WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.480 Episode 12 Information Technology. All schools 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:17.320 need it. All schools have it. All schools hire 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.059 individuals with expertise in managing it to, 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:23.300 well, manage it. In this episode, I describe 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:25.800 a reality that many recognize in their schools, 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.179 but they are reluctant to admit. This episode 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:31.620 calls out the inability of school leaders to 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:34.359 provide effective supervision and evaluation 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:37.439 of the IT professionals they hire. Now, I do 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.700 believe this is a prevalent problem. I've seen 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:42.780 it over and over again during my career. But 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:45.460 I'm not blaming anyone. It's the result of various 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:49.320 factors related to school operation and IT management. 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:51.740 Just because it arises from factors over which 00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:54.560 we have no control does not mean, however, that 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:57.000 we can do nothing about it. In this episode, 00:00:57.159 --> 00:01:00.780 I describe how it happens and suggest a few strategies 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:03.539 for minimizing the adverse effects it can have 00:01:03.539 --> 00:01:06.260 on school operations, especially teaching and 00:01:06.260 --> 00:01:09.359 learning. Let me begin by describing it. All 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:11.920 schools have leaders. Ultimately, there's a single 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.159 person responsible to the board of directors 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.799 for running the school. This is the school's 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:19.519 chief executive officer. Their title varies depending 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:21.560 on the nature of the school. But if you're a 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:23.620 superintendent or president, then you're that 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:26.260 person. School leaders hire others to manage 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:28.640 departments that have specific functions. For 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:30.980 example, we have academic leaders, financial 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:33.680 leaders, operational leaders, and of course, 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.040 technology leaders. Some of these leaders come 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:38.599 from education. Some come from other fields. 00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:42.000 Almost all of them share a common understanding 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.579 of the work they do, however. While the CEO may 00:01:45.579 --> 00:01:48.140 not know the details of financial accounting, 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:51.709 they do understand budgets. Information technology 00:01:51.709 --> 00:01:54.609 is one of the few aspects of school operation 00:01:54.609 --> 00:01:57.069 in which the leader has very little knowledge 00:01:57.069 --> 00:02:01.109 and likely little shared understanding. Obviously, 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:03.620 this is a generalization. But school leaders 00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:06.319 tend to be drawn from educators. They may have 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.080 been using technology in their teaching. They 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.560 may have taken the computers and education course 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:14.259 as part of their graduate program. But technology 00:02:14.259 --> 00:02:16.659 changes quickly. So if they've been in school 00:02:16.659 --> 00:02:19.659 administration for very long, then the technology 00:02:19.659 --> 00:02:22.479 they used in teaching is likely to have changed. 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.099 The graduate course they took in educational 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:28.740 technology probably focused on classroom technology 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:32.889 rather than the configuration of IT. Technology 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:35.389 leaders, on the other hand, are rarely drawn 00:02:35.389 --> 00:02:38.530 from educators. They are unlikely to have classroom 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:40.710 experience other than their own experience as 00:02:40.710 --> 00:02:43.330 a student or in training others how to operate 00:02:43.330 --> 00:02:46.469 IT. The chief technology officer in a school 00:02:46.469 --> 00:02:49.310 is likely to hold an advanced degree in IT or 00:02:49.310 --> 00:02:51.789 technology management or something related and 00:02:51.789 --> 00:02:54.889 their coursework likely included business analysis, 00:02:55.449 --> 00:02:58.189 but the cases in situations they studied in those 00:02:58.189 --> 00:03:01.530 courses rarely include educational populations 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:04.210 or problems. We know of course that leaders do 00:03:04.210 --> 00:03:07.159 not work in isolation. Good educational CEOs 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:10.680 include a leadership team to help them make decisions. 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:12.919 Within the leadership team, there are others 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:15.960 with similar experiences. They comprise many 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:18.719 folks who have experience managing budgets in 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.159 schools, for example, so they can collaborate 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.979 when necessary and draw on each other's experience. 00:03:24.740 --> 00:03:27.479 Technology is the one area where the chief technology 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.199 officer may be the one person on the leadership 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:32.539 team with deep understanding of their field. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.120 While others on the leadership team may be able 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:37.520 to check the interpretations or explanations 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:40.460 of others on their team, it is rare that the 00:03:40.460 --> 00:03:43.020 team includes others who can check the interpretations 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:46.750 and explanations of the IT professionals. In 00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:49.669 many aspects of schooling, school leaders retain 00:03:49.669 --> 00:03:52.669 outside advisors as well. When the situation 00:03:52.669 --> 00:03:55.849 calls for, they bring in the lawyers. In my experience, 00:03:56.030 --> 00:03:58.830 it is rare that they call in outside expertise 00:03:58.830 --> 00:04:02.509 to advise on technology decisions. IT auditors 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:05.210 are occasionally retained to assess infrastructure, 00:04:05.870 --> 00:04:08.689 and specific IT advisors are used for security 00:04:08.689 --> 00:04:11.409 audits, for example. But school leaders rarely 00:04:11.409 --> 00:04:14.620 seek the advice of how technology decisions are 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:17.339 made and how their departments are operating 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:20.899 and interacting with others. Another factor that 00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:22.959 makes it difficult for leaders to assess the 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:25.620 operations of their technology leaders is the 00:04:25.620 --> 00:04:28.980 uniqueness of technology systems. While systems 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:32.220 in different organizations may ostensibly be 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:34.800 the same, there are differences in how they're 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.839 configured and in the capacity of the IT teams 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.740 to operate them. Your school and a neighboring 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:43.339 one may both have the network environment that's 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:45.639 built on Ethernet infrastructure and that uses 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:48.480 Windows Active Directory, but that does not mean 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:51.759 you are both configured in the same way. Also, 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.180 the staff may have very different beliefs about 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:57.399 how to manage users and devices, and there may 00:04:57.399 --> 00:04:59.980 be different levels of expertise in the advanced 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:03.060 configurations. All this affects how the system 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:06.850 operates. For many reasons then, IT leaders are 00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:08.949 likely to have knowledge that is not held by 00:05:08.949 --> 00:05:11.629 others on the leadership team. The result is 00:05:11.629 --> 00:05:14.129 the leadership team must assume the IT leader 00:05:14.129 --> 00:05:17.029 is accurately reporting on the status of infrastructure, 00:05:17.470 --> 00:05:20.290 configuration, and operations. No one is able 00:05:20.290 --> 00:05:23.009 to challenge the IT folks when they say, it must 00:05:23.009 --> 00:05:26.209 be done this way, or we can't implement the changes 00:05:26.209 --> 00:05:30.040 that you want. Now I wish I could say my IT colleagues 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:32.839 are always honest with their reports. There's 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:36.139 a reason why IT folks have the reputation of 00:05:36.139 --> 00:05:39.300 being difficult colleagues. They often are. They 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:41.459 take advantage of the unique knowledge that they 00:05:41.459 --> 00:05:44.500 have to avoid doing things they don't want. Yes, 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.240 I know this is not universally true, but I have 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:50.540 seen this repeatedly over my career. I have also 00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:53.120 been on the receiving end of lazy excuses from 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:57.220 IT folks, and it surprises me when IT tries to 00:05:57.220 --> 00:06:00.220 hoodwink me. So just what should a school leader 00:06:00.220 --> 00:06:03.120 do if they believe the IT leaders are hoodwinking 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.319 them? What if they're having difficulty communicating 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:09.360 with them? What do they do if they find the IT 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.060 leaders are not accommodating the needs of faculty, 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:15.779 students and staff? Or if they're otherwise dissatisfied 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:19.240 with technology and how it's being managed? Now 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:22.399 I have observed IT professionals who do not react 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:24.879 well when leaders attempt to give them direction. 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:28.240 They recognize their unique knowledge. They also 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.699 recognize the power they have as they control 00:06:30.699 --> 00:06:33.720 access to email and other essential communication 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:36.579 systems and loads and loads of sensitive data. 00:06:37.069 --> 00:06:40.329 it is accurate to say that your IT leader could 00:06:40.329 --> 00:06:43.709 make for a very bad day for everyone. Regardless 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:46.129 of the difficulty of taking control of the IT 00:06:46.129 --> 00:06:50.370 by supervising and evaluating ones who have expertise 00:06:50.370 --> 00:06:53.589 that they don't, school leaders can adopt several 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:56.649 strategies to make this easier. First, school 00:06:56.649 --> 00:06:59.089 leaders should recognize the importance of IT 00:06:59.089 --> 00:07:02.610 in mission critical operations. Just as no responsible 00:07:02.610 --> 00:07:05.089 school leader would eschew an active role in 00:07:05.089 --> 00:07:07.689 making decisions about curriculum, they should 00:07:07.689 --> 00:07:10.589 not avoid taking an active role in technology 00:07:10.589 --> 00:07:14.300 decisions. This can begin by insisting IT leaders 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:17.959 explain things in plain language and asking questions 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:21.399 until you understand the infrastructure, situation, 00:07:21.740 --> 00:07:25.000 or rationale for their decisions. Second, frame 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:28.120 your supervision and evaluation of IT professionals 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:30.459 along with your daily conversations with them 00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:34.120 through a lens you understand. I recommend technology 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:36.779 acceptance. Listen to episode two and three for 00:07:36.779 --> 00:07:39.620 an overview of this model. This is a good framework 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:42.800 that educators can understand. One advantage 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:45.680 of using technology acceptance in this way is 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.579 that there are objective performance indicators 00:07:48.579 --> 00:07:51.839 that can be defined and there's reliable ways 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.959 to measure technology acceptance and the evaluation 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:58.720 of IT leaders can be tied to changes in those 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.100 measures. Third, get help. When school leaders 00:08:02.100 --> 00:08:04.180 sense they're not getting the complete story 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:07.420 or if the IT leaders or their decisions seem 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:09.819 unreasonable, they should find an independent 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:13.079 expert to see if the explanation or the decisions 00:08:13.079 --> 00:08:15.779 they are getting from their IT leaders make sense. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.959 Of course, school IT leaders in a region tend 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.540 to know each other, so this may require that 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:24.139 your expertise come from some distance away. 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:26.699 Schools have a long history of collaborative 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:29.689 decision making and independent review. That's 00:08:29.689 --> 00:08:32.470 what accreditation is all about. In my experience, 00:08:32.950 --> 00:08:35.409 school leaders are reluctant to apply these same 00:08:35.409 --> 00:08:38.490 practices to IT decisions in their schools. And 00:08:38.490 --> 00:08:39.110 that's a mistake.