There is no box

thinking out loud about technology, education and life

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K-12 Superintendent, reformed IT guy, educator, 1:1 evangelist, life long learner, father, husband, geek, ex self-propelled field artillery turret mechanic, GCT, CCTO, INFP

  • Wanted – Director of Technology Services

    In a few weeks I will start a new chapter in my career as Chief Technology Officer for Union School District. My last official day with Berryessa Union School District will be January 3rd.

    Berryessa and I have come a long way together in a short amount of time. Things started out bumpy with major Virtual Desktop issues and regular Server room AC and power outages but we’ve made significant changes and I am happy to say, now have a stable platform on which to build moving forward.

    All major systems are, or soon will be, cloud based; including messaging and collaboration (Google Apps for Education), Wireless (Meraki), Mobile Device Management (Meraki) and VoIP (JIVE cutover is set for Jan 3rd!). Firewall and Web Filtering services are in the process of migrating to hosted solutions at the County Office as well.

    The Virtual Desktop system has been relegated to providing legacy student desktop computer access. Staff were upgraded to Windows 7 desktops at the beginning of the calendar year and over summer we pushed out iPad carts, ubermix netbook carts and chromebook carts so that there are significantly more student devices available in schools now than there were just a year ago. If that were not enough, we just wrapped up a district wide MacBook deployment for teachers.

    There is 5 year technology budget roadmap, an updated technology plan and a likely upcoming Bond measure with classroom technology as a top priority.

    The IT team is solid and dedicated and have performed miracles given what we’ve bee able to accomplish with the resources we’ve had.

    While at Berryessa, I’ve had the opportunity to work with great administrators, amazing educators and passionate parents who all care deeply about students and learning. Throughout it all, I felt very lucky to get to go to work everyday, knowing that we were on the path to making classrooms places of endless possibility and wonder. I am sad to be leaving Berryessa and yet very excited to be joining Union.

    Union is right now in the process of defining what their 21st Century Classrooms will look like in the next 1-5 years. I’m looking forward to bringing my background in building 1:1 learning environments, my experience with emerging education technology trends and my amazing Personal Learning Network of #eduawesome educators to that discussion.

    With my departure imminent, Berryessa has posted my position. If you’re awesome, believe in the power of technology to transform teaching and learning and really, really like helping empower administrators, teachers and students with technology, please apply.

  • If At First You Don’t Succeed

    Well, I goofed the last rebootED episode post big time. First, the initial YouTube upload cut off the last 7 minutes of the interview. Second, I posted our guests name as Ewan McGregor (you know, that actor guy) when in fact we talked with the ever so more interesting Ewan McIntosh. so here is my attempt to get it right. Ewan McIntosh talking with Mike and I about bringing startup and design thinking to education. It’s the most compact and informative episode yet.

  • Instruction vs. Teaching

    Last week I had the opportunity to interview Ewan McIntosh from NoTosh on rebootED and he got me thinking about Instruction versus Learning. He said that here in the states we tend to substitute the word teaching with instruction. Think of all those Curriculum & Instruction departments out there. The word instruction carries with it significant meaning for us as educators, particularly at a sub conscious level. It implies, as Ewan points out, that learning requires instruction. Instruction also implies that there will actually be “instructions” and that to be successful at learning, one must complete the instructions as provided. The word instruction carries with it a very 19th century factory model connotation of what we do in the classroom. Instruction is certainly one aspect of education but it is not the only one.

    Contrast this to the word teaching. Teaching carries it’s own sub conscious baggage but I’d argue it’s more in line with student centered learning and where we need to go in 21st Century information rich, knowledge based classrooms. Teaching is the work of a teacher. It includes instruction of course but so much more. It implies “education” which includes academics but also encompasses moral and social aspects of a child’s development. Teachers teach, we don’t instruct. While the two words may be synonyms, the meanings can be very different.

    So if I were building up a new culture and shared vocabulary at a district, I would choose to use Teaching over Instruction but really I’d prefer Learning over both. Learning is an action word centered on the student. If we replace instruction with learning, magical things happen. Instructional rounds become Learning rounds and the focus shifts from what the teacher is doing to what the students are doing (and then how a teacher’s design and application of the craft, the pedagogy, is influencing student action). We get Learning objectives instead of Instructional objectives and Learning strategies instead of Instructional strategies. Teaching becomes about much more than just instruction, it becomes about learning. And building up self sufficient, intrinsically motivate life long learners is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

  • Chromebook Management Best Practices (again) #cetpa13

    I’m back in the Chromebook Lab (Rm 104) at the CETPA Annual Conference for day two of Chromebook Management Best Practices.

  • Chromebooks, Netbooks & iPads, Oh My! #cetpa13

    I’m presenting at the CETPA Annual Conference in room 214 (live right now!):

  • Deploying Google Apps: What Not Do To #cetap13

    I’m presenting at the CETPA Annual Conference in room 207 (live right now!):

    Screen Shot 2013-11-17 at 5.34.25 PM

  • @TimGoree, Powered By Open Source #cetpa13

    This weekend, Mike and I had an opportunity to Hangout with outgoing CETPA Board Member and Director of Technology Support Services from Fairfield-Suisun, Tim Goree. Between airport security announcements, he talks about how Open Source is powering his district’s open devices network and BYOD program.

     

  • Chromebook Management Best Practices #cetpa13

    I’m in the Chromebook Lab (Rm 104) at the CETPA Annual Conference.

     

  • 5 Easy Steps To SBAC Testing On An iPad

    There has been much discussion about the best way to administer the SBAC test on iPads. Look no further. Follow this simple 5 step process and you’ll be all set.

    Step 1: Buy a Digital AV HDMI Adapter (brand unknown)

    Step 2: Buy a Logitech Wired Keyboard For iPad (30-Pin)

    Step 3: Connect HDMI Adapter to iPad2

    Step 4: Connect Keyboard to HDMI Adapter

    Step 5: Connect HDMI Adapter to External (HDMI) Monitor

    Test Away!

    photo (2)

    Shout out to Joe Ayala for the idea! It Works!

  • Google+ Custom URL Fail

    G+ Custom URL options

     

    I’ve about had it with this whole G+ Custom URL thing.

    I’ve been anotherschwab on the web since setting up my hotmail account in 1997. I’ve been anotherschwab on Yahoo, Excite and a bunch of other services that have come and gone. With the rise of twitter, @anotherschwab became the name I used in real life at edtech conferences to introduce myself to fellow twitter users. anotherschwab is my Neo to Keanu Reaves’ Tom Anderson in The Matrix. Which name is my real name anyway?

    So when Google+ custom URLs starting becoming available, I immediately requested +anotherschwab. A request that has now been pending for over a week. I requested +anotherschwab not because I’m not +AndrewSchwab or +AndrewTSchwab (frustratingly +AndrewSchwab is stuck to my Work Google+ account and when I tried switching the names around I lost my Verified status on my personal G+ account and got that goofey add suffix option to boot) but because everything I do online ties back to anotherschwab. It’s the name I use to sign into Google+ for crying out loud! What’s next, making us change gmail account names to be our “real” names?

    Interestingly enough there is a (more?) famous Andrew Schwab out there on the Interwebs. TheAndrewSchwab isn’t me (but apparently I beat him to twitter when I grabbed Andrew Schwab just in case) but we both have the same name. So who’s to say who should be +AndrewSchwab or +AndrewtSchwab or even +TheAndrewSchwab on Google+. How is +TheAndrewSchwab any more real of a name than +anotherschwab? What if I choose +AndrewSchwab3? How am I distinguishable online from +AndrewSchwab2 or +AndrewSchwab222?

    This whole G+ custom URL thing is totally goofey. I’m anotherschwab online. I always have been and always will be and until Google wakes up and lets me identify myself how I want, I’ll still be 104368693201320825023 (unless they force something else on me).

    How about it, are you happy with your Custom URL options?

    PS: I ended up with anotherschwab because after spending way too much time flipping through crazy first name, last name, letter combos on hotmail (I was late to that party), I finally gave up and said if there are so many aschwab’s out there, I must be just anotherschwab.