Right Brain Skills and the Media Center

Now online: Right Brain Skills and the Media Center: A Whole New Mind(set), KQWeb March/April 2007.

Don't ask me why this has just been published in the March/April version!

Selling a referendum

After examining the impact of only a 1% increase in state funding for next year, Mankato Schools - like many in Minnesota - are asking citizens to vote for additional operating funds.

Due to the excellent reputation of our superintendent for being a prudent money manager and fine communicator, our community has supported us by passing 4 of the last 5 referendums. Let's hope the support continues...

My job has been to take our PowerPoint slides used for community presentations that look like this:

and turn them into this:

I'd vote "yes" for these kids! 

From the tech department

I feel like I’ve been beating up on techs a bit lately. Time for another POV.

Dear Teacher,

The Technology Department has been hearing a good deal of grumbling lately from the teaching staff regarding what it sees as overly restrictive policies regarding technology use in the district. Yes, we have limited teachers’ administrative rights to school computers. Yes, we do require one to log on to school networks. Yes, we do have an Internet filter in place. And yes, we do have a limited set of software titles that we support.

But if I might offer just a few observations:

1. We, teachers and techs, are interdependent. There is no reason for our department if technology is not recognized as a vital tool and used by a majority of the teaching staff. Without good tech support, you will be unable to do your job as effectively as you could.  It is in both our best interests that we work together.
2. Your individual actions can effect many people. Downloading a virus, using a high-bandwidth resource, or leaving a network open to a security breach may put everyone in the district at risk of losing data or time. Unless you unplug from the network and stay unplugged, your actions always have potential consequences for everyone – staff and students alike.
3. Making technology reliable, adequate, and secure is my goal. The technology resources of the district, like all its resources, are finite. It is my job to see that technology resources get the most bang for the buck. Without technology that is reliable, you won’t use it – and shouldn’t be expected to. Without technology that is adequate, you won’t use it – and shouldn’t be expected to. Without technology that is secure, you won’t use it – and shouldn’t be expected to. Every policy that comes from our department is written to help insure a positive experience with technology. Believe it or not, we do prefer happy people to angry ones.
4. There are truly bad people out there. Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware and malware can easily infect your computer. Hackers exist both outside and inside school networks. Spammers, phishers, and hucksters abound. Nothing personal, but the bulk of educators are pretty darned naïve when it comes to the very real dangers – to equipment, data and persons – of poor computer security use.
5. Security will always mean some degree of inconvenience. Yes, it a problem and time-consuming to need a password to get into your computer, on to the network and into applications. But it’s a bother to carry a house key and remember your ATM card’s PIN number too. Seat belts, bike helmets and smoke detectors are all pains in the butt. But the consequence of not using them is worse. So too with technology security protocols.
6. Technology is imperfect (as are technicians).  Filters overblock and underblock. Spell checkers don’t catch everything. A single misplaced digit can keep a program from running or a person from getting access to a resource. Computer problems (like car problems) can be difficult to diagnose and repair the first time.  And yes, technology is at its most unreliable when the need for it is the most urgent. There is an old tech saying,  “Computers sense fear.”
7. You need to at least try. Give it a chance. Next time you are experiencing a computer problem, try restarting your computer before calling us.  Thank you.
8. We standardize for a reason. OK, you like program X. I respect that. But the district has the resources to purchase, support and teach others how to use a single word processing program, just one e-mail client, and only one photo-editing program. And they may be program Z, not program X. You teach using English although there are kids in your class that would rather use Spanish, Urdu or Mandarin.
9. Creativity doesn’t require access to everything. You can still be a creative person even if you can’t install software on your computer or change your computer background. Really. Try Photoshop, Flash, PowerPoint, or write poems with your text editor. You want to try a new program, let us know and we can make sure you aren’t getting spyware and a virus along with your new tool.
10. It’s not your computer. I know it’s harsh, but the computer was purchased to help you fulfill the mission of the school – not for self-actualization. If you use it to shop, to play solitaire, or write Christmas letters, I will gladly turn a blind eye, but we need to maintain the machine for its intended use – to help you educate children. Sorry about that. You can buy a computer for home that shouldn't put much of a dent even in a teacher’s salary and do with it anything you wish.
    

Two pieces of advice:

1. Make sure a committee made up of a wide-range of stakeholders develops technology plans, budgets and policies. If you want usable technology, give everyone, including technicians, a say in how it is used, deployed and controlled.
2. Remember that I, too, consider myself first a child-advocate, second as an educator, and only third a tech. You might consider thinking of yourself in those terms as well.
   

(Teacher’s Technology Manifesto on which this is a riff.)