Forecasting Trends

Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.
Plan more than you can do, then do it.
- Anon.

In response to an earlier comment I made, Peter Reilly over at the terrific Ed Tech Journeys blog sent me  this link to his wiki page that predicts some of the elements to consider in an updated planning model:

1. The role of online learning both for teachers and students.
2. The ability to provide home access to school resources, 24x7x7.
3. The need to provide a structured plan for the acquisition of software and digital content.

4. The emerging role of data in decision making.(warehousing & SIF)
5. Unified desktops (portals) that aggregate appropriate resources and allow single log ons to multiple applications.
6. Lower computer costs making "one to one" more feasible.
7. WiMax and meshed WiFi making the school network accessible from home.
8. A new emphasis on innovative Leadership to inspire change in teaching and learning.
9. New networking strategies including "virtualization" and "remote support" that lower support costs and allow re-allocation of resources to "one to one" iniatives.
10. Inclusion of students in the planning process and as a resource in implementing the plan.
11. Identifying whether you are a candidate to move to Open Source software.

In The Vision Thing earlier blog entry, I talked about the big picture of tech planning. Here is the more granular part of our draft tech plan that is being distributed throughout the district for comment.  I am pleased that so much of it addresses Peter's "elements":

Directions – 2007-2011 (These actually changed little since the 2003-07 plan.)

As quickly as technology changes, it is nearly impossible to predict or plan with any accuracy the specific challenges that will be facing us over the next few years. We can speculate on some general trends:

1. Less emphasis on “technology’ as a separate area of concern; more emphasis on technology as a means to achieve goals of other areas.
2. Greater need to train students and staff on ethics, safety and civility when using technology, as well as the ability to evaluate the reliability of information found and to use it purposely.
3. Need for formal integration of technology skills into the content areas to meet specific state standards as well as being able to meet NCLB requirements that all students be technologically literate by the end of eighth grade.
4. Increased demand for individualized technology training by staff.
5. Continued, accelerated move to information in digital formats such as e-books, online databases, electronically submitted student work, web-based video conferencing, and video on demand.
6. More emphasis on anytime, anyplace access to personal information through web-based personal file space, calendars, and wirelessly networked hand-held devices. Increased access to tools that allow teachers to supplement classroom instruction with online learning opportunities such as class chats, threaded discussion groups, online syllabi and study materials, collaborative workspaces, etc.
7. Increased desire by parents for real-time student information available via the web. Higher parent expectations of schools and teachers to provide comprehensive information about school programs and individual student achievement.
8. Continued importance of the tools and knowledge needed to do good data-driven decision-making by administrators, building teams and individual teachers.
9. Increased efforts to assure data privacy, data security, and network reliability.
10. Increased educational options for all learners including more choices of schools, more online course offerings, more interactive video offerings, and more computer courseware options. This will result in an increased need for school marketing efforts and increased “consumer-driven” attention..
    

Big tasks 2007-2011

1. Continue/finish SmartClassroom project, installing interactive whiteboards and mounted LCD projectors in each classroom along with teacher training necessary to use them.
2. Explore use and need for voice enhancement systems in classrooms.
3. Refine regular replacement/training schedule for all staff, including secondary. Do needs assessment of staff development in technology.
4. Implement secure wireless network.
5. Evaluate current student information system and related programs (grade book, parent interface, class management).
6. Monitor feasibility of 1:1 student to computer programs using computers designed specifically for student use.
7. Supply additional computers and support for online testing required by district and state.
8. With assessment department, support training for all staff in using data mining system.
9. Create assessment of 8th or 9th students of technology skills. Design remediation opportunities for those who lack technology skills.
10. Move all web materials and services to ASP (rSchools). Train all teachers in use of rSchools for use in placing teaching materials online.
11.  Refine and develop security procedures. Do regular external and internal security audits.
12. Upgrade building networks by replacing 100mg switches with 1 gig switches.
13. Explore updating of library circ/cat system.
14. Develop and implement comprehensive new staff training programs for teachers, administrators and support staff.

Our bright, young IT manager, Jim, adds these to the list:

1. Consolidate server resources and provide thin-client (virtualization) appliances to accommodate increased needs of online testing.
2. Develop and integrate course management systems (CMS) within the curriculum and foster online courses.
3. Develop a true “web portal” for access to all systems (student info system, online storage, email, etc…)
4. Similar to #2, use a CMS type system or facilitate new forms of communication between students, teachers, and experts by using technology and the internet interactively in the classroom.

Now how to sell it, how to finance it, how to schedule it, how to implement it, how to maintain it, how to...  In other words, who shall bell the cat???

The vision thing

The unending revision process of our district's long-range plan continues, ad nauseum. I revise for the most part and then give the district's media technology advisory committee (and other groups) a chance to react, revise and improve. I find that it helps to have a starting point. (See Kathy Sierra's "The Dumbness of Crowds" which gives the reason why this seems to work well.)

I've reached the visionish part of the plan - the big, heady ideals:

Mission Statement
The Mission of the district media/technology program is to provide an environment in which all individuals in District 77 are empowered to become life-long learners and effective users of information, ideas, and technology.

Vision
If technology is to realize its powerful potential for improving education in District 77, it must be used for more than just automating the traditional methods and practices of teaching.

Rather than the computer simply being a tool which allows a common task to be done more efficiently, technology will fundamentally change how instruction is delivered, how student performance is measured, and how teachers view themselves as professionals. The technology is used to actually restructure the educational process to allow it to do things it has never been able to do before. These include using technology to assure:

• All students, including those with special needs, master the basic skills of writing, reading and computation.
• All students, including those with special needs, practice authentic information literacy and research skills, and the higher order thinking skills inherent in them.
• All students, including those with special needs, have access to top quality resources, including human resources, regardless of location.
• All teachers can use technology to provide students and parents
• individualized education plans.
• continuous feedback on how well students are meeting their learning goals.
• opportunities for virtual student performance assessments.
• All teachers, administrators and staff have the tools and ability:
• to locate the research findings that will guide their use of technology.
• to collect the data that measures the effectiveness of their practices.
• to use technology to communicate with all district stakeholder in a timely and effective manner.
• The maximum amount of financial resources can be spent on student resources by reducing administrative costs through effective technology use.

Media/Technology Program Long Range Goals

1. All students, including those with special needs, will demonstrate the mastered use of technology to access, process, organize, communicate, and evaluate information in order to answer questions and solve problems.
2. Technology will be used to provide the most current, accurate and extensive information resources possible to all learners in the district and community in a cost effective and reliable manner at maximum convenience to the user.
3. All district teachers will have the technology training, skills and resources needed to assure students, including those with special needs, will meet local, state and federal learning objectives and have the technological means to assess and record student progress.
4. The district will use technology to improve its administrative effectiveness through efficient communication, planning, and record keeping.
5. The district will have a reliable, cost-effective, and secure technology infrastructure that supports the learning, teaching, and administrative goals of the district.
   

Beliefs
The basic Beliefs of the district media/technology advisory committee concerning the use of technology by students, staff, parents, business, and community include:

1. Technology is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
2. All technology efforts must be designed to meet measurable educational and administrative outcomes and must be assessed.
3. The use of technology to access, process, and communicate information is an essential skill that must be acquired by students and modeled by staff.
4. Technology must be networked throughout the district and community in order to provide adequate information accessing, processing, and communicating.
5. Technology is required for effective school district administration, planning and decision-making.
6. Technology skills should be integrated throughout the curriculum and at all grade levels.
7. Effective technology modeling by staff requires adequate resources: equipment, software, training, time, and incentives.
8. The use of technology must be ethical, safe, secure, and equitable.
9. Technology planning must be a coordinated effort between building teams and district administration with input by all persons effected by the plans.
10. The use of technology, by promoting student-centered learning, will have a strong, positive influence on achievement.

OK, did you manage to make it all the way through this list? Pretty good, even if a little dull, huh? But here are an observation and a question:

This portion of the document remains virtually unchanged from Long Range Plan to Long Range Plan. The mission statement is the same as it was in the 1992-97 LRP. (Yes, I keep copies.) Beliefs, Vision and Goals are from the 1997-2000 LRP.

10 and 15 years ago were we prescient or are we now stuck in a rut?

Busman's Holiday

busman's holiday: a holiday spent in following or observing the practice of one's usual occupation. M-W.com

I guess you can run but you can't hide from technology. As much as I would like to leave "things that go beep" at work, they some how manage to follow me home. It's not all bad. During my brief time off this holiday season, I have:

1. Created the 2007 Johnson family calendar.

This is the fourth year I've done this for my small family.  Simply finding a few family photos and pasting them into a calendar layout with family members' birthdays so noted makes a nice Christmas gift. Technologies used:

• digital camera
• scanner
• photo editing software
• word processing templates
• pdf conversion
• e-mail (to get photos from my brother)
• flash drive to get the files to the printer
  

I still take the files to Kinkos to be copied rather than mess with photo paper, photo ink, etc. at home, but this is mostly a do-it-yourself project and a labor of love.

2. Learning to use the GPS system.

Since I was a good boy all last year, Santa (aka the LWW) gave me a Garmim StreetPilot i5 for Christmas. It's a happy coincidence that it is the exact same model that appeared on the web page URL I sent to her earlier this month!  After downloading the complete instruction manual, map update software, e-mailing the manufacturer to make sure a Mac OSX version of the software is forthcoming, and inserting batteries into the device, I gave it the acid test this morning. I asked it to find my office.

All in all, it was pretty darned amazing. The unit, about the size of a tennis ball, shows the road, the lakes and a small triangle that is me in my Ford Ranger pickup travelling down the road on its small screen. A female voice (I think I will call her Sacagawea) announces each upcoming turn about a quarter mile prior to it and then politely asks that I turn when I am at the intersection. I deviated from the route once and she quickly re-programmed the new route. She announced when I got to my destination. Very cool. I can hardly wait to use it in an strange place. Maybe Fargo this weekend. Technologies used:

• GPS unit
  
• Internet/e-mail
• Computer interface to download updated maps and manual
  

Getting acquainted with the Nova 5000

I was sufficiently impressed with this handheld computer when I saw it at the TIES conference last month that I thought a demo unit for the district was in order. It arrived last Friday. It's been great fun figuring this gadget out. So far I've discovered that the handwriting recognition works great, the built-in WI-FI connection plays nicely with both my school and home networks, and that the old keyboard and mouse I dug up worked with it seamlessly. I  am already wishing for a faster processor and a cord that attaches the stylus to the computer body (so stylus can't be used as a bookmark in the manual and left at work), but I like the computer.

When the cost of this device drops to about $300, it has some real possibilities in making 1:1 computing a reality for even average districts like mine. I am excited. 

So what's the point - if there is a point -to these observations?  I am guessing that those educators most likely to use technology at school also use it at home, use it for fun and use it for personal reasons. Ought we be less stuffy about letting teachers take school tech home to use for fun and personal reasons? When a teacher uses the school's digital camera to take wedding photos or one of its laptops  to crank out the family Christmas letter, s/he should not be treated as a criminal. It's off-the-job learning that may well be used on the job.