K-14 Education Doesn't Need More Money--It Needs More Imagination

My Blog Response to my friend Charlie's Facebook question (below): 

• Can someone please tell me if there is a politician out there who is willing to put their political career on the line and say: I am going to make education a top priority for this state and move us to the top of the list and this is how I am going to do it. . All I am hearing from the candidates is....Cut taxes...Cut spending...but so far no real plan on how it is going to get done.

For the last 10 years I have lived and breathed AND BEEN PAID in the K-14 world. That said, I don't believe more money is gonna fix what's wrong with education--(BTW, I don't refuse raises.) But, try this, ask any 10 kids you know to describe school in one word and you already know what the answer is-----boring! Recently, keynote speaker asked over 5000 educators in the same room that question.   Each was able to correctly answer that question in unison--on the first try.

Sadly, it's true. Most of today's teachers lecture then test kids to death.  Fearing the "almighty"  state certification tests, few are willing to try new approaches. The truth is that teachers can't do very much about the environments from which  kids come, but they can do a heck of a lot more in their classrooms to make it interesting--at no additional cost.

The rationalizations we've heard for not changing teaching approaches/schools are all very true and realistic, but the fact is that our kids are learning less in most AMERICAN classrooms than they ever have. Contrast that with the kids in Africa/China/n that are learning more than they ever did at 1/100th the cost of an American student. Increasing the cost of American education only makes American graduates more expensive to hire. Us Americans have priced ourselves out of global labor markets in the same way American car makers have. The cost of our education is more than it is worth.

In the past 30 years I seen first hand at least 10 different school division operations in a variety of states (CA to VA) and Western countries; they all suffer from the same curable but potentially fatal disease--lack of imagination.

You may disagree or dislike that answer, but in the world of reality, adding more money and strategically changing student home environments is not real an option for teachers, school administrators, or even governments.  All governments can, do at this point is  "put it our a credit card," or print money, but that again, makes a US Education cost more that it is worth to the rest of the world.


So, in the way of realistic solutions try this one on America.  Educators, American success over the past 100 years has made educators  fat, dumb, and up until recently--happy.  Every other career field has faced massive layoffs, benefit reductions, and pay-cuts.  Notice! We are not exempt from this world-wide exam.  The party is over and we have to change the way we educate.  Yes, I know most of us are working hard, long, and overtime, but most of us are not doing things much differently in the classroom today than we did 15-20 years ago. Things have changed.  The kids are different; technology is different; what remains of their families is different; and the rest of the world has caught up. Today, every other country in the world wants the United States to be a third world county.   We are well on our way to that status.


But, what would happen if we all went back to work on the next school day and decided that we were going to do whatever it takes to get our students more involved in whatever it is we teach?  Would you do that?  I'm not asking us to work harder or longer;  I'm asking us to try new approaches using the same time and students we had on the last school day.  How much would that cost you? If you did, I'll bet your students would notice and try harder and be more involved.  

If you're willing to try, let me know...

#10 Will Teachers be Outsourced/Offshored?

Recently, a colleague and I were discussing what seemed to us like infinite educational possibilities would be available if the school divisions and higher education facilities in our region gained access to a very large, very fast, very reliable fiber network. (For normal people the equivalent feeling would be something like having all the members of your family winning a $500 million taxes paid lottery. )

Our conversation was ironic and eye-opening to US; we thought we already knew the biggest possibilities! But, amidst five minutes of breathless laughter (you'd have to know us to understand why), we realized how short-sigtned we had been. The balance of our conversation lead us to three major realizations:

1. First, virtually everything we plan or do on the Internet related to education assumes our network connections to the outside world are slow and unreliable.
   
   
2. Second, access to a very large, very fast, very reliable fiber network would probably enable school divisions to find affordable, remote teachers for very complex subjects without "moving" them here (rural Virginia).
   
   
3. Finally, if the location of the remote teacher was in India, wouldn't that be outsourcing/offshoring teachers.
   

That's the point where we quit laughing and began asking ourselves serious questions. What would it cost to have a teacher in India teach C++, Mandarin, or nanotechnology in our division?

Would an Indian teacher cost 50% less than an American onsite teacher? If it were that cheap for an Indian C++ teacher, what other courses might an Indian or Chinese teacher offer--from India or China?

Would a Flat World education provide rural American students a competitive advantage? Would that provide rural economic developers a new drawing card? Would metropolitan professionals move their children here if we offered more complex courses taught by highly qualified teachers from around the world--at half the "local" price.

Is it ethical to deny rural students access to high level courses taught by highly qualified, affordable, outsourced/offshored teachers because the teachers are not local employees? Would parents choose: paying higher taxes for local "High Tech" teachers or affordable teachers from around the globe or not respond to either option.

If public schools chose not to outsource/offshore , what could be done to get those courses to our students? What would home schools and private schools choose? What impact might their decisions have on public schools?

Questions like these are history lessons to Technology professionals, Tobacco farmers, and Textile workers; the answers for those career fields are clear. However, until last week, I had never seriously considered the possibility that a"fourth T," TEACHERS could be outsourced/offshored from OUR region.

From a technology perspective this can be done. From a rural economic perspective, it can be done cheaply. The question I now ask myself each morning is, "Why won't my job be outsourced/offshored today?" That's plenty of motivation for the day--even on a bad day.

#08 What's A Wiki? Blog? Podcasting?

Discover what a Wiki is by clicking here!

Obviously, there's more to come for Halifax County School Division on the "w" word, the "b" word and the "p" word...

To begin, start learning a few of the differences between them.

1. YOU have the one and only password to YOUR blog; it's your personal journal to the world. Others can add comments about your blog but they can't change what YOU write.
   
2. Lots of people can work on the same "wiki" without sharing a password. As a matter of fact, wiki's are designed to be created and written to by many people. Each one adds a little.
   
3. Podcasting. Podcasting refers to a "store and forward" technology that allows you to manually or automaticcally download content from a server. Its name comes from the IPOD world. The IPOD was originally designed to allow downloading of music in mp3 format; the content downloaded to an IPOD now is limited only to imagination. Recently the IPOD has been expaned to include video content.
   

Here's a free place to start a blog!

Just remember, that when it comes to the Internet, especially the wiki world," Nobody knows you're a dog.

#07 A Blog = A Web Journal

The "B" Word...

I hated "blog" the first time I heard the word. "BLOG" sounded like a alien from an early Star Trek program. Really, how many normal people figure out that BLOG is short for, "weB LOG?" Ask anyone to read your "blog" lately? Me either but, that's changing.

So, rather than say the word "blog" I'll refer to it most often as the "TDB" (Technology Director's Blog. Calling it the "TDB" keeps me from having to say "blog" and reminds me I have a military background.

Captain Kirk, always eloquently began the chronicle of his travels with, "Captain's Log, Star Date...." With a ten second intro, he had me aboard the Enterprise for the next 60 minutes (Some say I never got off). But, "Blog" just sounded like a sloppy, lazy Gen-X word to me. So why, after I rant about the "B" word, would I care to write one and worse, ask you to read the one I write? In four words...Simple Effective Global Communication. We can read and write about subjects of technology-related interest from any Internet connection.

What I discovered is that if I set aside my foolish pride I too could be educated. So, for a few moments, I dumped my "know it all/nothing" attitude and I learned that a "blog" could be a pretty useful tool.

A blog...

• ... is an easy, cheap/free tool for keeping normal people updated on things that they care about--on their SCHEDULE. They don't have to read email updates from me; I don't have to publish a monthly brochure or tie you up with phone calls, meetings, or messages.
  
  
• ... gives you, a way to communicate with me, regardless of what you do or either of our schedules. If you're interested in what's going on with technology, you can look in one place to get updated on hot topics as well as past, present, and future of technology plans/activities in the Division. If you're happy or unhappy you can immediately** send me comments for public discussion.
  ** All comments are moderated before public posting.
  
  
• ... provides a public written record available from any Internet connection in the world.
  
  
• ... is a place you can write the things down that you want to remember and it doesn't matter to you if anyone else in the whole world ever reads it.
  

In short, the Tech Director's "blog" is not the place for every discussion or everything "technology" but, it's an easy first place for you to look. If you want a private, serious discussion ask me to enter courageous conversation.

Better yet, start writing your own blog . The first step begins when you click HERE.

#06 Five Things "Normal People" Do to Get Bad Technology and Service

It's no secret; some people get more from technology and "techies" than others. Many say that it's genetic or random chance but, I don't think it's either one. I think it's mostly about about relationships.

We can all talk about high standards and being professional but, if you follow the patterns described below you're seriously hurting your perceived and real chances of getting more than the least acceptable level of service from technology and techies--any place you go.

Treat your computer and your "techie" nicely and you'll get a lot more out of them than if you don't. That's not technology that's human nature. Here's a my top five list for getting the least out of both of them:

1. Grump generally, publicly, and loudly about any new technology to everyone except people who can really help you.
   
   
2. Avoid conversations with the tech support staff until you desperately need them. Demand immediate service when you do and say, this thing hasn't worked right for the last two months.
   
   
3. Call them and say you have to change your hardware/software installation schedule, office, and location less than 24 hours before the install date. It's even more effective if someone from the installation site tells them they knew the date/location change two weeks ago.
   
   
4. Begin conversations with techies by saying:
   
   a. You said...
   
   b. I was told...
   
   c. I don't know what I've done...
   
   d. I have no idea where I saved that file...
   
   e. I saw an error message but I didn't write down what it said.
   
   f. I thought YOU were responsible for backing up my hard drive...
   
   g. How was I supposed to know that opening joke email would give everyone else a virus? The other ten I read today didn't!
   
   h. I see you're eating lunch but, would you mind taking a quick look at my virus laden computer from home. It's in the trunk of my car...here's the keys...do you think you'll be done by this afternoon...my kids have a new Internet game from MySpace.com they have to download tonight.
   
   
5. Make it clear that you're not interested and/or not responsible for learning, knowing, or remembering anything new about the technology that surrounds you.~

#05 Our Technology Direction: Just For the Techs

Most of the military, corporate, business, and larger educational institutional organizations I've worked with spent "boo coos" of time and effort TALKING IN MEETINGS about strategic planning, doing SWOT analyses, goal writing, and planning. They drug in everyone from the second highest general to the bathroom cleaning contractors. Sometimes the bosses even brought Krispy Kreme donuts for the first seven or eight meetings.

Now, I'm sure there was some value somewhere to someone (near the top) in amongst all those long meetings and paper forests of dead trees. But, in reality and 25 years of technology management spread over nearly 2/3 of the globe, I never met anyone "working in the trenches" (including my dad who worked in Burlington's "trenches" for nearly 50 years) who said, much less believed, the strategic "meetings, pomp, and/or circumstance" was worth half the:

• Time it took them "off the floor";
• The price of the paper it was written on;
• The millions of dollars of new computers and software installed.

In summary, every "frontline" group I ever worked with used different words but , they all had the same basic messages for me:

1. Ask for and listen to our opinions early and throughout a process
   
   
2. Call few short meetings, have them near where we work, and bring food.
   
   
3. Remember that our experience "in the field" shows us a lot of things that rarely seem to be seriously considered by the overpaid "Front Office/Headquarters" GURUS and contractors sent to the "trenches" to tell us what to do--that ain't a good habit and it wastes a lot of time, effort, and money.
   
   
4. Tell us what you want; get us what we need.
   
   
5. Then leave us alone and we'll get it done!
   

With all that said, I'll drop more words and cut to the chase. Here's the technology world I'm asking you to create over the next couple of years:

In general:

a. Do all things neatly (cable dressing, new/old equipment storage, etc) .

b. Keep David and each other informed about where you are and what you're doing BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER you do it. Live proactive lives and tell me when I make that impossible for you.

c. Keep your cool when others lose theirs and politely refer the jerks to me

d. Give people smart technology tools to know what's going on in the areas for which they have responsibilities

d. Work as a team but be as independent as possible; don't send two people when one can do it. Self-test your own skills individually and make the technology tie you together--virtually.

e. Follow the chain of command or inform your boss if you're skipping links

f. Work from at least a weekly planned project schedule to the degree it makes sense. When you get called to "pull off"one job to "run to" another, David should be able to tell me what and where we're giving up to fix this "emergency"

g. Use technology to make normal people powerful from where ever they are. Get VPN access to as many folks as will ask for it.

h. ALWAYS learn new stuff and NEVER use what you know for job security. In technology, there are too many new things happening too fast to rest on what you know. Doing that will one day make your knowledge obsolete.

i. Be willing to debate and support your position--don't just roll over. But, when the dust is settled and the decisions are made support them like you're getting a paycheck for what you do.

j. Take, plan, and fight for the time to do it right the first time and call for help when you get to the end of your ability.

k. Pick projects that can be finished in a realistic timeframe and supported by a school district budget

l. Do what David asks you to and, do it BEFORE he asks.

m. After air-refueling came along, Air Force guys always joked that an aircraft carrier was an incredibly powerful weapon that circled the oceans in protection of--ITSELF. The same can be said of networks that are incredibly secure but don't deliver service to the people who need it--in our case, teachers. It's a no-brainer that we always have to work within a balance of law, security, cost, and usefulness. Lean in the direction of usefulness--but don't break the law.

n. Once you decide/have to eat an elephant, plan the meal one bite at a time. When stuffed, put the uneaten portion in the 'fridge' but don't leave it in there too long. Rotting elephants stink--even when refrigerated.

o. Keep your sense of humor, I'm bound to do dumb stuff you can laugh at.

1. Gain the ability for at least 50% of the staff to :
   a. Carry out Port and Packet level analyses of network traffic
   
   b. Understand network design principals and create subnets using a subnet calculator
   
   c. Quickly configure routers using ACLs
   
   
2. See that 75% of our switches and routers are:
   a. Bought and installed as managed switches/routers
   b. Configured for Layer 3 Routing/switching when it makes sense
   
   
3. Fight for 100% of our switches and routers:
   a. Automatically Email or page a staff member if it runs into trouble
   b. POE
   
   
4. In LAN/VLAN Designs/Implementations
   a. Subnet down to individual wiring closets in each facility
   b. Do all things neatly
   c. Label things consistently and clearly
   c. Rack everything as soon as it can be racked
   b. Dynamically configure VLANs into functional management groupings
   c. Include options for DMZs that provide easy third party temporary access to our Internet Resources
   
   
   
5. Training
   a. Create a small In-house R&D Lab for Desktop/Servers/Switchs/ Software/Firewall/ Router-lab w/i the next 6 months. Use it to train the staff without worrying about taking down the house in the process
   
   b. Dedicate at least a couple hours each month to real OJT training
   
   c. Name someone to lead each main tech area and a backup; hold them responsible for leading our knowledge in their area. Ask for volunteers then draft; if you like I can do the draft based on the input I got from all the staff during my one-on-one meetings last month.
   
   d. Get Robin in the field and get someone else trained to back her up.
   
   e. Choose and plan your formal training requests carefully and coordinate it with David who should coordinate it with me
   
   
   
6. Technology Management
   
   a. Get everything you can to the same physical location
   
   b. Make key equipment "talk to you" consistently and check it the same way
   
   c. Get all the data to places that are easy and simple to backup.
   
   d. Really test backup tapes once a month; can they be used AFTER they are restored?
   
   e. Load all the applications you can on racked servers and not the desktop where possible (check out Citrix, thin clients, and remote terminal solutions.)
   
   f. Beat and extend USEFULLNESS out of ActiveDirectory; talk to people who fight with it daily. But test it in small chunks first.
   
   g. Do remote control and remote assist; Tech guys can't walk through a crowd without someone pulling your arm off to fix some glitch a in room somewhere. Prove that only your mind and a good network connection is all that is needed to fix a lot of their problems.
   
   
7. Fear not, this is not the end, I'll keep adding stuff for ya'll to do.

*Guys. When I use the term guys, I always use it generically. So it includes males, females, and dogs and cats if need be.

#04 Meeting the Principals and Directors

A First Hand Look

It is my goal to visit each Halifax County School during the month of March and meet with each principal/director and/or key staff members to talk about technology and technology services. If teachers or other folks would like to talk to me one-on-one I'm happy to meet with them also; I just ask that the principal setup a scheduled meeting time that day.

For the first 30-40 min of the visit I would like to present some ideas to them; after that, they can have me as long as they like, show me as much as they want, or the door--lunch if asked.

At the principal's request, I'd be glad to teach a one-three hour Deminar* to anyone who wants technology related training, at any available date/time I have open. You can check my schedule by clicking here. All my appointmens are shown in DodgerBlue (St. Louis Cardinal Red was not available to me) and most start with "RTM.". Here are some suggested topics:

• Email, Security, Word, Excel, the Internet, Search Engines, Understanding Computer Filing Systems, or if you like, name something else for training. We'll do our best to get you what you ask.
  
• Deminar* is a cross between a demonstration and a seminar. The ones I teach are fun, non-threatening, and educational. (Given to as few as two people who want to be there or as many as your school lab holds.

Specific Subjects to Cover During Visit:

• Future Technology Directions and Projects
  
• "Courageous Conversation" or "How to Get What You Want from a Tech Geek in the Least Amount of Time"
  
• New Wireless Area Network (WAN) Redesign (late March/April 2006)
  
• Identify principals who want their school to the be first to try a new technology
  
• Expose "Dumber than Rocks" processes that they think technology should solve soon. Note that we're already reviewing new solutions for any DOS based applications that are currently using you.
  
• Use of the Internet, the Intranet, websites, and creating your own video and audio at your school
  
• Finding a reasonable balance among law, security, usefulness, and cost.
  

Visit Agenda:

1. Give Tour of : 2GDN.net, TD's* Blog, Web Calendar
   (30 minutes and use of a Computer Browser with Internet Access)
   
   
2. Invitation to Enter Courageous Conversation
   
   
3. Get Tour of:
   a. Labs and Applications
   b. Teacher computers
   c. Your School's Web Site
   (However long you want me)
   

*TD = Technology Director

#03 Our Present and Future Technology Direction: 10,000' View

2006 Technology Director’s Vision for Halifax County Public Schools (HCPS) in the coming five years.

1. Technology investments in HCPS make students, teachers, and administrators incredibly powerful; it requires minimal technical assistance and, it works as advertised.

2. HCPS technologies are rich in appropriately secured data/video/audio/voice content; it provides real-time or historical data-based decision making tools at the learning, instructional, and administrative levels. It services the district in academic, athletic, and other extra-curricular activities.

3. Technology in HCPS is mostly invisible to teachers and administrators unless they just want to see or show it off. It doesn’t take extensive planning, onsite technicians, or help desk calls to use

4. Technology People” in HCPS are valued as critical and valuable links in our educational services. Services from technology related employees are well coordinated, pleasantly predictable, and predominantly proactive.

5. Parents, government, and citizens of HCPS see and say that our technology leadership directly and indirectly demonstrates a return on investment to the community.

6. The technology of Halifax County Schools exemplifies the principles of digital convergence (data/video/audio/voice) and daily links our students teachers and administrators locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to what Friedman calls, The Flat World.

7. Our technology provides our students, teachers, staff, administrators, and the community with opportunities, experiences, and education services to make us globally competitive.