BFTP: The changing role of tech support

Yesterday I performed my least favorite supervisory responsibility: I let my technology team know that we would be reorganizing next year - and that there would be a reduction in the number of people in our department. Driven by both needed district-wide budget cuts as well as evolving tasks within the tech department, changes that impact lives, families, and futures of real people weigh heavily on me. But I have to keep thinking - it's about service to kids, not about the adults...

When the platform changes, the leaders change. - Seth Godin

Can technology workers be as reactionary as others in education?

Most of us, I believe, have the reputation for doing our best to push the envelope, to create change, to foment revolution in our schools. Ot at least reading educational technology writers and listening to popular speakers at technology conferences would certainly lead one to that conclusion.

But at heart, might we be actually deeply reluctant to change as well?

I get this feeling most strongly when I hear about technology departments raising barriers rather than creating possibilities about new resources -  especially when the objections seem rather spurious (security of GoogleApps, bandwidth for YouTube, predators on Facebook, licensing of Skype, etc.). Are the concerns real or just because the way of doing something is different?

Why, I suppose, should tech support people be any happier about new directions that may significantly change their jobs, their skills, their power, their usefulness than anyone else? What happens:

• When individual workstations can maintained by restoring a common, simple image since settings and individual files will all be store online?
• When security and backup becomes the responsibility of an application server provider not the district?
• When voice and video become as (or more) important than data flowing through the networks?
• When our filters can be easily bypassed or students get Internet access using their own accounts, not the school's?
• When network reliability, adequacy and security become mission-critical for all staff and students?

I rather doubt the need for tech staff will decrease in the immediate future. It seems that just as the need for some tasks diminish, new tasks crop up. But some jobs will increase in value while others decrease. Anyone wish to suggest some job security strategies for techs?

I don't think blocking progress is one of them.

 Original post March 14, 2010

Let's go back to bubble sheets

All testing on line by ought-nine (Minnesota Dept of Education, 2008)

Back to pen by ought-ten (Minnesota Technology Directors, 2009)

When my daughter was in school, she claimed ITED (the Iowa Test of Educational Development) actually stood for the Idiotic Test of Endless Dots. Sounded about right to me.

In its technologically advanced state, however, education has brought testing into the digital age. Now, instead of using the infamous No. 2 pencil, a booklet, and a lovely sheet of ovals, we instead plunk kids down in from of a computer, and let them click on the bubble.

Talk about progress!

However this week, Minnesota like a number of other states who use Pearson as its testing vendor, experienced some technical difficulties. Slow loading, students being bumped off, long log-in times etc. An agonizing experience for kids already made anxious by teachers whose careers may depend on how well their charges do on these assessments.

Our Commish of Ed then ordered that all testing halt Wednesday until Pearson fingered out the problem with its systems. Underpowered servers (can't afford the fast ones?) and a "malicious" denial of service attack (has Pearson not heard of firewalls?), were the culprits according to the news. The MDE itself never sent out an explanation to schools that I saw.

While I love technology for many reasons and for many things, I do not think technology is the answer to every task. I like a doctor to look down my throat. I like a stylist to cut (what's left of) my hair. I'd rather a person wrote the books I read and cook the meals I eat. I would much sooner give a workshop in person than online. Testing may be one of those situations where analog just makes more sense than digital - assuming this amount and kind of testing actually makes any sense at all.

Is it time to reverse course on online testing and revert to good old No. 2 pencils and bubble sheets?

• State testing can be done in a single day or two rather than the multi-week "window" it now takes.
• Kids can read on real paper instead of computer screens. 
• Kids and teachers can use the computer labs and media centers for educational purposes instead of testing.
• Professional personnel can be freed up for other tasks than readying labs, testing configurations, dinking with OS update scheduling, and other stuff.
• Labs can be reconfigured to support groups doing high powered productivity work rather than low-level 1:1 stuff. This would save some real money and real estate in buildings and make more sense, especially in 1:1 schools.
• And maybe, just maybe, would spend more time as a district looking at what the scores might mean than actually giving the tests themselves.

Yes, there are tests that have adaptive features such as NWEA's MAPS tests, but the bulk of the test we give, it seems, are little more than moving the paper test to an

I supported online testing for many years since it was the boogie man that made administrators who controlled budgets sit up and pay attention. "We need more bandwidth or testing won't work." "We need new computers or the testing won't work." "We need ____________ or the testing won't work." I got a lot of good stuff necessary for real educational uses of tech by waving the testing red flag often.

It may be time to find a new boogie man.

PD seasoned with humor

A couple years ago I suggested a way we might "gamify" professional development efforts in "Gamifying PD," August 22, 2013. At the time I listed some things we were considering:

1. Identify the technology skills and uses we think would be useful to teachers and create ways they can demonstrate the mastery of these skills. I believe we already have about 40 separate online activities teachers can work on in 10 areas, each with Substitute, Augment, Modify and Restructure levels.
2. Create a means for teachers to report completion of each activity and mastery of the skill. Design a badge for each area of mastery and assign points. Badges could be put in e-mail sig files or on webpages.
3. Re-design each activity as a "quest" with hints, clues and maybe even humor. I'm thinking that something like the old graphic adventures like Zork might provide a model.
4. Create levels of overall mastery based on the number of points earned. For fun, let's call them Apprentice, Magician and Wizard levels.
5. Run a tournament among buildings to determine which building has the highest percentage of staff at each level. Update it weekly. Give prizes???

I am glad that at least one school district has seen the benefit of games - and especially humor - when applied to tech PD. Check some of these course offerings by the Bettendorf (IA) Community School District:

Who fixes my stuff when I break it?  -A short introduction to members of the technology department

Passwords & Plug-Ins & File Names Oh My! 

FirstClass, you mean WorstClass... (they didn't hear me say that) 

To Infinity and Beyond! -An Introduction to Infinite Campus 

Where did I save my crap? -An introduction to server structure and where things are saved 

Why I need to work for NSA to make a phone call around here. -An introduction to our phone system

 

Planning Lessons using START...Your first of many acronyms in these lessons... make flash cards

Ahhh the Library, Remember When It Had Books! -A look at services that are available through our library

Mickey Mouse is Pissed -A look at copyright law. 

 I Tawt, I Taw a Twitter  - Uses of and Creating a Twitter Account 

   **Reward: Title- Tweenius

Facebook: Redefining a friend (loosely) - Facebook in the Classroom 

   **Reward: Title- Facebookaholic

Google +....nothing, just +  - Purpose and creating an accoun  

   **Reward: Title: Googlehead

For those of you with something useful to say... - Introduction to Google Blogger 

    **Reward: Title: Blazing Blogger

 I like my Moodle with marinara.

    **Reward: Title: Moodle Magician

Edmodo sounds like my dad's first car

    **Reward: Title: Edmodo Dragon

Wiggio, what kind of name is that? It just SOUNDS stupid!

     **Reward: Title: Wiggio Wizard

Probably the most needed but least used words in education today are "lighten up!" We, are indeed, in a serious business, greatly impacting the lives of our students. But being serious about our work does not necessarily mean we have to remove humor from our environment. It may be, infact, the only thing that keeps many of us going.

Love your work, Bettendorf! I hope your staff appreciates your 'tude.