10-21-11
He does not have a PowerPoint presentation. He attends Fellowship Church, has a baby, and has been a technology director for about five years.
Leadership creates and guides a vision for implementating technology. This plans for long-term use in the classroom. Spending a lot of money on technology but does not have training really does not mean anything. The long-term process is huge for being a leader. What do you want your teachers graduating knowing, what type of technology skills. How does that vision fit into the mission of the school? Keep in mind that technology is to support. It isn't suppose to mainly be shiny, it needs to be supportive, something easy to use. Every decision you make will affect every other department in the school.
Strategic Plan - long term vision in how this will go. Do not be specific unless you know for sure. You need to constantly upgrade for technology. Going to conferences really helps with a plan.
For the plan: what do you need to fulfill that plan. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) means what will it all take over the lifespan of the project. 30% of the total cost is just the hardware itself. Other 70% includes shipping, support, maintenance, replacing, and a host of other costs.
Staffing is very important with technology. Most teachers are not tech savy, especially the older teachers seem to have more difficulty using the newer technologies. If teachers are not using technology, then you spent on the money on technology to use pencil and paper.
Budgeting is like nailing jello to a wall.
July 1st to June 30th. Most equipment to buy he has to plan a year out knowing it will change. That is a very difficult job. One option is to get grants, title funds, and gifts from businesses and families.
Set aside funds to research new technologies, like an iPad. Set aside funds to do infastructure. If you don't have a solid foundation with technology, then it will not run well.
Procurement: will you buy new equipment or referbised equipment. New tends to last about three years without any major issues. Will you get a warranty on the equipment? It is more cost effective to have a warranty instead of hiring people. Vendor is a good way to buy lots of equipment. If you are doing installation, it is easier if you are building a building than trying to make an already established building wireless or something.
The end-user training is crucial. One training is not enough. Do an initial training, let them work with it for two weeks, then do another training. Once a teacher does not get the support they need, then the teacher will quickly abandon the issue.
It is a good idea to have spare parts.
Policy determines how teachers, parents, and outside user groups so they have guidelines. If something happens, then you have a legal document to protect yourself.
CAK is doing a 1-1 laptop for their high school. The only catch is that they can bring whatever they have because if they are only searching on the web, a specific device does not matter. Even a netbook would do.
Q&A time.
He wishes he had more support and input from parents. He makes a lot of assumptions. CAK is using Google Apps (gmail, sites, calendar, etc.). You're not going to please everyone.
Boom.
He was very insightful. Spending time in in-service is a great idea for training.
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