It’s time to name the next recipient of the crimson megaphone! This week I pick Scott Meech’s blog, Technology in Education isn’t the Future… It is the Present!, as one that I think deserves a bigger audience (DABA).
Here are a few posts (SMosts, Scott?) to get you started:
- Digital Citizenship – Modern Day Slavery?
- When Web 2.0 Tools go bad… Tonight at 10 PM on your local News Network.
- I am a teacher @#@#$%#%_#$% …. why doesn’t she listen to me and learn!
- Response to Gary Stager’s Rant Against
- The most important quality of a technology coordinator is…
Scott’s also a great commenter on others’ blogs and is very active in the Texas educational technology scene. Happy reading!
The most important quality of a technology coordinator is… by Scott M.
i agree with scott to some extent… the problem is that there seems to be many more corporations nationwide that do not have monetary resources to support the Director of Technology position with several departments which are beneath him: Instructional Design, Network Infrastructure, User Support Services, Instructiong Computing, etc…
Most are entities which need a person who will serve all of the different roles within the schools including Networking and Facilities knowledge. Strategic design for instruction is important, but when you are talking about additions of Learning Management Solutions, Data Warehouses, etc.. HOW do they click and work with one another and which rely on which..??..
This is a wonderful resource:
http://www.cosn.org/wiki/index.php?title=Small_School_Districts
CIO 2.0: The Next Dimension
http://www.schoolcio.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188702440
The CIO is:
Chief integration officer
Chief innovation officer
Chief irritation officer
Chief identity officer
Chief inoculation officer
Chief international officer
Chief investigative officer
Chief information officer
…the instructional side is one piece of the puzzle…
Hi there. I really enjoy reading your blog. I am just wondering why all of the bloggers in your DABA list are male. Teaching, at least at the K-12 level, is still such a female-dominated profession. I trust you will keep looking for a female teacher interesting enough to deserve a bigger audience.
Don’t worry. I have a number of female bloggers lined up in the weeks ahead. I noticed it was a little male- (and Scott-) dominated too!
Re: Crimson Megaphone Award: Wow… I have to say that this was quite a surprise for me to be this week’s DABA. I appreciate this very much as I consider Dangerously Irrelevant to be a must read. Honestly, being honored by such an important writer and thinker has me perplexed on how to properly respond.
SMeech.net is about trying to put my voice into the mix while not worrying about being overwhelmed by the many voices or even if I have been heard. The site has been amazing in regard to my own personal learning and I encourage everyone I know to try and blog about their passion as I have. While I have to admit that getting comments and feedback has been very rewarding, the best reward has come from how much I have learned about myself when I try and formulate my thoughts on technology and education. I think I have just as many “drafts” as I do “published” entries.
I further appreciate your mention regarding my commenting on other blogs. Personally, I can’t think of a better way to really contribute than to comment on important blog entries. I have learned more from the edublogosphere than any class or professional development experience to date. Technology is on the cusp of making great changes in education and finally fulfilling the expectations so many have.
I will never forget the first piece of professional advice that was given to me the first day of my teaching career. A well meaning colleague told me to get the overheads from the teacher I was taking over for and to start with those. While I appreciate the idea of not re-creating the wheel, I knew this approach wasn’t for me. Overheads and lecturing are not my style… While there are circumstances that allow for lecturing to be successful, it should not be a staple in the modern day classroom.
My advice to any new teacher or for those who are looking to get better, learn how to use a blog reader and to start your own blog. Use your blog and reader to evaluate yourself and network with other amazing teachers beyond your school building walls…
My philosophy is that technology in education isn’t the future, it is the Present! Those of us who have colleagues who have not jumped on the tech bandwagon know that their are lots of good excuses for not using technology to enhance their personal professional development or their classroom teaching. The problem is that they are excuses and I don’t like excuses… I like effort and I like results…
Once again… thank you very much for the nod towards my blog. Regardless of how much I teach others… I know others will continue to teach me!
Re: Ande’s comments. You are right in that too many organizations don’t have enough resources to properly staff their technology departments in the manner in which I suggest based on their current staffing structure.
The disagreement I tend to have with others is that I think schools don’t prioritize their budgets to meet their needs to properly utilize technology. Schools waste so much money because of poor management of their resources. Additionally, we have an overabundance of positions within schools that continue to waste time and money because they still follow archaic management systems.
Schools don’t even come close to the business world’s ratio of technicians to machines. This isn’t a budgeting issue as much as it is a priorities issue. If technology is truly important in education today, than we need to prioritize it by properly budgeting for it!
My question for everyone is what’s worse, skimming the fat off a school district’s budget to properly hire positions to prioritize technology or continue to put enormous amounts of money into technology “stuff” and see it get under utizlized?
Your feedback is greatly appreciated as you both have gotten my mind off and running again! Going to do a little more research on staffing and budgeting issues…
… Small note… Texas is a fine state… but Illinois is where I call home…