TOO MANY TREES IN THE WAY…

CAN ANYONE SEE THE FORREST

It’s been more than a term since I posted my last blog, and a lot has changed.  Not in where I want to take the school and ICT’s, but in how we are going to get there.

One of my concerns was, with the introduction of BYOD, that if students brought their devices and didn’t use them in the first week then the students would not continue to bring their devices.  The reality has been that not as many students have come with devices as I expected.  That’s not a bad thing; it has given us more time to improve the infrastructure and the pedagogy around having the devices.

Early in the term we participated in the executive conference where I ran a session on where we wanted to take ICT’s in the future.  I came away quite despondent and feeling like I was in a school of luddites who were never going to embrace technology.  However, the more I examined what was said I understood that before we could go introducing a vast array of new ideas we needed to have a solid platform and confidence in the infrastructure.  And they are not luddites, just frustrated.

What have I been doing?

The other big investment of my time this term has been on the new network rollout.  This has come at a fortuitous time for me.  After the discussions at the conference I came to the conclusion that we needed to consolidate the infrastructure.   I (with the help of the ITO) conducted an audit only to find that while we have a good number of digital display devices (IWB’s and projectors) in many cases they are not being used because staff have to take their own laptops (or borrow one) and hope that they can connect to the school’s wireless network, and in some cases bring their own wireless connections.  This raised a couple of positive points: (1) even through these adversities people were still using the technology; and (2) these are things that I can do something about to improve accessibility in every class.

With the rollout of the new network we will lose a large proportion of our student access machines, some of which will be replaced using government funding.  This provided us with an opportunity to think about how we use the existing machines, the new machines and spaces within the school.  Unfortunately, the funding will not be a one-for-one replacement, but it will allow us to replace desktops with laptops thus increasing the flexibility of the technology.

The other change in direction we are undertaking, on a pedagogical front, is the use of Google for Education (GaFE).  This will allow students using any device (school or personal) to save and collaborate on their work in a space accessible by their teachers and their peers both in school and at home, unlike saving to the school’s drives.  This will also allow us to trial the use of Chrome books as a more economical digital device in the school. 

The Plan

We have a big term ahead and we have a plan: data infrastructure available to all classes; digital displays accessible in all classes; reduced number of dedicated labs but an increase in the number of fully functional laptops and the introduction of Chrome books.  All of this will be staged with departmental priorities determining when we are migrated to the new network and when we will receive our new machines; in the meantime the plan is to connect data to all rooms and digital displays to the remaining classrooms.

Ideally, by the time of the Executive Conference 2014 we will be able to have the conversation I was aiming for… what will education look like in 10 years, and how do we start that journey?  I understand that sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.