As a classroom teacher, I was pretty good at this idea. I took the lecturn out of my classroom and provided differentiated, problem-based teaching with the basis that “I don’t have the answers” so students learned to find answers on their own. I implemented the “Ask Three Before Me” concept that had students ask three of their peers before asking me for help. Not only did this help them with collaboration, but it gave me time to consult my Dummies books for answers.:)

A stinging reflection has been that I feel I strayed from this method as a campus technologist and became the “expert” in my old job; thus leading to fast burnout. I became the expert in so many things that I didn’t allow people on the campus to become the experts. People called me for help in everything. They didn’t know how to find answers on their own. This isn’t an exercise in making me out to be something super. Nope. In fact, this is an embarrassment to me. This is a reflection on how poor I have been as a teacher the past 5 years.

As I prepare to start professional development next week, I see that I need to completely renovate how I develop training so that I don’t do this to myself in this new role. In other words, I need to change…..everything…..again. I need to go back to the basics. Each staff development program I offer needs to be about the audience learning to find solutions on their own; and not about me being the one with all the knowledge.

The truth is, I am not the one with all the knowledge! I really think the only thing I am good at is putting in the right terms in a search engine for the answers. This is what I need to show staff to do – show them how I find the answers and how they can find their own answers. Let them become their own search experts.

I know this sounds basic to some of you who are in this role and you probably do this very well. I want to say that I used to be doing this. I was good at letting go and letting the class take learning above the level I could teach. The frustration is that I did not carry this over with the adults I was teaching. As I look back on how I worked at WHS, I (embarrassingly) look back and see that the training was about what I was doing with technology.

Such a shame.

Thus the reason for not posting a reflection on the last day of the Tech Directors Academy. It was a hard lesson to learn and may be harder to put into effect. But I will try! I will adapt. I will let go!

If anything – watch their interactive website which includes animated films designed by students. Link is embedded or find here: http://my.liveatedu.com/

Here is what Microsoft says they will provide FOR EACH USER:
25GB of space on SkyDrive (their own individual home folder)
5GB of space in email
Ability to send 20MB per message
Instant messenger (which can be open for staff and not students)
Microsoft Sharepoint services – collaborative documents shared online
A website that includes blogging, calendars, document sharing, etc.
Microsoft Office Live access (Word, Power Point, Excel) online (no installers)
Microsoft Live Search

In other words, a teacher could upload their files to this system and then open rights up to students to view/edit. Teacher and administrators could create folders to share documents and files. The shared folders on our file server migrate up to this system and then we assign rights to the specific folders.

Microsoft Office Live is the web version of Office – Word, Power Point, Excel. Students and staff would have WEB access to these tools without having to install on their own computers.

Total cost for this: $0.00 for hosting. No advertisements on ANY student access service but staff may have Microsoft advertisements (only in top banner of screen). The advertisements aren’t commercials but a banner about a particular Microsoft service.

Positives:
Hosted off-site (no need for a second NOC….or a first NOC for that matter).
Free – and that is free forever (no fee later)
Web access means all materials are online all the time. No second upload for teachers wanting to post documents on their websites. They simply assign rights to their documents in their folders to who they want to view or edit the docs.
Microsoft availability online means kids and staff access Microsoft Office on any computer with Internet connectivity. Same version for everyone.
Built-in Spam and Virus scanner
Leave-ability: Graduates from district take email and info with them. Account goes from district address to @hotmail.com if they want it. All documents and files go with them and out of our control and management
Lots of space gives 30GB of space per user but may be up to 50GB once we get into the Office/Web apps
Private and secure
Collaborative work environments online
Instant Chat
Student websites – Students could make portfolios for classes and be able to share them with future employers/colleges.
Teacher websites – Teachers can generate websites with blogging, calendars, documents, document sharing, etc.
Syncs with our current Active Directory and setup (all current and archived emails with Folders migrate over)
Mobile phone access is built-in via the web
Low maintenance
Low migration issues
Offers ShareView which includes ability to link 15 users for screencasting

Negatives:
Hosted off-site so if the site is down or Internet is down, we are down.
Advertising on some areas (but it is for Microsoft products only)
25GB of space gives freedom to put music, games, etc. in the system. It will be hard to monitor it but we will look into that and how our network access control can help.
Microsoft – most viruses and hacks are targeted at them but in this day and age, we are all targets
Some migration issues. I think if we are to do this, we pay for the advanced migration tools and maybe hire an engineer to come help us migrate it all over. This could be our only cost.

My district uses Active Directory and Microsoft for everything so the migration will be simplified. The presenter in the webinar shared how universities migrate over 30,000 users in a week. We have 710 staff and have not opened up student accounts beyond the high school.

All this said, does the cloud beat the wheel? Do we migrate completely online? This changes cost dramatically but then the money for our own hosting goes to bandwidth. We open the pipeline!

I want to know from others out there who are experiencing this what their thoughts are. Districts, universities, businesses going Web 2.0 cloud – what do you think? Is it worth $0.00 for this??

“…I found that becoming immersed with other professionals in the digital world was exhilirating! Just watching everyone move about the conference with their various devices communicating and recharging gave me a true sense of what our students have been born into. After 20 years of attending various conferences in education, I found myself rediscovering the joys of connecting with others who are excited to try new ways of engaging their students. But that’s where the similarities between conferences from then and now end because today’s methods go “outside the box” in EVERY direction! What an eye-opener!! So many news ideas swirling around in my head!”

“I would tell [my campus staff] to get on their comfy slippers and commit some time to traveling through a few Web 2.0 links, so they can begin to see all of the possibilities for connecting with their students and colleagues (even parents) in new ways. I also believe the library can act as a “medium” for promoting Web 2.0 and supporting the staff/students.
I think that [our principal's] persistence in starting the school news broadcast has been a great catalyst for getting our teachers and students to get their feet wet with potential for podcasting and vodcasting.”

“I learned so much I am about to explode. I can’t get it all out of my head and use it fast enough.”

“TCEA is great. You can go and see new technologies that are coming out as well as current technology you have. You can attend the sessions or visit the booths of various companies and find new ways to use current equipment and well as get a chance to talk directly to the vendors to get answers to questions you may have. No matter who you are, there is something of interest to go to and new things to learn.”

“I felt that my brain was totally saturated with new ideas by the time I left. The excitement for using technology in my classes was very elevated and it was well worth going.”