Comments on: The Educational Technology Influence Nexus

By: sfjalar » Áhrif, völd og upplýsingatækni

sfjalar » Áhrif, völd og upplýsingatækni — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:50:08 +0000

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By: Joe Makley

Joe Makley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:14:17 +0000

I’m not sure I am comfortable with the terms used for these three groups, but for discussion’s sake…
I think you are letting the “sustainers” off the hook. The problem you describe is their responsibility. Administrators should not take this from technical people. They need to insist that the IT crew speak in the vernacular, and make decisions that support teachers and students to do the work of education.

Of course, many times the “obtainers” demand capabilities that IT simply cannot provide. IT crews in K-12 are short handed, and often lack sufficient resources to deliver the expected services. In this case also, the primary weight falls on the administrator (“sustainer,” in your terms.)

For many years we have described these problems with ICT in educational environments. I understand that IT people can be ornery, but in my opinion, the primary barrier is still administrator competency.

By: Janice Friesen

Janice Friesen — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:06:56 +0000

I think that this is really an important issue. In our forward thinking and rich district we still have this issue. Part of the problem (?) is that the Obtainers often hold knowledge (how Novell works) that the others do not have. This can be used as a reason for the control. It might even be a good reason, but it is hard to tell. Communication is really the key…

It all hinges on trust for all three groups and communication is central to that!

Janice

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:10:24 +0000

Dean Mantz suggested via a tweet the term "containers" rather than "sustainers." That can certainly be appropriate as well. Dean wrote:

could "Containers" work too? May represent those who do not get involved at all. They remain isolated.