I really like my position as Instructional Technology Specialist for two reasons:
- It lets me think in the clouds about some bigger-picture educational technology issues that most classroom teachers don't have time for; and
- It lets me stay somewhat in the trenches with teachers by developing effective teaching and learning tools in collaboration with them.
As our school year prepares to take off full-steam (our students return in two days), I've been busy working with teachers during pre-planning to get things ready for the students' return. Much of that has been the simple, in-the-trenches stuff like making sure printers are installed, trouble-shooting issues with our new teacher laptops, making sure all appropriate user accounts are set up, etc. At the same time, I've had floating around in my head the in-the-clouds concept of a technology vision.
I guess I'd say that I'm not proud of the fact that this is my fourth year at this school in this position - the second year doing it solo - and I still do not have a fully-rendered vision of technology for the school. It's one of those things that is in my head, and if hard-pressed I might be able to tell you some of the elements, but I think in order to be fully effective at what I do, the vision needs to crystallize.
What are some elements that need to be present in a K-12 technology vision statement that can satisfy both ends of the spectrum - the in-the-clouds ideas of what educational technology lends to the "big picture," and the in-the-trenches needs and intentions of the teachers using that technology with students?
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