IT Director - What is our role???

The past few years have been a great learning experience for me.  I’ve gotten to work alongside some really great and inspirational people.  I have recently moved into the role of technology director about a year ago now and I’ve really started to see and understand what our roles should be. Tom Murray in particular has guided and mentored me to become an extremely student focused IT Director.  Much of the IT world is turning into a cloud based service model.   The knowledge required to run systems is becoming less and less as these service driven models are being adopted.  How do we stay relevant?  I believe Tom Murray actually had a great article on this topic, however, I can’t seem to locate a link to it.  We need to constantly stay on top of Ed Tech and make suggestions based on research and more importantly student feedback, and avoid the marketing hype.  What do our students want and need, not what we think they should have?  I believe there should be some give and take in that process… They are living in a world that we only try to understand.  They are growing up when social media is the norm and not something that was new during their lifetime that they had to learn.  I think many times we deny access to these resources because as we were growing up that is what was done.  It’s a distraction or it causes problems because of ABC.  I would challenge any us to go into a meeting and not open a computer or use your smart phone.  You would likely be lost and feel disconnected, so why do we sometimes expect students to?  We need to meet them where they are and not try to make them live in the world of restrictions we grew up in.  Teach them digital citizenship and empower them with the knowledge to use these “distractions” properly.  The technology of yesterday is no longer a wow factor to this generation.  We need to discover what it is on an ongoing basis and mold it to our classrooms to create engaging and collaborative spaces.  I feel many of us are so concerned with technology and systems that we lose sight of our primary goal which is to help kids achieve greatness.  Many times in our roles as technology directors we are faced with requests and challenges that in a lot of cases are returned with an immediate “No”.  If you are not a technology director, but are in education, you will surely understand my last statement.  We need to not be a roadblock and be student driven solution specialists.  We must keep security and safety in mind, but ultimately make decisions based on student outcomes regardless of the amount of legwork that we personally or our teams put in if we expect to see our students reach their highest potential.  We must work alongside our curriculum and pupil services departments to have open conversations about needs and hurdles.  We need to envision the future needs of our kids in a world that is ever changing.  We need to meet our kids in their technology filled worlds.  One of my goals is to solicit more information from our students when making acquisitions or decisions and let them have a voice.  I am working on forming student technology advisory teams in our middle schools to empower those students to assist in making decisions for our one to one program that begins in 9^th grade.  Who knows better what device will work best for them, than the students themselves.  I plan to add more to this blog in my next post.  Stay tuned…

HP Stream - My Thoughts...

HP Stream Thoughts…

I was very excited to see a new offering in the cloud based computer world from Microsoft and HP.  Office 365 is definitely growing and felt strongly that this would end up being strong competition to the Chromebook community.  Being a Microsoft district running on mostly all HP equipment, I was very hopeful.  HP is a great company who always meets our needs each and every year.  It pains me to say that this really missed the mark.  To be honest, I’m not sure it even landed anywhere on the paper…  I will state that the construction of the device for the price point is very good and would easily rival Chromebooks, so in that regard I don’t fault HP.  What we end up with here, is a next generation, under powered netbook running a Windows 8 Pro OS.  I’m not sure why they are really marketing this any differently.  The thought behind it from what I gathered through discussions with various individuals was that the reduction in hard disk space would push people towards relying on the cloud platform.  I can understand and appreciate that, however, we have all seen what happens when you have an underpowered netbook running a full Windows OS.  They will be slow to boot, need additional software to protect from malware and virus infections.  They are now going to be managed by GPO in your domain which also adds to additional processing at boot up and login.  I really see this going the way of the netbook and don’t see it gaining any traction in education.  If Microsoft produces a cloud based OS, then they may have something, but until then… Save your money and frustration.  

Is there a perfect device??

Over the recent months, I have been evaluating different technology devices in order to provide more personalized solutions.  Many of us have been making purchases on an annual basis solely based on past practice as a one size fits all solution.  With so many devices on the market and capabilities ranging from device to device as well as cost, it’s often difficult to determine what fits where and if there truly is a solution that can suit all needs and budgets.  I’ve recently began looking at Chromebooks due to the continued adoption I’m seeing.  Well, whose Chromebook then is best?  Get demos from everyone willing and find out.  Each have price points and construction qualities that are of consideration.  What type of warranty can they each provide and what is the cost of it.  I’m finding out that I can see some adoption of Chromebooks, but not as a district wide solution.  Rather, an offset of higher expenditures where more computer power isn’t needed.  I’m waiting on a HP Stream which I see as a new competitor to Chromebooks in the personal cloud computing space.  Can HP and Microsoft pull it off?  The jury is out and I will reserve any remark until I get it in hand.  Once examined, it will be a decision moving into future years with either Chromebooks or MS offerings of similar devices.  I’ve examined devices from our current manufacturer and also sought out demo units from others.  Manufacturer’s quality, offerings, and pricing is constantly changing in this competitive marketplace.  There is something to be said for relationships that are made over years of business, however, it should not put blinders on you to other new/existing manufacturers that are out there.  It’s a little more effort to seek these new connections out, but I have stumbled upon great products I didn’t expect from manufacturers I may have dismissed previously.  The Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga being one of them.  Kudos to them for making a solid product!  Keep in mind, we are not a Lenovo shop in general, but this product fit a need that I could not get with anyone else at an acceptable price point.  Rather than give up, I looked deeper and found what I needed.  Tablets to notebooks to everything in between I’ve had my eye on and my thought is that there is truly no perfect device for all.  We must consider a mix of devices and tailor each device to its designated use.  Why pay more for a device to do A-Z when really it only will be used to do A-M?  Balancing a budget and increasing technology is an ongoing battle and learning experience that you must not become complacent with.  The market is constantly changing and it can become difficult to stay on top of it.  Just as in social networking, get connected with all the vendors out there and build relationships whether you actively use them or not, you might have an ACE in your pocket in the future!