Databus Issue: 2011 4 10/25/2011
Best Practices - Potpourri
Phil Scrivano Chief Instructional Technology Officer, Las Virgenes USD
Google Define: Potpourri
1. A mixture of dried petals and spices.
2. A mixture of things, esp. a musical medley.
Potpourri is the perfect theme for this time of year for IT leadership. The first month of school is very challenging for all of us. With the return of students, teachers, and staff comes a potpourri of technological challenges.
For example at Las Virgines Unified School District (LVUSD), during the first month of school we have three times the normal open work order tickets, common core assessment training, and are in the process of replacing our aging fleet of teacher laptops. To add to the mix, our school web site data demand jumped from a monthly average of 1.5 GB to 4 GB--which all but shut down our web site for two evenings.
The first month of school is also a perfect storm that we help to create. When summer break begins, we shift our emphasis from teacher support to projects. These projects are done when most of our customers are off network. When our customers return, they are met with new permissions, new network settings, and dead laptop batteries. I wonder sometimes if it would be better for the IT department to also vacation at the same time as our customers so that when everyone returns, the world of technology is the same. As much as we look forward to re-imaging labs and fixing permissions on our student information system, next year we plan to use as much time off as possible so that when teachers return, we are available and eager to serve.
All of these stresses on our Ed Tech departments also give us exciting news. This year our teachers, students, and community are embracing and using technology more than ever before. This also means that expectations are higher than ever before.
As IT leaders, I think it is important to keep this perspective in mind. We need to be the steady voice of reason and assure our departments that the first month of school will be our most stressful month of the year and we will get through this time. We need to communicate this message to our customers and community as we feel the credibility hit this time of year gives a department.
I hope by the time we meet in Long Beach at the CETPA conference, everyone has a low number of open tickets, completed training, and survived all the glitches.
