Ending the range wars - redeux

We want to bring library and IT people together so each gets a better understanding of the current philosophy and best practice in each others' roles. Some of the challenges we're dealing with are overlap in roles, questions in chain of command, allocation of resources and budget, and level of influence in the educational program of the school. We'd like those participants who come from the same school to work together to develop clarity and a common plan . Those librarians and tech people who come individually can develop proposals they can take back to their school.

That is my charge from an organization of international schools wanting a workshop about this time next year. The dilemmas posed by two positions in a school with possibly overlapping responsibilities and probably differing priorities is one which I have been struggling for nearly 30 years. And as you, dear readers know, when I wrestle with an issue, I usually do it out loud in my blog or in my published writings.

So here is a short bibliography of writings about the relationship between librarians and technologists:

• Advisory AdviceTechnology Connection, October 1997
• Best practices for meeting CIPA requirements (what should be filtered on your school's network?) EdTech Magazine, Q4 2005
• Defining the PD Roles of the librarian and tech specialist. Blue Skunk Blog, January 27, 2014.
• The DJ Factor. Technology Connection, February 1996.
• Proactivity and reflection: Tools to improve collaborative experiences. Minnesota Media, 2004
• A good policy for good policies. School Library Journal, March 2003
• Keep your techs by keeping them happySchool Library Journal, 2000
• Librarians are from Venus; Technologists are from Mars. Technology Connection, May 1998
• The librarian as technologist - what's our role? Library Media Connection, Nov-Dec, 2014
• The librarian: Your technology partner. Education World, March 2006.
• Preventing Technology Range Wars. The School Administrator, 2005
• Problem or dilemma?Blue Skunk Blog, November 13, 2007
• Standards 2.0. Blue Skunk Blog, November 18, 2005
• Who should be running your technology department?Knowledge Quest, Volume 28, no, 5 

I sense that both the roles of both the librarian and the technology specialist are changing, evolving and will be for sometime. This workshop will need to be about making good decision, managing change, planning and collaboration, dealing with conflict ...

I hope to learn a lot.

Two steps forward, one step back

I found the results of this morning's presidential contest disappointing but not particularly surprising.

Throughout this campaign I noticed Trump lawn signs outnumbered Clinton signs by a rather large margin. Scott (Dilbert) Adams, a very smart guy, predicted a Trump victory months ago and stood by his prediction though all Trump's supposed gaffs, analyzing the race through the lens of a "master persuader." And the conservative media was as adamant in the prediction of a Donald win as was the liberal media of a Hillary sweep. Why would one biased viewpoint be any more accurate than another? Predicted large voter turnouts usually mean the most passionate about issues are voting in bigger numbers and this time the passion was anger and dissatisfaction held by the white middle class. (Read DJ Vance's Hillbilly Elegy). I would not have bet money on the outcome but I am not shocked.

Is there a message about societal change and human nature that can be applied to education change from this election?

For some of us, social change cannot come fast enough. In the past eight years we have seen an African American man get elected and serve most capably as our president; we have begun a path to provide socialized medicine for all citizens; we have shifted our energy policies from cheap oil and gas to renewables; and we have recognized the rights of our GLBT citizens. And that, my friends, objectively is a lot of social change - all of which I applaud.

But with so much change there was bound to be push back. From your cousin Bud or Aunt Tilda. Maybe your 90-year-old dad or the guy down the street who wears camo and hunts deer. People who feel they've had no voice in the change process and are worried that their values are not being honored, their fears are going unaddressed.

I've always argued that incremental change in schools is better than radical change. It causes less stress and actually lasts. Do we risk major push back, even reversals, if we cram too much change through our educational systems? The cousin Buds are out there in our teaching ranks and among our parents and community.

Change cannot come fast enough, I realize, for those who are undeserved by current educational practices. But without planned, careful, scaled implementation of such change, that next superintendent or tech director or other change agent just might take the school a huge step back. You want a Donald Trump as your next school board president?

Image source

There is no mythical "again"

The key word in the Trump lexicon is ‘again.’ If you’re a 32-year-old Hispanic lawyer or a 27-year-old African-American architect or a 40-year-old white professional woman or a gay couple in Charlotte, North Carolina, you may not think things are perfect now, but there is no mythical ‘again’ you are trying to get back to. Ron Brownstein, of The Atlantic (via David Leonhardt, New York Times)

from What if the curves were going the other way? Seth Godin

A return to the "good old days" seems to be a motivating force for many American voters this (thankfully soon over) election.

Personally, I would rather be living today than in any other time in history. I phone my mother who is 84 each week and one topic of conversation lately has been how she has had to have a tooth pulled. One tooth. We both remember my grandparents' teeth in a glass by the side of the bed. Not a tooth in their heads.

How times have changed  - and for the better.

I would argue that despite our challenges, things are getting increasingly better in public education as well. Yes, not enough of our kids are achieving at a high enough level. Yes, we need to modernize our curricula to meeting current work and societal demands. Yes, we need to use better methods for keeping our kids more engaged in school.

But I would say that we are doing a better job, with more kids, in better facilities, with better teachers than anytime in my 40 year career in education.

I don't want to "make education great again." It never was.

I want to make education ever better.

I voted for a better future, not a return to any mythical past. I hope you did too.