Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Technology Administrators??
To experience the full potential of blogging we have several tasks in our class. The first task is obviously maintaining our own blog. Then we are to follow our classmates blogs as well as some other blogs relevant to what we are studying. As I was reading through a few of these blogs there was an interesting post about whether or not we need Technology Administrators. Feel free to read the post as it is very interesting. Being new to a fairly large school district my first thought was "we have a technology administrator?" I have no clue who that would be! We have tech support but I don't feel all those working for tech support fall under the title technology administrator. Part of being a technology administrator is overseeing instructional computer systems. If our district has one I feel as though they are letting teachers down a little bit. So the question is do we need them or not? I feel if a district knows their technology administrator and he/she is working towards improving the district with evident results then yes why not keep them. However, if a district has no idea who their their technology administrator is then I bet they aren't doing the job they should be doing then why keep them? My mission tomorrow at school is to figure out who our technology administrator is and if we even have one, I encourage you to do the same. Then think about whether your school could do with or without them.
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We have a "technology coordinator" who is based out of the high school. I am in a small school district with a K-6 building and 7-12 building. Priority does lay at the upper level building and support needed at our school is VERY hard to come by. I can't say what is being done at the other building but it really seems that technology coordinating is part of our own jobs in our building. If we want to use it we do, if we don't, we don't. I also see that most of the tools we are getting experience with now are actually blocked through our schools server. I understand that the tech coordinator is trying to "monitor" students in this way. But shouldn't it be our job to teach them internet safety and that our technology use at school is for learning. I see changes that need to be made in my district.
ReplyDeleteChelsey--Forest City just created a position called "Technology Integration Director" for next school year. The focus of that position is to assist teachers in building technology into their curriculum. This is just the type of job I would love to get after I complete this degree. We also have a tech coordinator, but he works more with hardware issues: keeping the server running, etc. We also have a full time teacher as our Infinite Campus director. Now, that position is a complete mystery to me.
ReplyDeleteI think it if we wish to integrate technology, a technology coordinator is a must. Then teachers would have the support they need. Without this, I believe little will change.
I also read the article you are referring to in your blog. I think that while in some areas of the country Technology Administrators may not be needed, in Iowa there is still a need. In Fort Dodge, we had a Technology Integration Specialist for a couple of years, then that position got cut. It took a year to figure out exactly what the person in that position should be doing. As a Teacher Librarian--I and the other T-L's were a tad upset because we see the integration as part of our job. However, we now miss that position. There are so many new technology opportunities being created--and we cannot keep up. I see the Tech Administrator playing a big role in training teachers (and librarians!). Then, there are many who can help the students.
ReplyDeleteAs a compatriot in "the large district" you are part of, I would agree that we have had less than stellar leadership in the role of technology director, but fantastic support from those who occupy the positions just under that person. The post you linked to is a great reminder that nothing stays the same for very long. In fact, when you think about it, if technology directors were to be really effective, they would be spending all of their time keeping up with the changes and innovations, and little time to pass them along. I think what we have in our district is someone who troubleshoots the hardware and recommends purchase according to the budget. We in the classroom really do have to take responsibility for integrating technology. (If only some local university offered a program for educators about integrating technology ... that would be something.) And while Cathy says she would love to have a job as a technology integrator, I would argue that she's probably closer than she thinks. I'm not sure a coordinator is necessarily the answer, but I will agree that someone has to oversee the nuts and bolts of the operation.
ReplyDeleteCathy, that's awesome that your school will have a technology integration director. Our tech guy is great but he is in charge of 5 schools within our district. Also, he is not a teacher so he doesn't do any training. This is a problem that happened last week at my high school. A couple of teachers had the students use IMovie for their semester test projects which is great BUT the teachers, media specialist, and none of the students knew how to use the program. What happened was all the groups of students ended up in my computer lab asking for help. That would have been fine but I was also teaching my own classes of students and they were getting ready for their semester tests/projects. I had over 30 kids in my room all needing my help. I felt overwhelmed and overheated (my computer lab is not air conditioned and it was 85 degrees) to say the least. What I suggested to my principal last fall was for me to teach 1/2 time and then have my lab open for teachers to bring their students to. That way we could team teach, them with the curriculum and me with the technology side. That didn't happen but I'm still hoping in the future it does. Any suggestions?
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