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May 1, 2001
Fade To Black
By Bill Bateman
When we left our topic last time, the IT or tech staff was convinced they were doing a great job! The teachers (or customers, if you please) were equally convinced that they weren't. Tempers flared, positions solidified and, regardless of which party is wrong, it was, and shall continue to be, the students who suffer.
I offered a few ideas, including cooling off and talking to each other as well as parental involvement. So before I provide any more suggestions, let's take a look at the overall picture. Education has lagged behind business in computer use and training for almost a decade. It was at least five years ago when I first heard the saying, "While business has created the information superhighway, the schools have been creating a dirt road." It wasn't funny then, nor is it now. The question most often asked is, "Why?"
Remember our original premise. There are two types of IT departments: one that helps and supports the user, the other that tries to control them. When it becomes a control issue, the result is what we are talking about now - an "us vs. them" situation. How does this happen? Policies are set by the administration and, in some areas, the board. Why do the "bad witches" prevail? I believe that it is because the administration is afraid of the teachers. To be more specific, it is afraid of what teachers may do.
Before you all jump for your e-mails, I have to add that in some cases it is with very good cause. Both sides of that fence are stacked high with examples to prove a point. I can say that with authority because I have worked with each side. In past month's columns I've cited instances of both.
Instead of getting into "they said, we said", which can be tons of fun but rather unproductive, consider this instead. Based on personal observations and the response from you, the readers, what is passed off as computer service at many (not all) schools by the IT staff would get you fired at any burger stand.
For example, you take your car to "Bateman's Mythical Auto Shop". Your car sits untouched for six weeks. When you do finally get it back it works for about an hour and then the same problem causes it to quit. Or what was broken is fixed but now something else won't function. So you take it back and you are charged again to fix what should have been done the first time. Would you go to my garage again? Would you pay the bill without complaint? (If the answer is yes, perhaps I'm in the wrong line of work.)
Having worked on both sides, it becomes a question of perception. On our EdNet today there was a question of the technician-to-teacher ratio that was acceptable for an IT department. The ideal ratio was 1:40 - one tech per 40 teachers. But most reported the actual number is 1:400 or greater! From the IT perspective, this is workable and the delays and problems caused are livable. (!?!) (I'm paraphrasing, but it is close.)
From a teacher's viewpoint, that may or may not be the case. I have two types of teachers at my school and so do you. There are casual users and the power users. (The Luddites have been discussed in earlier columns.) The casual users may have some assignments typed, maybe do an occasional PowerPoint project or use the computer for grades. Power users take full advantage of the computer. They may publish an on-line school newspaper, write and proof the yearbook, build Web pages and run e-mail correspondence with their students and parents. They use multimedia, video and big-screen projectors as part of they daily lessons.
While the casual user may be unhappy when the computer is down for six weeks, it isn't the end of the world. For the power users it is, and they will begin to form lynch mobs. They are using the equipment to its fullest, which as a taxpayer and parent I think is a pretty good idea.
I talked to one administrator who said that labs were the way to go, run by a para-educator with the least amount of power that would run the systems, minimum RAM, minimum chips. As a power user, I was stunned. Let's use the least amount of nylon in that parachute, shall we?
One final point. Some IT departments are geared more to making money that to providing support. One school in its Digital High School Grant said the teacher's main requirement was that the IT department be out of the picture. While unanimously approved by the staff, that was quietly taken out at the upper levels and the staff not notified. Now, each visit is billed at full price, but gets bottom priority.
It is a puzzle. From day one, parents have had big expectations for computers in the classroom and rightly so. They have them in their business and look what they can do! For the entire ten years I've been involved with IT, the tug of war has gone on between the power users who see the potential and those afraid that little Johnny will find www.omygosh.com. The sad truth is that the kids not only have already found it, but they know how to get to it without the majority of their teachers finding out. They can often know more than we do.
So what is the solution? Where do we go from here, if in fact there is a direction? You and I both know that one size does not fit all. There is no quick fix out there. But this is what I'd do.
Be honest with yourself about your own goals and computer use. Are you a power user? Do you want to be? Be observant - not judgmental - of you peers' goals and usage. Allow them to be casual users or even Luddites if they wish.
Determine what your school's perceptions are. See the site technology plan. Does your school address computers in your curriculum or ESLR's (Expected Schoolwide Learning Results)? If not, that is a clear indication to me of where technology rates on campus. That's fine unless "A Technology-Based School" is painted on the front of the building.
Determine what the district's perceptions are. The simplest way is to ask. Read the board minutes, technology plan and mission statement. Was your Digital Grant renewed or are you out of compliance?
Keep a log of dates. When repairs are called in, when they get to you. Success rates. Email confirmations.
Now what? If you find that you have bad witches, you must decide to do something. First, don't scare the administrators. You make them nervous already. (A dozen Krispy Kremes says you knew that.) Agree on what is practical for repairs. Consult your parents on the advisory committees as to what the standard trade practices are in your area. What are your alternatives?
Here is the hard part. You must stand up and make your concerns known. Begin at your site, and then go up the chain of command. If promises are made, get completion dates and follow up if they are missed. Be polite, be accurate and be unemotional. That last one is hard. Actually the whole thing is hard. That's why it has gotten this far. We have stack of papers to grade, lesson to write, lunch money to collect and, in our free time, we deal with technology.
I must stop here. I have taken you as far as I can. Some of you will decide this is too much trouble. Some of you may have such a bad situation you are looking for the phone number of "60 Minutes". (It's on the CBS Web site.) A few will quit, and a few will gripe and keep doing it, for the kid's sake. We will lose more and more of the good ones. If I can go to Oz one last time, the staff who has been doing it all will one day look down at their ruby slippers and realize they've had the power to leave all along. ("There's no place like the private sector. There's no place like the private sector.") But in the final case, regardless of who is wrong, and who is right, unless you take positive action as a team to correct this, the students will suffer.
I know that a few of you may remember Howdy-Doody and Clarabell the clown. The clown communicated with beeps of his horn until the last episode when he uttered the only two words he spoke on television. Sometimes I feel like I'm just honking and there are definitely folks who think I'm a clown. Be that as it may, I've enjoyed our time together and this is my last episode. So in leaving, I'll quote that early TV friend and say, "Goodbye, kids."
Fade to black.
Email: Bill Bateman
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