WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.240 Welcome in. Today we are looking at a really 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:05.559 fascinating friction point that kind of exists 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:07.700 right under our noses. Yeah, it's everywhere 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:09.839 once you know what to look for. Right. It is 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.660 a dynamic that affects almost every single office 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:16.760 organization and school you interact with. But 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:19.839 we just rarely ever talk about it. You are here 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:21.460 because you want that thorough knowledge and 00:00:21.460 --> 00:00:24.960 those multiple perspectives without the overwhelming 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:27.879 information overload. And that is exactly what 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.940 we are going to unpack. Today's Deep Dive explores 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:33.399 what happens when the rigid, highly structured 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:35.840 rules of corporate enterprise technology just 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:38.740 sort of collide head -on with the messy, unpredictable 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:40.979 reality of the classroom. It is a phenomenal 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:44.579 topic. We are looking at a deeply ingrained systemic 00:00:44.579 --> 00:00:47.479 issue here, viewed through a very specific, high 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:49.920 -stakes lens, because when you look at the infrastructure 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:52.719 that powers our modern world, the tension between 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.719 the tools we use and the missions we're trying 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:58.320 to accomplish is literally everywhere. And to 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.320 guide us through this, our source material today 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:04.180 is this brilliant, just eye -opening article 00:01:04.180 --> 00:01:07.599 by Dr. Gary L. Ackerman. It's titled, Where the 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.560 Rationale for School IT Breaks Down. Such a good 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.140 piece. It really is. And our mission for this 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:17.000 Deep Dive is to explore the hidden friction between 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:20.140 enterprise, IT professionals, and educational 00:01:20.140 --> 00:01:23.010 environments. But to really grasp of this, we 00:01:23.010 --> 00:01:25.250 sort of need to establish the baseline reality 00:01:25.250 --> 00:01:27.609 of what a modern school actually is. Right. We 00:01:27.609 --> 00:01:29.730 have to set the stage. Exactly. For anyone who 00:01:29.730 --> 00:01:31.569 follows enterprise networking, you know that 00:01:31.569 --> 00:01:35.069 schools are no longer just chalkboards and overhead 00:01:35.069 --> 00:01:38.370 projectors. They are massive, highly complex 00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:40.530 enterprise networks. They absolutely are. I mean, 00:01:40.530 --> 00:01:42.549 a modern school district is essentially running 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:45.430 a mid to large size corporate data center. Yeah. 00:01:45.670 --> 00:01:47.849 They are managing thousands, sometimes tens of 00:01:47.849 --> 00:01:50.489 thousands of endpoints. They have massive amounts 00:01:50.489 --> 00:01:53.030 of highly sensitive data stored on local servers 00:01:53.030 --> 00:01:55.530 and in the cloud. They're dealing with constant 00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:58.250 simultaneous connections, complex identity management 00:01:58.250 --> 00:02:01.310 systems for the students, the teachers, the staff. 00:02:01.349 --> 00:02:03.569 And all of that while under constant threat of 00:02:03.569 --> 00:02:06.950 cyber attacks, too. Exactly. To maintain secure, 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:10.469 reliable, and robust operations at that massive 00:02:10.469 --> 00:02:13.770 scale, schools rely heavily on enterprise -grade 00:02:13.770 --> 00:02:16.349 systems, and managing those systems requires 00:02:16.349 --> 00:02:19.270 a very specific, high -level technical skillset. 00:02:19.650 --> 00:02:22.189 Which leads us to the necessary marriage of IT 00:02:22.189 --> 00:02:25.310 and schools, because, let's be honest, educators 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:28.479 cannot run. an enterprise IT network. No, not 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:30.180 at all. They don't have the specialized training 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:33.039 for it, and keeping a network of that size operational 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.300 is a grueling, round -the -clock job. It's a 00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:38.719 demanding profession, so schools do what any 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:41.139 large organization does. They hire dedicated 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:43.759 IT professionals, and these professionals arrive 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.969 with a deep, highly technical toolkit. According 00:02:46.969 --> 00:02:49.710 to Dr. Ackerman's piece, they are the ones configuring 00:02:49.710 --> 00:02:51.889 the massive firewalls to keep the network secure. 00:02:52.449 --> 00:02:54.810 They manage digital identities, complex access 00:02:54.810 --> 00:02:58.330 authorizations. They configure the DHCP servers. 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:01.550 Which, just for the uninitiated, that's the background 00:03:01.550 --> 00:03:03.650 system that automatically hands out IP addresses 00:03:03.650 --> 00:03:05.530 so devices can actually talk to the network. 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:07.430 Right. Without it, your laptop is effectively 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:09.849 a brick. They're constantly pushing out operating 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:13.370 system upgrades, monitoring network health, repairing 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:15.389 infrastructure. Yeah, they're the mechanics keeping 00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:17.650 the engine running, basically. Exactly. But here's 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:20.550 where it gets really interesting. Dr. Ackerman 00:03:20.550 --> 00:03:22.789 points out a critical observation about this 00:03:22.789 --> 00:03:26.169 specific skill set. The actual day -to -day work 00:03:26.169 --> 00:03:29.729 of managing a network is essentially organization 00:03:29.729 --> 00:03:33.030 agnostic. That phrase right there, organization 00:03:33.030 --> 00:03:35.969 agnostic, that is the linchpin of this entire 00:03:35.969 --> 00:03:39.229 issue. What he means is that the raw technology 00:03:39.229 --> 00:03:43.689 does not know or care what building it sits in. 00:03:43.750 --> 00:03:46.310 Setting up a routing protocol or configuring 00:03:46.310 --> 00:03:49.409 a firewall, it involves the exact same technical 00:03:49.409 --> 00:03:51.770 keystrokes, whether you are doing it for a Fortune 00:03:51.770 --> 00:03:55.370 500 financial firm, a massive retail chain, or 00:03:55.370 --> 00:03:57.449 a local public middle school. But let me push 00:03:57.449 --> 00:03:59.710 back on that for a second. Is that really a bad 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:02.360 thing? Yeah. Because schools are massive targets 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:05.180 for ransomware right now. Shouldn't we want an 00:04:05.180 --> 00:04:07.699 IT professional who brings strict, uncompromising 00:04:07.699 --> 00:04:09.699 corporate security standards to a school district? 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:12.139 Like if the technical work is the same, why does 00:04:12.139 --> 00:04:14.389 it matter where they learned it? That is a very 00:04:14.389 --> 00:04:16.550 fair point, and it's exactly why this dynamic 00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:19.449 is so difficult to navigate. You do want that 00:04:19.449 --> 00:04:22.730 high -level security expertise, but what's fascinating 00:04:22.730 --> 00:04:26.110 here is the massive blind spot this organization 00:04:26.110 --> 00:04:29.129 agnostic mindset creates regarding the ultimate 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:31.949 goal of the institution. While the technical 00:04:31.949 --> 00:04:34.670 work, the literal cable routing and command line 00:04:34.670 --> 00:04:37.310 interfaces is identical, the strategic goals 00:04:37.310 --> 00:04:40.329 of a business versus a public school are radically 00:04:40.329 --> 00:04:42.269 different. Right. They're totally different worlds. 00:04:42.470 --> 00:04:44.329 Exactly. Exactly, and they accomplish those different 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:46.449 goals by setting entirely different priorities. 00:04:47.350 --> 00:04:49.649 So an IT professional who cut their teeth in 00:04:49.649 --> 00:04:52.009 the corporate business world comes into a school, 00:04:52.170 --> 00:04:54.509 and they naturally just bring those corporate 00:04:54.509 --> 00:04:56.569 survival metrics and business world mentalities 00:04:56.569 --> 00:04:59.089 with them. Precisely. In the corporate world, 00:04:59.329 --> 00:05:01.709 an IT department often has to justify its budget 00:05:01.709 --> 00:05:04.689 by showing a return on investment or by treating 00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:07.230 internal departments as clients to be managed. 00:05:07.750 --> 00:05:09.750 Okay. Furthermore, in a business, if a system 00:05:09.750 --> 00:05:12.829 goes down, the impact is usually financial. Maybe 00:05:12.829 --> 00:05:15.829 you delay a meeting or a transaction is paused. 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:19.829 But in a school, if a system goes down, The entire 00:05:19.829 --> 00:05:22.709 core mission of the organization halts in a room 00:05:22.709 --> 00:05:27.430 full of 30 restless teenagers. The stakes, the 00:05:27.430 --> 00:05:30.290 pacing, the immediate human impact are completely 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:33.189 different. When you drop a corporate survival 00:05:33.189 --> 00:05:36.189 mechanism into a publicly funded school, it just 00:05:36.189 --> 00:05:39.449 short circuits. OK, let's unpack this. Because 00:05:39.449 --> 00:05:43.269 Dr. Ackerman provides four specific real world 00:05:43.269 --> 00:05:45.410 anecdotes from his career to illustrate this 00:05:45.410 --> 00:05:47.589 culture clash. These are great. And rather than 00:05:47.589 --> 00:05:49.569 treating these IT professionals like clueless 00:05:49.569 --> 00:05:52.209 villains, I really want us to look at why these 00:05:52.209 --> 00:05:55.069 breakdowns happen because they perfectly highlight 00:05:55.069 --> 00:05:58.129 what goes wrong when corporate IT meets the classroom. 00:05:58.670 --> 00:06:00.769 The examples in the text are incredible because 00:06:00.769 --> 00:06:03.490 they bring this theoretical disconnect into sharp, 00:06:03.569 --> 00:06:05.689 uncomfortable reality. So let's start with the 00:06:05.689 --> 00:06:08.050 first story. Dr. Ackerman describes a conversation 00:06:08.050 --> 00:06:10.149 he had with an IT professional working in an 00:06:10.149 --> 00:06:12.689 educational organization. He asked this person 00:06:12.689 --> 00:06:14.910 about the difference between business and education 00:06:14.910 --> 00:06:17.389 users. And this IT professional actually said 00:06:17.389 --> 00:06:20.689 out loud, in business, we try to upsell customers. 00:06:20.930 --> 00:06:23.689 So we generate more income. We should treat teachers 00:06:23.689 --> 00:06:25.750 just like we treat customers, upsell them to 00:06:25.750 --> 00:06:28.009 get more out of them. Wow. If we connect this 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:30.110 to the bigger picture, it reveals a profound 00:06:30.110 --> 00:06:32.870 systemic misunderstanding of the organization's 00:06:32.870 --> 00:06:35.050 purpose. Yeah. But you have to look at why he 00:06:35.050 --> 00:06:37.430 said it. This IT professional isn't trying to 00:06:37.430 --> 00:06:40.230 be malicious. Yeah, not at all. He is applying 00:06:40.230 --> 00:06:43.410 a profit -generating, business -centric model 00:06:43.410 --> 00:06:45.889 to a public service because that is the metric 00:06:45.889 --> 00:06:48.649 of success he was trained on. In the corporate 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:51.430 sector, upselling an internal department on a 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:54.329 new software suite might get you a bonus because 00:06:54.329 --> 00:06:57.389 it supposedly drives efficiency. Right, but applying 00:06:57.389 --> 00:06:59.750 that to a teacher is totally absurd. The goal 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:01.970 of a teacher isn't to generate revenue for the 00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:04.720 IT department. Yeah. They don't have a budget 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.519 to be upsold on anyway. Their goal is student 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.949 learning. Trying to upsell a teacher on technology 00:07:10.949 --> 00:07:13.949 they don't actually need just to mimic a corporate 00:07:13.949 --> 00:07:17.509 sales metric shows an IT department acting as 00:07:17.509 --> 00:07:19.730 an independent profit -seeking business within 00:07:19.730 --> 00:07:22.649 the school rather than a support system for the 00:07:22.649 --> 00:07:25.209 school's actual mission. It treats the educators 00:07:25.209 --> 00:07:27.990 as a revenue stream instead of a collaborative 00:07:27.990 --> 00:07:30.689 partner. Yes. It completely misses the point 00:07:30.689 --> 00:07:33.949 of why the school even exists. The IT department 00:07:33.949 --> 00:07:36.670 is basically trying to validate its own existence 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:39.379 using the wrong measuring stick. That mindset 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:41.500 of treating the school like a generic corporate 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:44.339 entity leads to some massive blind spots regarding 00:07:44.339 --> 00:07:46.519 the actual tools being used. Which brings us 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:48.800 to the second story, the LMS mystery. Oh, this 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:51.800 one is wild. It is. Ackerman describes an IT 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:53.939 professional working at a school that had specifically 00:07:53.939 --> 00:07:56.699 prioritized supporting online learners. Online 00:07:56.699 --> 00:07:58.819 learning is their massive strategic push. Right. 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:01.319 And six months into their role, this IT professional 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:04.220 finally asks, so how do we get into the LMS? 00:08:04.509 --> 00:08:06.649 This raises such an important question about 00:08:06.649 --> 00:08:09.709 the layers of technology management. You have 00:08:09.709 --> 00:08:12.129 an IT professional who has been employed for 00:08:12.129 --> 00:08:14.810 half a year and hasn't even looked at the learning 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:17.529 management system. Crazy. Now, for an audience 00:08:17.529 --> 00:08:20.250 familiar with this space, we know the LMS isn't 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:23.990 just a peripheral tool. It is the entire digital 00:08:23.990 --> 00:08:26.910 campus. Yes. It's where the assignments live, 00:08:27.110 --> 00:08:29.050 where the grades are stored, where the interaction 00:08:29.050 --> 00:08:32.490 happens. It is baffling. It's like being hired 00:08:32.490 --> 00:08:34.710 as the head mechanic for a Formula One racing 00:08:34.710 --> 00:08:38.610 team and spending six months meticulously polishing 00:08:38.610 --> 00:08:41.830 the toolboxes, sweeping the garage, organizing 00:08:41.830 --> 00:08:45.269 the spare tires without ever once bothering to 00:08:45.269 --> 00:08:48.210 look into the hood of the actual race car. You 00:08:48.210 --> 00:08:50.309 are doing mechanic things, but you are ignoring 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:52.960 the race entirely. That is a perfect analogy. 00:08:53.059 --> 00:08:54.740 And again, it goes back to that organization 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:57.740 agnostic trap. For those six months, that IT 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:00.379 professional was likely doing their job perfectly 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:02.820 by corporate standards. They were maintaining 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:05.620 the firewalls, updating the servers, managing 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:08.240 the Active Directory authorizations. They were 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.379 managing the infrastructure layer flawlessly, 00:09:10.980 --> 00:09:13.659 while remaining blissfully ignorant of the application 00:09:13.659 --> 00:09:16.059 layer. The actual tool that teachers and students 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:18.700 were relying on every single day to achieve the 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:22.200 school's strategic goal. Exactly. They managed 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:25.139 the technology in a vacuum, completely separate 00:09:25.139 --> 00:09:26.879 from the learning it was supposed to facilitate. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:29.919 And that detachment from the core mission gets 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.879 even more destructive when it comes to routine 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:35.100 maintenance. Ackerman shares this brutal third 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:38.000 story about a desktop support team. This is a 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.759 tough one to read. It really is. They decided 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:42.899 they needed to update the operating systems across 00:09:42.899 --> 00:09:45.639 the network. so they completely re -image the 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:48.480 classroom computers the day before classes start. 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:50.759 This is perhaps the most visceral example in 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:52.899 the text of conflicting priorities, and it is 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:56.000 a classic clash of timelines. Re -imaging, as 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.500 we know, wipes the machine clean and lays down 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.960 a fresh, standardized image. It is a total wipe. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:04.539 And because they did it the day before school 00:10:04.539 --> 00:10:08.460 started, This action completely deleted all the 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:10.740 files teachers had meticulously saved to their 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:13.019 desktops over the summer. Everything. It erased 00:10:13.019 --> 00:10:15.519 all the specific configurations, the shortcuts, 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:18.700 the lesson plan software settings. Everything 00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:20.679 the teachers had done to prepare for the arrival 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:23.539 of the students was just gone. I want to look 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:25.419 at this from the IT department's perspective 00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:28.220 for a moment though. Okay. In a corporate environment, 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.620 if there is a critical vulnerability or a massive 00:10:31.620 --> 00:10:34.740 patch rollout required for standardization, you 00:10:34.740 --> 00:10:36.799 execute it immediately to protect the network. 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:39.179 Right, because the risk is too high. Exactly. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.700 To the IT team, an updated secure operating system 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:45.799 is the ultimate priority. It represents a closed 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:48.820 security loophole and a clean audit checklist. 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:51.620 From their vantage point, they accomplish their 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:54.519 technical goal perfectly. I see your point. If 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:56.769 there is a zero -day vulnerability, They have 00:10:56.769 --> 00:10:59.149 a mandate to patch it. Yeah. But the timing is 00:10:59.149 --> 00:11:01.710 the issue here. They were entirely blind to the 00:11:01.710 --> 00:11:03.730 academic disaster they just caused. Yeah. The 00:11:03.730 --> 00:11:06.870 technical timeline, patching the systems, completely 00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:08.929 disregarded the academic timeline of the first 00:11:08.929 --> 00:11:11.590 day of school. Exactly. It's the ultimate the 00:11:11.590 --> 00:11:14.210 surgery was a success, but the patient died scenario. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:16.940 The computers were perfectly secure, perfectly 00:11:16.940 --> 00:11:19.279 updated, and perfectly useless for the teachers 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.179 who needed their lesson plans the next morning. 00:11:21.620 --> 00:11:24.860 The IT team succeeded in their silo, but the 00:11:24.860 --> 00:11:27.279 teachers, and by extension the students, suffered 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.179 a massive setback. The corporate mandate for 00:11:30.179 --> 00:11:32.519 immediate security patching collided with the 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:34.519 educational mandate for instructional readiness, 00:11:34.940 --> 00:11:37.580 and the IT department didn't even realize there 00:11:37.580 --> 00:11:40.879 was a collision. It all culminates in this interpersonal 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.320 friction we see in the fourth story. It's about 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:47.240 the rigid, ticket -based mindset. Ackerman relays 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:50.240 a situation where an IT coordinator set up a 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.360 computer lab. Naturally, once the teachers actually 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.019 get the students into the lab, real world needs 00:11:56.019 --> 00:11:58.480 pop up. Always. A software interface doesn't 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.919 work for a specific student, or a web filter 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.639 is blocking a legitimate research site. So the 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:05.700 teachers ask the IT coordinator to tweak some 00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:07.879 configurations to help the lesson run smoothly. 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:10.440 This is a very common occurrence in any dynamic 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:13.679 environment. The theory of the setup meets the 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:16.759 reality of the user. But the IT coordinator responds 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:19.519 with incredible stubbornness. They refuse to 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:22.360 adapt, simply saying, I did what they asked. 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:24.379 If they needed something else, they should have 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:26.940 asked for it. What's fascinating here is how 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:29.639 clearly this demonstrates the failure of the 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.559 corporate IT help desk model when applied to 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:35.240 a classroom. Think about the iTool framework 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:38.080 or any standard IT service management model. 00:12:38.340 --> 00:12:41.340 You submit a ticket with your precise requirements, 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:44.139 the IT department fulfills the parameters of 00:12:44.139 --> 00:12:46.659 that ticket, and the transaction is closed. It 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:49.539 is highly structured and static. But a classroom 00:12:49.539 --> 00:12:52.340 is the exact opposite of static. It is dynamic, 00:12:52.580 --> 00:12:55.100 messy, and unpredictable. You have a 45 -minute 00:12:55.100 --> 00:12:57.779 class period. You cannot put a help desk ticket 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:00.460 in, wait 24 hours for a response, and hope the 00:13:00.460 --> 00:13:02.100 students suddenly understand the material the 00:13:02.100 --> 00:13:04.899 next day. No, you can't. The needs change in 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:07.399 real time as 30 different human beings interact 00:13:07.399 --> 00:13:09.980 with the material. The IT coordinator's response. 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:12.539 I did what they asked. is a defense of the technical 00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:14.899 process. They are essentially saying, I closed 00:13:14.899 --> 00:13:17.659 the ticket. Wow, yeah. It shows a complete refusal 00:13:17.659 --> 00:13:20.700 to adapt to the reality of the educational process, 00:13:21.259 --> 00:13:23.360 prioritizing the strict parameters of the IT 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:26.240 workflow over the actual learning outcome. They 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.620 viewed their job as fulfilling a technical request 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:30.639 rather than supporting an educational environment. 00:13:31.019 --> 00:13:33.899 So what does this all mean? We have this absolutely 00:13:33.899 --> 00:13:36.700 necessary marriage between complex enterprise 00:13:36.700 --> 00:13:40.320 IT and schools. You can't run a modern school 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:42.720 without them. True. But we have this massive 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.320 culture clash where corporate IT priorities, 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.240 whether it's ROI, rigid security patching schedules, 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:51.240 or ticket -based workflows, end up destroying 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:53.799 educational workflows. Where do we go from here? 00:13:54.500 --> 00:13:56.379 Ackerman pivots to a solution, talking about 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:58.740 redrawing the boundaries of responsibility. He 00:13:58.740 --> 00:14:01.659 essentially outlines a policy of mutually assured 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:04.080 destruction if the boundaries aren't respected. 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:07.720 He states very clearly, Nothing good happens 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.419 when we allow educators or school leaders to 00:14:10.419 --> 00:14:13.580 manage the IT. As we've discussed, they don't 00:14:13.580 --> 00:14:16.100 have the expertise, and attempting to do so takes 00:14:16.100 --> 00:14:19.000 them away from their primary role. Teachers should 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:22.019 not be configuring firewalls or managing DHTurkey 00:14:22.019 --> 00:14:24.059 scopes. Right, they shouldn't be turning the 00:14:24.059 --> 00:14:27.440 digital wrenches. But equally and crucially, 00:14:27.860 --> 00:14:29.879 Ackerman states that nothing good happens when 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:32.720 we allow IT professionals to determine what educators 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:36.080 can do. The IT department cannot be the tail 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:39.620 that wags the dog. They cannot dictate the pedagogical 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:41.940 boundaries based on what is easiest for them 00:14:41.940 --> 00:14:44.519 to manage from a technical standpoint. They cannot 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:47.120 lock down a system so tightly for corporate -level 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:50.259 security that a teacher cannot effectively teach. 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:52.500 This brings us to the core takeaway, the new 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:55.190 paradigm that Ackerman is advocating for. Effective 00:14:55.190 --> 00:14:58.129 school technology absolutely depends on educators 00:14:58.129 --> 00:15:00.389 leading the technology decision -making. Yes. 00:15:00.649 --> 00:15:02.470 The teachers and the educational leaders have 00:15:02.470 --> 00:15:04.450 to be the ones steering the ship because they 00:15:04.450 --> 00:15:06.610 are the only ones who truly understand the destination, 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:09.860 which is student learning. He adds a very crucial 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:12.500 caveat to this, though, acknowledging the friction 00:15:12.500 --> 00:15:15.659 of getting educators to the table. Leading technology 00:15:15.659 --> 00:15:18.460 decision -making is outside the traditional area 00:15:18.460 --> 00:15:20.299 of expertise for educators. Does that make sense? 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:23.480 Because of this, educators are too often reluctant 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:26.179 to take the lead. They feel intimidated by the 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:29.580 tech, the acronyms, the sheer scale of the enterprise 00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:32.740 networks. So they defer to the IT department. 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:35.179 They abdicate their leadership because they don't 00:15:35.179 --> 00:15:37.120 understand the infrastructure. They hand over 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:38.929 the key. because they don't know how the engine 00:15:38.929 --> 00:15:41.850 works. Exactly. But Ackerman's call to action 00:15:41.850 --> 00:15:45.029 is that while it is completely reasonable that 00:15:45.029 --> 00:15:47.429 educators aren't prepared to do the literal hands 00:15:47.429 --> 00:15:50.250 -on work of managing the IT, they absolutely 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:52.649 cannot remain ignorant. That is the pivotal shift. 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:56.200 Educators must be prepared to understand exactly 00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:58.879 how IT decisions will ultimately affect their 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.820 schools and the students who attend. They don't 00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:04.419 need to know the command line interface to program 00:16:04.419 --> 00:16:07.539 the router, but they must understand conceptually 00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:11.129 how a blanket router configuration policy might 00:16:11.129 --> 00:16:14.149 block vital educational resources. They have 00:16:14.149 --> 00:16:16.190 to learn enough of the language to be effective 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:18.610 advocates for the students. They have to sit 00:16:18.610 --> 00:16:20.529 at the table with the IT professionals and say, 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:23.169 I understand the corporate mandate to update 00:16:23.169 --> 00:16:26.470 the operating systems for security, but you absolutely 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:29.450 cannot do it the day before classes start. Yes. 00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:31.899 We need to find a window that protects the network 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:34.340 without destroying the academic timeline. They 00:16:34.340 --> 00:16:36.759 have to act as the translators between the technical 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:39.580 reality and the educational mission. It requires 00:16:39.580 --> 00:16:42.019 a massive cultural shift. It requires moving 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:45.179 from viewing IT as an independent, authoritative 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:48.340 silo that dictates policy to viewing IT as a 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:51.139 collaborative service provider whose sole ultimate 00:16:51.139 --> 00:16:53.559 metric of success is how well they support the 00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:55.559 educators. Absolutely. And that shift cannot 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:58.299 be driven by IT. It has to be led by the educators 00:16:58.299 --> 00:17:00.639 themselves. taking ownership of the strategic 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:03.940 decision -making process. This is so profoundly 00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:06.119 relevant, not just for schools, but really for 00:17:06.119 --> 00:17:08.279 anyone listening right now. Whether you work 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:10.819 in education, a corporate office, a fast -paced 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:14.019 startup, or a nonprofit, this deep dive highlights 00:17:14.019 --> 00:17:17.079 a crucial universal challenge. It really does. 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:20.299 It is the constant tension between simply managing 00:17:20.299 --> 00:17:22.960 the tools your organization uses and actually 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:25.359 leading the mission of your organization. It 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.680 is so easy to let the constraints of the tool 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.980 dictate the scope of your work rather than demanding 00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:34.400 that the tools serve the work. It really is a 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:36.200 universal challenge across every industry. We 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:38.460 rely on these incredibly complex systems and 00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:40.400 we defer to the experts who manage them. But 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:42.700 that leaves us with a final provocative thought 00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:46.420 to really mull over. Dr. Ackerman makes a compelling 00:17:46.420 --> 00:17:48.740 case that the underlying infrastructure of our 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:51.859 technology, the networks, the servers, the firewalls, 00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:55.000 is largely organization agnostic. It doesn't 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:58.480 care about your mission. So my question to you, 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:01.619 the listener, is this. How often are the silent, 00:18:01.940 --> 00:18:04.480 purely technical decisions being made right now 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.420 by the IT department in your own workplace, unintentionally 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:10.839 rewriting the strategic goals of your organization 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.220 without you even realizing it? Are your daily 00:18:13.220 --> 00:18:16.480 frustrations at work, the blocked software, the 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.759 rigid workflows, the poorly timed updates just 00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:21.400 the result of a corporate IT mindset clashing 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:23.819 with your actual mission? It is definitely something 00:18:23.819 --> 00:18:25.539 to think about the next time you are forced to 00:18:25.539 --> 00:18:27.519 submit a help desk ticket that doesn't quite 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.609 capture the reality of your problem. Thank you 00:18:29.609 --> 00:18:31.430 so much for joining us on this deep dive into 00:18:31.430 --> 00:18:33.349 the hidden friction of technology management. 00:18:33.970 --> 00:18:35.789 Keep questioning the systems around you, and 00:18:35.789 --> 00:18:38.230 as always, stay insanely curious. We will catch 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:39.329 you on the next deep dive.