Tom Vander Ark writes this week in his Ed Week column, Vander Ark On Innovation, about Supporting High Access Environments.
Here’s is a summary of advice to district CTOs from the experts:
- Publish a short list of devices the district agrees to support
- Build/buy a thick layer of DIY support online and phone
- Hire a rational number of tech support specialists with loads of less than 1:500 devices
- Engage secondary students in a formal way in tech support roles
- If you encourage BYOD, don’t promise support; and
- Show parents and community members how technology is improving learning.
Highlight mine, of course!
Full disclosure, Tom emailed me for advice on this list, but he already had number four on the list. I didn’t have to tell him that students could provide amazing service to teachers using technology, because when he was a school superintendent back in the 90′s his district whole-heartedly embraced our GenYES model of student support for teachers and technology. We’ve come a long way since and the need has only become greater.
There is more technology, more choices, a faster pace of change, and yet, this amazing untapped resource called students is still not at full potential. And who out there can afford to ignore available resources!
Check out our GenYES model of students supporting teachers with technology here.
Sylvia
