What Are the Trainer’s Aims?

This college yr, Holly Doe began because the director of expertise for Maine’s Regional Faculty Unit 40.

It’s not Doe’s first time being the director of expertise—she additionally held that place in New Hampshire’s Bedford and Pelham college districts—but it surely nonetheless feels overwhelming at first, she mentioned.

Regardless that Doe remains to be attending to know Regional Faculty Unit 40, which has about 1,800 college students, she already has quite a bit on her plate, from ensuring the expertise instruments are appropriate with academics’ curriculum wants to making sure that the networks are safe.

In a Zoom dialog with Schooling Week, Doe outlined her priorities for the varsity yr and the challenges distinctive to expertise leaders in smaller districts.

This interview is a part of a month-to-month collection of conversations with college district tech leaders in regards to the challenges they’re going through. It has been edited for brevity and readability.

What are your foremost priorities for this college yr?

The factor that’s actually thrilling is that this district is very targeted on the curriculum they usually have a strategic plan that’s very delineated. They’ve particular objectives, they usually have them round expertise. They’ve a five-year expertise plan that was introduced to me they usually mentioned “it’s in pencil, you possibly can change it, you possibly can modify as it is advisable to, however check out it, consider what you assume.”

That’s one among my big objectives this yr is to judge this five-year tech plan. Let’s modify it as wanted. Let’s perceive what the academics want. So I’m working with my division to attempt to [figure out] how will we finest assist academics in order that their fast questions get answered. However then long run, how am I going to assist assist academics of their curriculum objectives and their expertise objectives?

[Tech use] has to start out with that important query. It has to start out with what the instructor targets are. And if expertise isn’t the instrument that addresses that, then that will not be the correct use that day.

Are you able to inform me extra about that five-year plan?

A number of it’s in regards to the spending and the sustainability piece. This was a district that wasn’t one-to-one when COVID hit, in order that they went quick and livid to one-to-one. Now they’re type of in a spot the place we have to stock, we have to be sure that we’ve a plan going ahead of how we’re going to exchange units.

The plan additionally seems to be on the software program and the way we’re buying and what we’re buying and do these items meet knowledge privateness necessities. And the way will we vet purposes in order that the academics are getting the assets they want?

I’ve a sense I’ll have a perspective that’s most likely extra round find out how to fuse the curriculum initiatives with the expertise as we go ahead.

How is your district leveraging expertise within the classroom?

A number of them are utilizing these merchandise which are their textbook-supported merchandise, issues that align with their curriculum. They’re doing a incredible job of demonstrating ideas, participating children within the content material visually, and with sound and nature and issues like that.

One of many issues that we’re doing is we’re bringing the Legos again. Now we have some coding labs which are coming into each elementary college, the place we’re going to be utilizing the Scratch coding software program from MIT along with these Lego kits.

[While visiting classrooms], I’m amazed that these academics have limitations of their school rooms. I’m used to seeing projectors on partitions. We [at RSU 40] have projectors on carts. So, in some methods, I’ve taken a few steps again. But it surely’s additionally good to have that perspective on the place we are able to go from there. However they do an incredible job utilizing these instruments within the classroom. And my aim is to get round and see what the youngsters are literally doing on their Chromebooks as a result of I haven’t most likely seen sufficient of that but.

What are the largest tech challenges going through your district proper now?

Particularly being in a small district, I feel cybersecurity. All districts are saying that proper now, however while you’re in a small district, and you’ve got a small employees and solely a lot to unfold round, it’s arduous to get at what these weaknesses are and how one can handle them, as a result of usually it takes cash to try this. It’s simpler to judge these weaknesses while you are available new to a district, but it surely’s [hard to figure out] the place to start out.

[Hiring] can also be going to be a problem. We’re making an attempt to rent a pc technician proper now—that was within the finances—however we haven’t been in a position to, as a result of there’s nobody who’s eager about working that job proper now.