Give this to your IT department: Five Ways IT can help teachers be more effective.

Let me start this post by stating that I am not a teacher. I am also not a geek in the traditional sense of the word. Now that I've discredited myself with both of the intended audiences of this post, let me explain why I might be qualified to give some advice in this area.

In my career I have worked to help organizations either start something big, or make big changes in how they do things. In the last 15 years, I have worked almost exclusively with educational institutions both as a consultant, and for the last 10 years leading their IT groups.

I have watched over the years as IT departments in partnership with vendors delivered educational technology “solutions” that were supposed to revolutionize the classroom and change the way learning happened. The long list of items included Learning Management Systems, Clickers, interactive whiteboards, laptops, tablets, document cameras, wireless networking, classroom management software, video conferencing, chat rooms, social media, etc., etc. etc. And while the promises (and budgets) were huge, the deliverables in terms of revolution were almost inconsequential.

What we did, was add complexity, frustration, and tremendous cost to the academic experience. While there were shining pockets of great technology implementation, as a whole we didn’t add any value or capacity to the teacher’s ability to do her or his job better.

Yet we in IT were undaunted, and were sure that we’d achieve results after the next silver bullet.

Does this sound familiar to you?

The Mobile Workplace: 5 Things to consider

Do you remember a time that when you made a phone call, you called a house instead of a person?  If you were a teenage boy you dreaded the thought of getting that young lady’s father on the phone. I have yet to experience that type of terror in my adult life, but I digress.

A little later on when home Internet became somewhat common, the ‘Internet’ was usually accessed on a computer set up in a corner of the family room.  One would ‘go’ to where the Internet was, and usually have to wait your turn to get online.

Nowadays, we don’t call houses, we call people. We don’t ‘go’ to the Internet, it’s in our pocket or purse and follows us around, and with the exception of a number of hotels I stayed at recently, is pretty much everywhere.

In my home, there are a number of devices that all play together well.  I can browse the Internet, control my thermostat, share media, print from the comfort of my couch while playing music wirelessly over Bluetooth.  We have ‘cut the cord’ on cable television and home phone services.  We just pay for Internet and our monthly communications bill in the house has dropped by over $100.
In my experience, the average technology in the workplace has lagged behind the features and functionality of consumer electronics due to a number of things including security, compliance, scalability and a number of other significant factors.

As you see below, I’m of the opinion that implementing a mobile strategy is not a choice, but something that needs to be on your organization’s project list.
Here are five things to consider.

Mileage may Vary: 5 Critical Things to Know about BYOD

If you are of my vintage, you may remember the old car ads from the 1970's that would create wanton lust for the latest iteration of two tons of steel, rubber and plastic from Detroit? Along with promises of freedom and admiration came the claim that this behemoth could subsist on a miniscule amount of gas. If you looked at the ad closely, you saw the simple disclaimer in micro font…'Mileage may vary.' In other words, don't hold your breath that you'll achieve anywhere near this fuel economy.

In my opinion, all the promises of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are much like the car ad.  Lots of efficiency promises, but you can be sure that 'Mileage may vary.'  There are some things you could consider that would go a long way toward better results when you implement a BYOD project at your organization. Here are five of them.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to BI and Analytics

As IT leaders, there usually comes a time when we are called to a meeting with the senior executive of the organization to discuss business analytics (BA) or business intelligence (BI). This usually occurs the week after said senior executive has been to a conference and saw a shiny dashboard with dials, graphs and 'drill down data.'

With the executive's face glowing, he or she says: "this shouldn't be hard, the speaker said [insert product name here] can connect to all our data and tell us what we need to know!" The glow soon fades when you have to explain the reality that the project may be a bit more complicated than that.

You would also be tempted to remind that same executive that you have been asking for funding for the BA/BI initiative outlined in your strategic plan, but you realize your timing might not be the most appropriate. You do have a BA/BI strategy, right? The dollar figure for your initiative was much higher than the cost of the 'dashboard' the executive was so dazzled by.  You have some work to do to bring reality into the conversation.

How not to Fail at Implementing Cloud Computing

Photo: www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk

Today’s IT environment is about anytime/anywhere access to practically anything on any device.  You can work from anywhere, and blend your professional, personal and private information into one seamless interface.  And the magic sauce that connects you and brings it all together is…. you know it… the ‘Cloud’.


At least that’s what the media and the vendor community would have us believe.

But we are IT people. We know better.  We know that you just can’t connect all the information together in a mishmash muddle and expect it to work.  Add onto that authentication, controlling access to sensitive or confidential data, compliance and privacy issues, never mind the terabytes of legacy systems that just do not talk to any other system and you know that the dream world described above is just that, a dream world.

We have launched ourselves on a crusade to educate the masses, to bring them to a realization of truth and restore control in our world.

The problem is that the people we support believe it’s real… and possible… and it’s your job be make it so.

Some of the people that believe it are also the ones who sign our paycheques.

So where does that leave you?

Five Ways IT can help teachers be more effective.

Image via: BusinessInsider.com

Let me start this post by stating that I am not a teacher. I am also not a geek in the traditional sense of the word. Now that I’ve discredited myself with both of the intended audiences of this post, let me explain why I might be qualified to give some advice in this area.

 

In my career I have worked to help organizations either start something big, or make big changes in how they do things. In the last 15 years, I have worked almost exclusively with educational institutions both as a consultant, and for the last 10 years leading their IT groups.

 

I have watched over the years as IT departments in partnership with vendors delivered educational technology “solutions” that were supposed to revolutionize the classroom and change the way learning happened. The long list of items included Learning Management Systems, Clickers, interactive whiteboards, laptops, tablets, document cameras, wireless networking, classroom management software, video conferencing, chat rooms, social media, etc., etc. etc. And while the promises (and budgets) were huge, the deliverables in terms of revolution were almost inconsequential.

 

What we did, was add complexity, frustration, and tremendous cost to the academic experience. While there were shining pockets of great technology implementation, as a whole we didn’t add any value or capacity to the teacher’s ability to do her or his job better.

 

Yet we in IT were undaunted, and were sure that we’d achieve results after the next silver bullet.

 

Does this sound familiar to you?

Storage and Stuff

Photo: http://funthingstodowhileyourewaiting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/overpacked-car.jpg

Try and remember back to the day when you could fit all of your worldly goods into your car and you moved into your first apartment or non-parentally owned dwelling.  It was good to have all of that space for yourself and you could never imagine having enough stuff to fill it up.

As you progressed through life you started accumulating stuff.  And more stuff.  Pretty soon that dwelling was bursting at the seams with your stuff.  So rather than get rid of your stuff, you got a bigger place to store your stuff.

Then you had life events (marriage, children, pets, hobbies) that forced you to get more stuff, which filled up your dwelling even faster… so once again, rather than get rid of stuff, you get a bigger place to store your stuff.

Why the CES Matters to You.

It's that time of year again. When technical journalists flock to the warmer climates of Las Vegas to gorge on gadgets and hyperbole at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

While I have never been to this event (and have no immediate plans to start attending), I have developed an increased interest in CES, or more importantly, the resulting expectations around technology that it creates.

The line between personal and professional devices has blurred significantly in recent years, but if the trends that show themselves at CES this year are any indication, there is much for you to sit up and pay attention to. Here are a few things I've noticed so far.