In the clouds vs. in the trenches... A Vision of Technology

I really like my position as Instructional Technology Specialist for two reasons:

1. It lets me think in the clouds about some bigger-picture educational technology issues that most classroom teachers don't have time for; and
2. 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?

Posted in: learning, teaching, vision