My current thoughts are influenced by Arvind’s great post on naysayers/yaysayers over at 21Apples.
I am realizing that any organizational change in a school environment requires patience and continual applicaton of (gentle) pressure; much like leaving a bar of soap under a dripping faucet.
How does this faucet work? As a school leader, I must have a clear vision/philosophy, put institutional policies in place that reflect that vision, and periodically/daily perform minute tasks that support those policies. How does this process work for computing, education, and converting naysayers? In my two years as a Technology Director, here are some ways that it’s worked (and hasn’t worked). This is not a blueprint, but we can all pick, choose, and borrow strategies that work for our unique situations:
- A Technology Strategic Plan that directs my job. Creating this plan, and showing faculty that my decisions are not arbitrary, but are direct from the strategic plan goes a long way towards building goodwill.
- Reliable Tech. Support. As Arvind notes, many naysayers are so because of previous, bad experiences with using unreliable technology. Continually lobby your administrators and boards on the importance of sufficient technical support staff. Improving this area of our school has been a huge plus in my two years.
- Reliable infrastructure. We’re almost there, replacing aging hardware, and not being totally there has been the single biggest deterrent to progress. Plan for technology as an annual operation. Update hardware and software yearly.
- Focus on Faculty. Here’s a clear vision. But how is it carried out? At my school, we’re providing faculty with infrastructure (laptops). But also important, is to promote the expectation to attend training, ask for help from our technology staff, and actually use your machine in the classroom. I fear our school administrators can easily lose sight of this element, and here’s where constant gentle pressure must be applied… keep pushing professional development in subtle ways; water cooler conversations, the lunch room discussions, emails etc. etc.
- Provide opportunities. A simple, and positive strategy I have used is email all faculty/staff with new conference opportunities. Although my emails seemed futile, it’s made a difference as does each drop on the bar of soap. In my two years thus far, my efforts have convinced two faculty to attend a librarian’s conference that focused on technology, two to a CUE conference, and another 4 will attend a TechEd conference in Pasadena this month (all voluntary!). I hope some will agree to attend NECC in San Diego this summer. Again droplets, but positive movement nonetheless.
- Our librarian has jumped on the bandwagon and now emails a monthly list of great educational website links. Consequently, I have noticed a gradual (very gradual, but noticable) increase in faculty’s comfort in using web resources in their lessons.
- Visibility of techology staff. Here is one area that I will admit we have not pushed, but I realize now is so important. Emails increase visibility of information, but faculty at my school need visibility and personal attention from me and my staff. Eating lunch in the faculty lounge everyday is so important!! But beyond that, I wonder how to facilitate learning interactions where faculty can learn from me and my staff, and start experiencing positive breakthroughs with technology. Again, small drops, gentle pressures… and also realizing that our relative failure (to be more visible these last two years), can be realized into a strength.
I’ll get to my thoughts on embracing Naysayers, and negotiating inter-personal dynamics in the school-social-workplace, next. The moral of this post, for me, is to remind myself not to become impatient with gradual progress… that is the nature of the beast in Education, glacial progress. Celebrate the minute, un-noticed, but positive breakthroughs that happen daily. The sum of all those minute breakthroughs will lead to discernable change over the long term.
