Blog Post 4: Project Management

While listening to the podcast with Matt, there was one major point that came to mind: the idea of a project manager and having a clear vision of project management seems to be an incredibly valuable asset for schools.  The issue that came to mind is: COST.  How much does it cost to have people managing your project for you.  After working through a passed millage and having a company provide a project management service, I can say that some aspects seemed to be worthwhile, while others were done incorrectly or were things we could have done ourselves (set up visits to schools with a wealth of technology, order to correct server so we could iPads, schedule training with another MDM company in an efficient manner).  Perhaps my experience was tainted by an unprofessional experience, but the cost of it seemed to outweigh the benefits.  Additionally, the project management company had no focus on the educational impacts; simply on the installation of updated networks, the ‘backend’ of technology and helping to purchase the devices.

Now that that’s out of the way…

One of the ironic things during the podcast was when Matt mentioned that typically project management began once a project was approved.  I thought that was interesting as the buildup to the project being approved can potentially be a huge ordeal so it seemed somewhat oversimplified to begin project management only once the project was approved.  Perhaps what Matt was referring to was when to bring in a project manager from the outside?

When Matt was discussing the issues about rolling out technology, there were a few things to which I could relate.  The first was underestimating the impact on individuals.  First, we tried to accommodate for teachers getting multiple new devices by rolling them out at different times.  So the first things teachers received were iPads in January when students did not yet have them.  We provided training on those and had hoped that teachers would familiarize themselves with the iPads throughout the remainder of the school year and into the summer.  Then, we gave teachers their new MacBooks in August (the soonest we possibly could roll them out), provided training and again hoped that a few weeks would help them get used to the newer system.  This was, however, a large issue for many teachers.  Many asked for their old desktop PC’s to remain in their classroom or come back to their classroom.

Furthermore, one of the biggest things we underestimated was the impact of the iPad at home.  While some students and their parents used them responsibly, there were certainly some struggles.  Many parents were hesitant to take the iPad away from their child since it was a learning device and they were not sure if their child was still doing ‘homework’.  This became a situation where we were fortunate to have three administrators with students in the district who could talk about setting boundaries.  In addition, we had teachers work to communicate more actively, but bringing a device into the home that many parents were not familiar with had a huge impact on many families.

I think the most difficult part of my proposal to manage is teachers utilizing and maximizing the online learning community.  If there is not enough actual buy-in, teachers will probably not receive the benefit of participating in the online professional development.  The other issue with my proposal is whether or not we can measure and truly monitor whether or not its implementation is successful.  One of the biggest downfalls in the research I was reading for my proposal was that much of the research out there is based on teacher self-evaluations, which obviously has its limitations.  So, it would be important to create or decide on a measure for student achievement or other methods of measurement other than solely relying on teachers to reflect on their experience.

Blog Post 3: Digital Divide

The digital divide is certainly something that is prevalent in Boyne City Public Schools.  One of the biggest differences for the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is access to the internet.  Because many of our students live in rural areas, they simply don’t have access to wifi or internet at all.  However, by implementing a system where each student has an iPad, there is less of a divide between those students who would struggle financially to provide some sort of device.  One way in which our administration has worked to alleviate the issues that arise with the internet divide is by encouraging teaching staff to utilize apps that allow students to do work offline and/or online.  One app that has been extremely useful for this process has been iTunes U because any document, video, podcast, photo, etc. that is downloaded on wifi can be viewed without wifi as well.  This has helped us to overcome a huge hurdle of parent and student frustration about limited access to internet.  We have also used apps like Pocket or Safari tools like ‘Reading List’ to help students be able to read articles when they are not connected to the internet.

BCPS also does a great job of creating equitable classroom setups for teachers.  For example, every single classroom is equipped with a short-throw projector, sound field system, and Apple TV.  Each teacher has a personal MacBook Air and iPad 2.  By creating equitable situations, I believe the administration frees themselves from unwanted frustration because some teachers have more technology than others.  

Dr. Barrons mentioned one of the largest issues in the digital divide was the lack of females in the STEM field.  While I think this trend is certainly changing (I’ve heard mention that MSU offers scholarships specifically geared towards women in their engineering programs), our district certainly does not seem to be affected by this trend.  Our administration have offered technology leadership positions to those people who are most qualified.  In fact, of the six technology mentors in our district last year, four were women.  Additionally, the two technology coaches that have worked in our district were both women.  

While my technology proposal does not specifically address a gap, there are a few considerations that I now realize I need to be aware of.  The first is that some teachers do not have access to the internet outside of the school day and may struggle to participate in an online learning environment.  Perhaps a good option here could be providing choice - either stay for traditional after-school PD or log the hours on one’s own time.  

Blog Post 2: Funding for Educational Technology

Funding in today’s educational system is tough.  There’s no way around that.  While listening to the podcast, that was reinforced.  The other important takeaway for me was that finding ways to creatively fund technology for education is an important skill for any administrator, technology director/coach, and even classroom teachers.  Lynn Wietecha makes great points that as many schools used to use money from their general funds to help purchase technology, that simply is not available anymore.  When it comes down to funding a computer lab versus a teacher, it is not hard to understand why many districts choose the latter.  

However, I think there are creative ways to seek funding.  Wietecha mentions that sometimes to seek, earn and maintain grants, you need someone who is at least at a part-time position.  I would agree with this statement.  As a former technology coach who was employed for ¾ of the day, I had time to seek additional funding for purchases that could not be covered by technology bonds like applications.  After this position was reduced and the new technology coach’s job demands increased, though, this was a difficult thing to do.  Now, seeking grants or creative funding falls to our classroom teachers who do not always have enough time to seek out funding opportunities.  

One of the biggest ideas I took from Wietecha was the idea that sometimes implementing technology can help to save funding elsewhere.  Her printing example is one that resonates in my district.  Our former elementary school principal said that printing in that building was cut in half because some of the practice of the basics such as letters, numbers, addition and subtraction could now be done with the iPad.  This is not to say that handwriting is not important (especially at the elementary level), but there were times when students could complete a similar task on the iPad.  I can see this as being true at the secondary level as well where students can submit work via Google Drive, rather than printing a paper or teachers can share handouts through applications like iTunes U, Edmodo or Google Drive again saving multiple pages from being printed and potentially lost and printed again.

While listening to the podcast, I had one major question: how many K-12 schools are moving to BYOD?  I can see the benefit in regards to financial savings.  There’s no question in the sustainability of BYOD.  However, I still struggle to understand how they can be easily managed at a K-12 level both from a safety standpoint, but also from an applications standpoint.  I worry about the ease of implementation from a teacher’s perspective who struggles with technology when there are multiple devices in the room that may or may not have similar applications.  

The last thing that I took away from this podcast (and perhaps the most important) is the importance of demonstrating that the technology being implemented was effective in supporting and improving student learning.  Using programs that help to track student growth, like Wietecha mentions are important, but I also think it is important to show the other ways students are growing as a resulting of implementing technology into the classroom.  Our district has done a “Technology Night” that helps to showcase how we integrate technology and what students can do with it, but also to teach members of our community about their devices.  Student growth as a result of technology integration can be shown in many ways and we need to show our community and parents those results.