The Top 3 Lessons for K12 IT Directors - ISTE Conference Recap
- The Deledao Team
- Dec 4, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 27
Conference Recap: #ISTE20
The ISTE conference this year was filled with valuable insight for every single role in K12. But don't worry if you couldn't make it. We at the Deledao Team help you stay up to date with the latest industry news. Here are the top 3 highlights from this year's ISTE conference.
1) Unify Educational Technology and IT Departments to Maximize Innovation in K-12
By Dr. Jennifer Burks (Associate Superintendent), Ken Wall (IT Director), and Lana Nguyen (Ed Tech Director)
Before Poway USD took this strategic approach
Schools made site-based tech decisions with minimal district oversight. The IT department felt isolated from the rest of the district, and teachers received only 1:1 professional development on using technology in classrooms (rather than a formal training process).
These site-based tech decisions resulted in:
School admins and teachers who didn’t want to learn new technology and techniques
Dollars that were spent on technology, not spent on the classroom
Tech staff who were losing visibility and didn’t hear about these issues
Confused parents
A few years ago, Poway USD established an official Education Technology Department and implemented these strategies:
After the unification, where PUSD is now:
New structure with Associate Superintendent overseeing Ed Tech and IT departments
IT is closer to needs of the classroom
Ed Tech Department especially helpful right now because supporting teachers through pandemic schooling
Schools may find it helpful to share PUSD's Chromebook Responsibility video with their students! An example of blending pop culture and learning at its best.
2) The Modern Tech Team: Every Member as Tech Support, Coach, IT, and Infrastructure
By Bill Selak (Director of Technology) and Emily Hendricks (Associate Director of Technology)
Hillbrook School
The Hillbrook IT team stresses that IT should focus "on the people that we support instead of purely the devices that they’re using for education.” Bill brings up the topic of agency for teachers and students to "own their learning."
In order for IT to support these goals for a small school like Hillbrook, Bill and Emily use three methods:
Three ways to achieve people-focused IT goals
Consolidate IT tickets to streamline response to IT issues (Hillbrook uses Zendesk)
Offer an online resource to teach staff and students how to fix simple iPad IT issues.
Offer professional development resources for teachers and substitute teachers to onboard quickly and "own their learning" of how to use education technology in the classroom.
3) Optimize Distance Learning for a Multilingual Community
By Brook Conner (Assistant Superintendent and CIO) and Hilary Apana-McKee (Instructional Technology Director)
Hawaii State Department of Education
Hawaii has a single school district that covers all its islands and serves 170,000+ students. Due to the scale of Hawaii's public schools, they require an enterprise approach to solve the problems of various school environments. Schools range from small, economically-disadvantaged, and rural to large, affluent, and urban.
To address #DistanceLearning, Hawaii established the Ohana Help Desk to provide tech support to parents in the top 6 languages spoken in the state. ("Ohana" means family.)
To address #equity and meet the needs of families that don’t have internet, Hawaii included two approaches in their plan.
Send home WiFi hotspots
Send fleets of Mobile Learning Vans to provide WiFi for places without cellular service since WiFi hotspots don't work there. See video below:
Stay Up to Date
The Deledao Team certainly learned a lot from these ISTE talks and if you did too, please share with your fellow educators. To keep updated on more conference recaps and other helpful tips for K-12 schools, follow Deledao on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Is your web filter causing you more headaches? Consider a AI-powered web filter that detects digital distractions in real time. So you can get back to what matters. Head on over to our virtual booth at #ISTE20, and ask about our web filtering or student mental health solutions.
