Getting off to a great start
September 5th, 2006 | by Tim Wilson |Today was the first day of school in Minnesota. We nearly always start the Tuesday after Labor Day just as the first hint of fall color starts to appear. I suppose one advantage of my one-hour commute out into the country every morning is the chance to watch the changing of the seasons from a slightly closer perspective. The farm kid in me enjoyed seeing the soybeans turning brown in the fields today.
I sent an email to my staff this morning and the rest of the district’s tech support group. After I sent it I decided that I would post it here because I’ve been pondering these issues lately. Follow the link to the article that prompted the post.
Good morning techs,
I’m enclosing an article that I saw recently entitled “What users hate about IT pros.” It was a good reminder to me that every interaction I have with a staff person about an IT issue presents a wonderful opportunity to be a teacher and to encourage each staff member to view technology as a positive addition to his or her working toolset.
You’ll get tired of hearing me say it, but we have an enormous responsibility to ensure that the district’s technology resources complement and never hinder instruction. Think back to a time when you felt ill-equipped to fix a problem. (Was it a leaky drain? A flat tire? A relationship problem with a loved one?) That’s how many of our staff members feel when they are presented with a technology challenge. They don’t approach those problems the same way we do. They don’t find any enjoyment or satisfaction at all in working through the host of possible solutions. They just want things to work.
Every technology challenge we face, even the ones that look insignificant, ultimately affects an individual student. When a teacher chooses not to use technology because he or she doesn’t feel confident in his or her ability or because the equipment or network aren’t reliable, that’s a lost opportunity. We must to do everything we can to eliminate those lost opportunities and deliver a level of service that encourages staff members to take a chance and try something new. Our students deserve nothing less.
The first day of school represents a wonderful new beginning. May all of us work hard, work smart, and work joyfully.
It’s so easy to erect an artificial barrier between the IT staff and the teachers and students as though the geeks were engaged in a different business. We’ve got to get beyond that.
2 Responses to “Getting off to a great start”
By John Pederson on Sep 6, 2006 | Reply
Ahh yes. Cheers to fresh starts!
Having played that role for 10 years…here’s some advice for you and your staff. Be visable. Think deep, hard, and creatively about what this means.
Spend a buch of time listening to the Gillmore Gang podcasts. Understand what it means when “the user is in control”. What does this mean in your organization?
Finally, you can’t get enough of this. http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail494.html. Listen to it about 10 times. Do anything you can to better understand what this means. Draw pictures. Take notes.
By Erin on Oct 3, 2006 | Reply
Have you seen the Saturday Night Live skit with Jimmy Fallon the IT guy. A user is trying to explain the problem and as he explains Jimmy is nodding his head, interrupts him, grabs the mouse and yells, “MOVE!” That is what a lot of us, teachers, feel like. We want to know what to do, but feel silly and don’t want to get the eye rolls because we don’t know what the problem is. I think your attitude is perfect and hope all staff adopt your idea of teachable moments.