Technology Personnel and Services

My Learnings on Technology Personnel and Services

Key takeaways from the readings/videos:

This week I dove into a multitude of different readings on various tech personnel in businesses in schools, as well as got an oversight on the diverse operations of tech personnel in a district.

Several readings I engaged with this week focused on the difference between a Chief Technology Officer(CTO) and a Chief Information Officer(CIO). While businesses or schools may have different definitions of these roles, and some may have one of these positions in a hybrid role, it is important for educators such as myself to know the traditional roles of each of these positions, as this allows educators to seek the right professional when we have a question or suggestion regarding technology.

Traditionally, a Chief Information Officers's(CIO's) main role is to keep a business running smoothly from within, often by putting in place technology infrastructure to increase efficiency and productivity. The CIO is tasked with keeping a business organized by providing a business' internal teams with a common vision and platform to run on.
I was surprised to learn that a CIO isn't necessary a IT specialist him or herself. While a CIO needs some knowledge of IT systems and processes, they need to have this knowledge primarily to understand how technology can add to the efficient running of an organization.

A Chief Technology Officer(CTO) on the other hand, traditionally has an external focus. A CTO works with customer needs and supports the business and its partners by providing solutions based on the business's priorities. The CTO traditionally builds and enhances the technology a company sells, and tends to be more of a skilled technologist, rather than a skilled organizer.

Why do we care about the specifics? Sean Hargrave, writer of CIO vs. CTO: the low-down on leaders in tech, says it best by saying, "Its critical that colleagues are aware of what is expected by their IT leads, as teams often become frustrated by a manager’s perceived lack of attention of expertise."

Regardless of their titles, technology personnel have a very difficult job ahead of them. Their top tech initiatives are guided by a Digital District Plan, and often have ambitious goals that may look very different in the diverse learning environments of a K-12 setting. In an EDscoop Interview with Melissa Dodd, the Chief Technology Officer of the San Francisco School District, Dodd explains that rolling out top tech initiatives means providing support for over 57,000 students on 130 different campuses. Not only this, she must also provide support for the approximately 9,500 educators in the district as well. Also, A big part of Dodds's job is cyber security, in which she and her tech team are responsible for looking for safe applications, and ways to help educate the community about Cyber Security. (Note: I completely agree with educating the community on cyber security as a top priority, given what I learned last week about the lack of knowledge on my District's AUP).

Yet, when asked what the top challenge a CTO faces, Dodd's responded: "The Diverse Needs of schools in a K-12 space." An elementary school's needs are different than what a High School Needs.



How can your new learning impact your current work or help you in the near future?


My wanderings this week were very specific: I want to know how can I get some momentum in my district to start a movement to get all the schools in our district on a common platform or LMS.

I found some great information in this week's resources in not only answering this question, but also giving me some great quotes that i can use to justify getting every school in the district on one platform.

This summer, I am hoping to work with our District's CTO, Trent, to get some field experience as part of this ETEC program. Given what I have read and learned this week, he would be the perfect person to ask why our district currently doesn't have a platform or LMS that is uniformly used throughout our district. As I read this week, a common platform such as Google, makes a CTO's job easier, as it narrows the search for educational tools to ones that are provided or integrated to Google. And, as Dodd said in her interview, A common platform "provides excitement throughout the district in what is possible with technology and it brings coherence with one integrated system."
From what I have learned all semester, our district is very behind in the use of educational technology, especially because students and staff have no continuity as they move from school to school in our district. Implementing a uniform system would help us increase efficiency in our district, help protect student Cyber Security, and just as importantly, make it easier to train and support staff in its use. 

Finally, in comparing the Tech and information services of LBUSD, LAUSD, and IUSD, there are several ways to support stockholders who need help with district technology. All use a help desk. LBUSD has a helpful checklist to expedite the process of getting help, while LAUSD has a live chat option. Our district currently provides neither, which I will mention to Trent when I am working with him.