A simple question to start the year

One never knows what the e-mail will bring. Yesterday this question came:

I was wondering if you agree or disagree with this quote, and why: "the more powerful technology becomes, the more indispensable good teachers are.

Interesting idea, and quite the opposite of what many policymakers envision: that technology will "teacher-proof" education.

So I expect that whether one agrees or not depends on how one defines "powerful technology." If it is only to teach basic skills through drill and practice, integrated learning systems, distance education that retains the same pedagogies used in F2F instruction,  then no - these uses require few teaching skills.

But if the technology is used to help students become information literate, effective problem solvers, and powerful communicators, the role of the teacher becomes even more important, especially as the teacher's role becomes process expert rather than content expert.

I'm hoping others can formulate a better response...

Those Crazy Days of Summer

While I not only admit to, but take pride in, my basically indolent nature, the paucity of blog entries lately can't be ascribed to laziness - regrettably. Summer for our technology department has become its busiest time. Major ongoing projects this summer include:

1. A major upgrade to our inter-building WAN from 10mg shared to 100mg switched bandwidth and doubling the capacity of our pipe from the WAN to the Internet cloud. Disruptions to most of our sites could be measured in hours, not days, but any network down time any more results in people not being able to get their jobs done. I am thinking one of the advantages of VoIP might be that when the network goes down, so will the telephones...

2.  Creation of about 100 "smart" classrooms, installing mounted ceiling data projectors and interactive white boards and requisite cabling. Thankfully, one vendor won the bid for all the equipment and the installation, so there is but "a single throat to choke" on this project (and no throat choking has been necessary so far.) But you don't undertake a project that involves 100 teachers, 30 administrators, and 15 school sites without getting a few questions and concerns about prioritization.

3. Upgrade of our e-mail server to Exchange.  We've around 1000 staff who use district e-mail. The new server has meant new passwords for everyone and new e-mail settings on most computers, both at school and at home. We're moving everyone possible to Outlook/Entourage as a mail client to take advantage of the shared calendaring, global address book etc., that the new server provides. This has been the first real change in how we do e-mail in the district in a dozen years. And some people don't like change. But perhaps you knew that already...

4. Individual hands-on training for  over 100 teachers getting new computers. This task has grown too large for our computer coordinator to do alone, so she has recruited me as "trainer of the last resort" to sit down with each teacher getting a new computer to go over all the computer's settings, software installation, e-mail set-up, and hardware tests. It takes about an hour with each teacher. Levels of enthusiasm and ability, well, vary. This really has been one of the best parts of my summer, however. One-on-one tutoring is rewarding for both the trainer and trainee.

 

This summer has been about change and the longer I am a "change agent" the more apparent it becomes that one must wait for the pay-off. It's tough listening to folks whose network is down, can't figure out their e-mail, or hate giving up even an hour of summer vacation to learn about their new computer. But I have faith that sometime during this school year, each of them will appreciate faster  access to the Internet, the global address book in Exchange, and a Widget or two on their new computer.

Tom Landry of Dallas Cowboy fame once defined leadership as "getting people to do what they don't want to do in order to achieve what they want to achieve." That seems pretty accurate this busy summer.

So the days are full. Evenings I am pooped or working on columns that are (over)due. Or selfishly I just sit on the screen porch enjoying a book and the bird life on the lake, trying to remember how summers used to be for educators. 

In my role as consultant

Consultant:  a person who when asked the time, borrows your watch, tells you what time it is, pockets the watch, and sends you a bill for it.

I've been asked to "consult" on a technology plan for a school. Consultancies are jobs I always undertake with no small degree of trepidation. Unlike a workshop or speech, these jobs can be wildly unpredictable, especially in the value of their outcomes (at least as I perceive it). Sometimes I've felt very good about what I've been able to do for the organization that hires me; other times less so. And it's not for the lack of effort on my part.

 Given my mixed experience both as a consultant and the recipient of such services, I always offer the following caveat when approached for a job:

 ___________

From: "What Gets Measured, Gets Done," http://www.doug-johnson.com/wgm/wgm.pdf

The outside consultant
Should a district hire a consultant from outside the district to help evaluate its library media program? Since I
have at times served as a consultant myself, you need to know that my advice may be somewhat self-serving.
But here it is anyway…

There are a number of very good reasons not to hire a consultant to help in the evaluation process:

• Good consultants are expensive. (An alternative to a hired gun is to have a reciprocal agreement with another district to trade external evaluators. The North Central Association uses volunteer evaluators from member schools. These folks know they in turn will get volunteers when they are evaluated.)
• Consultants may not understand the culture, philosophy, and goals of the district.
• Consultants may come to the evaluation with a set of prejudices not in keeping with district philosophy.
• Consultants may not come from recent practice in the field.
• Consultants can only discover a limited amount of information during a site visit. One or two conversations or experiences may play too important a factor in the consultant’s final recommendations.

Other than that, we are charming and lovable people and can add value to the evaluation process:

• Consultants can bring a sense of objectivity to the evaluation.
• Consultants can bring expertise in building good programs to the district.
• Consultants can lend credibility and validity to the work done by the district evaluation team if the administrative team and school board regard them as impartial and expert.
• Consultants can bring knowledge of current best practice and future trends in the field, and may have knowledge of what other schools are doing that is innovative and effective.

If you want to get the most bang for your buck from a consultant:

• Spell out exactly what result you expect from his/her involvement. (Site visit, written report, follow-up, etc.)
• Have good information for the consultant to use. Inventories, survey results etc, should be done prior to his/her involvement. (Although a good consultant should be able to provide sources for good evaluative tools.) The consultant should only be analyzing the data and making recommendations, not gathering it.
• Get recommendations from others who have used the consultant. Ask about his or her communication skills, timeliness, reliability, and the usability of the consultant’s product.
• Hire someone with credibility and recent experience in the field.

When I visit a district as a program evaluator, my main objective is to help the head of the library media/technology department get across whatever message he or she needs to have the administration and board hear. Most people for whom I have worked have a very realistic picture of the strengths and weaknesses of their own programs.

I also attempt to answer genuine questions these folks might have: Why are more classes not using technology for research purposes? To what extent do our physical facilities help or hinder our library media programs? How can we better use the computers we have in our elementary schools? Do our print collections meet the needs of our students and staff? How can we better allocate our media and technology dollars?

The main point here is that the better the district knows what it wants from an outside consultant evaluator, the better off that person is able to provide it. And this leaves everyone satisfied and the district with useful information that can be used to improve.

 ___________

What makes a consultant valuable in your experience?