains are hardwired to make quick decisions, i.e. form stereotypes. What matters are the steps you take to reduce biases that can form as a result. Take the implicit bias test designed by researchers at Harvard to see where your stereotypes lie. Ask yourself how these biases affect how you view, evaluate, or teach students, and then look for ways to make improvements.

The above pointers are just a few simple ways that educators can help foster an environment that stimulates girls to pursue STEM subjects and careers. For more research-backed recommendations, check out this groundbreaking report by the American Association of University Women.

This is a guest blog by William Asbury. William is the founder of STEMToyExpert, an educational resource designed to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Math learning for all age groups and genders. He is passionate about the positive applications of technology in education and is an advocate for an evidence-based approach to learning. William has devoted much of his work toward researching and promoting equal representation for women and ethnic minorities in STEM.

October 30, 2018 0 comments

CTO/CIO Leadership

SpeakUp Survey Is Open!

by Jennifer Bergland October 25, 2018

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

October 25, 2018 0 comments

CTO/CIO Leadership

Five Steps to Leading Campus Tech Efforts

by Miguel Guhlin October 19, 2018

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.

October 19, 2018 0 comments

CTO/CIO Cybersecurity Leadership Technical Support

Resources for Cyber Security Awareness Month

by Dr. Bruce Ellis October 10, 2018

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.

October 10, 2018 0 comments

Advocacy CTO/CIO Leadership

TCEA Board Sets Legislative Priorities

by Jennifer Bergland October 9, 2018

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

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

October 9, 2018 2 comments

Leadership

Join Our Team in Serving

by Lori Gracey October 5, 2018

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!

October 5, 2018 0 comments

Lone Ranger with his horse, Silver. Public Domain image.

CTO/CIO Leadership

The Lone Ranger CTO

by Miguel Guhlin October 4, 2018

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.

October 4, 2018 0 comments

Content Areas Leadership Professional Learning

Three Tips to Help Content Leaders Become Tech Savvy

by Dr. Bruce Ellis October 2, 2018

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.

October 2, 2018 0 comments

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