So, I've been accepted as a speaker/presenter at the next CETPA (California Educational Technology Professionals Association) conference in October.  To me, this generates excitement, a sense of honor, and naturally, some fear.

My respect for this organization and its members is deep.  These people have been, and continue to be, great supporters and sharpeners for me in my professional craft.  To speak to them on a topic near and dear to my heart is, well, all of the the things I mentioned above.

Will this opportunity be a "jumping off" point for me to introduce ideas through speaking engagements?  It is possible.  I have already had conversations with other organizations that are interested in my point of view as it has to do with Educational Technology.  My goal, however, is not to create a speaking career, but to create awareness of the current issues we face in education and help as many decision makers and teachers overcome these issues as possible.  A great deal of the power in my views comes from the fact that I work in a real district and utilize my methods every day.  A career in speaking would, by definition, take me away from the trenches where the work is done and ideas are proven or discarded.

What is the topic, you ask?  The descriptions reads:

Technologists: Education's Dormant Secret Weapon

This presentation will examine the goals of technology departments in the educational realm over the past 20 years and why a major shift in those goals is necessary. The discussion will focus on concrete ways to make the technology department the catalyst for overall educational change in a school district. If you are interested in breaking down cultural barriers between classified, administrative, and certificated staff, having teachers excitedly listen and respond when you communicate with them, and create new paths for growth in your own career, then come and be involved in this discussion.

I believe that the technology department in a school district has become one of the most powerful groups for change in the organization - for better or for worse.  Technology is needed and utilized in every nook and cranny, and where technology is needed and utilized, the technology department has influence.  As technologists, we can set the tone for the progressiveness of an organization with our actions.  Unfortunately, most technology departments negatively impact the progressive growth of the organization by failing to recognize what their true mission is.

If you ask  technology directors in school districts what their mission is, most will tell you that it is primarily to "keep the equipment that supports district processes running at top efficiency".  While this is extremely important, it is only the bottom layer of a multi-tiered pyramid that leads to the real mission at the top of the pyramid - creating and aggressively pushing forward an environment of high-level, creative technology use.

It's easy to say that our job is to maintain the technology and everyone else's job is to use the technology appropriately to be innovative in the performance of their duties.  This is the well-traveled path to organizational stagnation and ambivalence toward the use of technology.  The reality is that the people within the district that typically use technology most effectively in the daily execution of their jobs is, of course, the technologist.  Who better to reach out (first) to teachers and administrators in this area?

Is it easier for a teacher (with no prompting or outside coercion) to learn how to be a technologist, or is it easier for a technologist to learn how to be a teacher?  My belief is that the latter is true, and with a few simple policy moves regarding staff training and clear communication of goals, a technology department can move from the "stick in the mud" that most teachers believe they are to the teacher's most valuable helper on a daily basis.

Am I promoting a system that makes teachers and administrators rely on us more?  Absolutely not.  I am simply compelling my technology staff to go to the teachers and administrators first and bring them into the fold, rather than wait for those folks to do it themselves.  After all, we've been waiting for about 20 years now, and technology integration into the instructional process has still not happened in a significant way.