1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Those who take an active role in their school are often told they should stay in their lane. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000 They may be serving on a committee charge with making certain recommendations 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000 and upstream out of that specific area by necessity. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Of course we should expect this because schools are modular, 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000 so when they are divided into different lanes, 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:24,000 those lanes are still deeply connected so that what happens in one can affect what happens in another. 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,000 This can be frustrating for individuals who are dedicating time to making recommendations. 8 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Committee members often reason, 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:36,000 if you're not going to take my advice, then why am I giving it? 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Sure, that's true and it's especially true when we're making technology decisions in schools. 11 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Well as I see it, there are three things that must be true about computers and the networks that we have in schools. 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 It's probably true in other fields as well, but I'm most familiar with what happens in schools. 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:58,000 So these are the three characteristics of a well-designed IT system in any school. 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Okay, first, technology must be appropriately designed. 15 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,000 Second, it must be properly configured. 16 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,000 And third, it must be reasonably implemented. 17 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:13,000 So appropriate design refers to the technology that's available to students and teachers in their classrooms 18 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,000 and in other instructional spaces and how they use it. 19 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:23,000 It must be designed to meet their pedagogical goals, their educational purposes must be met by the technology. 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000 I started my career just as desktop computers were arriving in classrooms 21 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:31,000 and then I switched from teaching science and math to being an educational technologist, 22 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,000 largely to help my colleagues figure out how to use these strange and devices in their teaching. 23 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,000 In the decades since, they've largely figured that out. 24 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Well, yeah, I guess they are figuring it out, but they're probably halfway there. 25 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Appropriate design does come from educators. 26 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000 You know, that comprises teachers and department heads, instructional coaches, curriculum leaders. 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,000 They all know what they need to teach. 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000 They know the students, they know what they can do, they know what the curriculum expectations are, 29 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,000 and they're exploring teaching strategies to accomplish all those goals. 30 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:10,000 When we think about the technology that's installed in classrooms, we must trust educators to guide us. 31 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Their guidance will ensure that the technology is appropriately designed to meet their needs. 32 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:23,000 The IT we find in schools today is sophisticated, I mean very sophisticated, in business and IT fields 33 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:28,000 we call these enterprise systems, and it takes skilled professionals whose full-time job it is 34 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:33,000 to manage the hardware and the software to ensure that it remains functional. 35 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,000 The proper configuration also requires multiple types of IT professionals. 36 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,000 There's not one person who's going to be able to do all of this. 37 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 We device technicians to fix malfunctioning or broken devices. 38 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 We need network administrators to manage users and other resources, 39 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 and to configure the routers and switches and access points, 40 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:57,000 and all this other hidden network infrastructure that's behind the walls and in the ceilings of our schools 41 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000 to make sure we keep those little green lights indicated we're connected, green. 42 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:08,000 We also need data specialists to manage our databases and help generate the reports that we need. 43 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Yeah, when I started, a tech savvy teacher could keep a small fleet of devices running in their spare time, 44 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,000 but you can't do that anymore. 45 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Sure, schools like all organizations have limitations. 46 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 The most obvious limitation, of course, is money. 47 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Teachers might want certain technology and the IT professionals might be happy to build it, 48 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,000 but if it's going to break the bank, so to speak, then we just can't do it. 49 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Yeah, schools generally have leadership teams comprising individuals who are responsible for such decisions. 50 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,000 First, it's the nature of the students. 51 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:46,000 In business, we assume IT users can read and write in that they have a clear purpose for using digital tools, 52 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,000 but these assumptions are not always true in schools. 53 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Teachers are the ones who observe students using technology. 54 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:55,000 They know students' struggles and their patterns of use, 55 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:02,000 and they can tell when the computers are easy for students to use and when they're effective as learning tools. 56 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Second, the nature of the curriculum. 57 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Most have a similar concept of teaching. 58 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:12,000 We think of a teacher standing in front of a classroom talking to students and telling them what they need to know. 59 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,000 From an IT perspective, it's really easy to build those systems. 60 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:23,000 The reality is digital tools are used for far more complex educational purposes and more dynamic purposes, 61 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,000 and the teachers have the expertise to make the judgments about what technology meets their needs. 62 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Consider the IT and the Science Lab. 63 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Those teachers know the tools that their students need in order to learn science. 64 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:41,000 They know the tools needed to teach science, and they know that better than anybody else can. 65 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Those decisions are going to incorporate both the tools that are used throughout the field 66 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:50,000 and the specific tools that the local community of science educators want. 67 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Third, the local realities are very important as well. 68 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,000 Educators can plan all they want. 69 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,000 IT leaders can meet the requirements of the teachers, 70 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,000 but until that technology and the curriculum and the teachers and the students all come together, 71 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,000 then the details of how those plans will be realized can really not be known. 72 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,000 Appropriate design, therefore, is an iterative process. 73 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:20,000 We make a guess as to how things will work, then we upgrade our plans and change them as we learn more and as we go. 74 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:28,000 When I talk about proper configuration of IT, I'm referring to how the hardware and software is set up to be robust and reliable and secure. 75 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:34,000 The devices that we buy and install, the software we install, the configuration settings, 76 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:41,000 especially on the network, and how we manage users' access to the resources all affect how properly configured it is. 77 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Robust technology means that it's available when we need it. 78 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,000 That includes making sure we have a sufficient number of devices. 79 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,000 They have the necessary capacity to run the software that we need. 80 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:58,000 They connect to networks with sufficient bandwidth so that latency doesn't interfere with learning. 81 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Reliability refers to the fact that the IT functions as expected. 82 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Obviously, this means that devices are operational, but it also means that necessary software has been licensed. 83 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:19,000 The wireless connections are available and there are other configurations that allow for seamless connection to networks and seamless operation of the computers. 84 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:26,000 All IT professionals concerned with security, that's number one on our to-do list for managing any network. 85 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:34,000 But security takes on special importance in schools because we're dealing with data about young people or about our students. 86 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:40,000 So we must ensure that that data is accessed only by those who are authorized to see it. 87 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:47,000 It really isn't the configuration that makes the server secure when it's installed in a manufacturing shop, for example, 88 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,000 it's the same configuration that will make it secure in a school. 89 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:56,000 Ultimately, the reasonable implementation is going to be decided by the chief executive officer of the school, 90 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:01,000 you know, be it a superintendent, president, whatever, but they get lots of advice. 91 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000 Financial professionals in the school can determine if the decisions fall within the available budget, 92 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,000 and they may be the most obvious criterion for reasonableness. 93 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:15,000 Schools also have to follow policies and regulations to ensure that their actions are legal, 94 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:22,000 and school leaders have legal advisers to ensure that their decisions meet those expectations. 95 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Yeah, it seems it makes some decisions about reasonableness. 96 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,000 Either we have the money, we don't. 97 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:34,000 We have the personal resources or we don't. The decisions either comply with the legal and regulatory expectations or they don't. 98 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000 Other decisions, however, can be much more contentious. 99 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:49,000 It's not unusual for educators' decisions about appropriate design and IT's decisions about proper configuration to be in conflict with each other. 100 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,000 Let's consider complex passwords. 101 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:58,000 For example, IT wants to ensure users have complex passwords to keep the systems and the data that's on them secure, 102 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:03,000 but complex passwords may be too complex for young students to remember or to type. 103 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:12,000 I've actually seen students who are unable to use computers because they were unable to log on because of the complex password requirements. 104 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,000 Ideally, these conflicts are going to be resolved through some kind of collaboration. 105 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,000 You know, usually we start with the definition of system requirements. 106 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,000 Teachers are going to tell IT what they need. 107 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,000 IT is going to build it in the way that they see fit. 108 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:30,000 What we find, though, is that teachers are not always clear about what they want or IT isn't good about hearing it, 109 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:36,000 or they all ignore the factor that they didn't recognize as being important until a system was actually in use with the students. 110 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:40,000 So the result is that what they originally built is not satisfactory. 111 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,000 As a result, they need to go back and design it again. 112 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,000 That's why this is an iterative process. 113 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Yeah, you're right, but sometimes we discover that it is appropriately designed, 114 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:57,000 but either IT did not explain its operation to teachers or teachers didn't follow those directions. 115 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:04,000 If IT doesn't make sure that folks know how to use a system or if users don't use it in the way that it's been configured to be used, 116 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 then neither complain about the other. 117 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:09,000 It really depends. 118 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:14,000 For anything in IT to work and be secure, then it must be properly configured. 119 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,000 But IT needs to listen to the advice of educators, 120 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:22,000 and they must keep changing the configuration to accommodate the needs of teachers and students. 121 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:27,000 It ends up being a bit of a moving target, but that's the nature of the work. 122 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Usually school administrators can keep out of these decisions unless there's an unresolved conflict, 123 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:36,000 and they can always tell because teachers are complaining and they're complaining a lot. 124 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Then the school leaders have to try to figure out whose turn it is to be right as it were. 125 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:46,000 If teachers are using IT as they're supposed to, but it doesn't do what they needed to do, 126 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:52,000 then it's reasonable for school leaders to direct the IT professionals to change the configuration. 127 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:57,000 If the configuration has been changed, but teachers aren't using it the way it was designed, 128 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:05,000 then it's reasonable for school leaders to direct educators to give it a try and see just how appropriate it is or isn't. 129 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Sure, I like to say we don't want our educators running our IT, but we don't want our IT folks running our schools either. 130 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000 They have much different types of expertise, and they make some very different types of decisions, 131 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 and they need a very different skill set. 132 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:24,000 They need to stay in their lanes and only recommend within their area of expertise, 133 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:31,000 but we need them to communicate and to keep communicating so that the other group understands their rationale. 134 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:37,000 If we do this, then the IT in our schools as well, it's appropriate and proper and reasonable.