There is no box

I’m attending my oldest daughter’s school open house at the moment. I think you can tell a lot from how these things are setup and run. So far it is a bit disorganized but there is good turn out. Why is it that parents seem so involved with their kids in elementary grades but then drop off interest in high school?

I hope I’m not that parent. But then if it wasn’t for my wife, I probably would be already.

I came across this Lifehacker article “How to survive the 10 grueling levels of office hell” and realized that I had experienced most of them in one way or another during my vast and varied careers. I thought I would share so here goes.

10. I don’t mind eating at my desk and my wife packs great lunches. I used to work with a guy who would eat his lunch while working on track engines. Nasty when a white bread sandwich turns greasy brown and motor oil black.

9. I never learned how to take power naps and it’s usually too noisy to sleep in the server room. Although I knew a whole artillery gun crew that could curl up in the back of an M109 and sleep for hours.

8. I’m the IT guy. I’m the one doing the monitoring.

7. Constant bombardment and multi-tasking is the name of the game in IT. I do find that not checking email every 10 seconds helps limit interruptions.

6. Been there, done that. Welcome to Lone Ranger IT baby.

5. Wife always says I’m happier the less money I’m making. No you may not pay me any less.

4. I’ve been wanting to get those fancy glasses that supposedly help reduce computer eye strain but they cost a lot and I don’t make that much money anymore. But I’m happier. Even if my eyes hurt sometimes.

3. You’re not making me upset, I’m making me upset? What kind of new age self help junk is that? Wait, did I just make myself upset?

2. Been there, done that too. More than once.

1. Freelancing was probably the most fun I’ve had while working. Since I got to be a stay at home dad with kid#1 for two years and I enjoy fixing other people’s problems it was the perfect situation. My own problems are another issue.

One of my favorite movies is Heartbreak Ridge. Today I was reminded of a scene at the end, after Gunny Highway and his men have saved the day, where Major Powers finally gets what’s coming to him:

Highway: We’re Marines, sir. We’re paid to adapt, to improvise.
Lieutenant M.R. Ring: Sir, I gave the order to take this hill.
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: Ring, this is going to ruin your career.
Colonel Meyers: Are you new to the infantry, Major?
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: Yes, sir. Just came over from supply.
Colonel Meyers: Were you good at that?
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: Yes, sir!
Colonel Meyers: Well then, stick to it because you’re a walking cluster f*** as an infantry officer.

As much as the current ed reformers would like us to believe otherwise, teaching with technology is not like being in supply. Integrating technology into a classroom and using it on a daily basis is an adaptive and improvisational act. It requires creativity, the ability to try and fail, to adapt and try again. For school districts looking to innovate in the ed tech space, technology should not be seen as a cost/benefit analysis or a return on investment for the bottom line. The only return on investment that should be considered is student learning. A district has to decide, is technology integration in the classroom important and if so then decide what technology makes sense and only then decide how to pay for it. Unfortunately, too often technology decisions start with how to pay for it. These critical decisions are still being made by the supply people where some amount of money (never enough) is allocated for technology as an add on that is usually the first thing to get cut in tough budget times. This is an antiquated view of technology and it cannot continue if districts are serious about embracing 21st Century Learning and harnessing the potential of technology to transform education as we know it.

There is a fixed cost associated with providing core infrastructure and it can be easily budgeted. There is also a relatively fixed cost associated with equipping a classroom and students with technology to create an engaging and interactive learning environment. That too can be budgeted. Yet many of us spend so much energy in ed tech fighting for every penny to keep even basic services running. Most districts don’t want to look at technology from the holistic strategic view it now requires. They still see technology as a cost to be managed. TCO and ROI are great for the supply guys and the businesses that make profits. They work for the big IT systems that sit in rooms dedicated to their well being. But schools aren’t businesses and those systems in rooms don’t really impact student learning. So adapt, improvise and put technology in teacher and student hands, then get out of the way and let them create powerful learning environments. A device in every student’s hand is more powerful than a room full of servers any day.

Tonight I responded to a question on the CETPA listerv about crazy outside the box ideas for saving money in school IT departments. Here is what I wrote:

We’ved used many strategies to save money, or more precisely, do more with no money (prior to going 1:1 iPads)

1. Virtualized Servers – Used ESXi (free) to consolidate hardware while expanding # of servers

2. Leveraged free cloud services – migrated email from Exchange to Google Apps (includes Spam filter)

3. Used Open Source Software – Moodle LMS running on Ubuntu, District web site wordpress server running on Ubuntu, Untangle web filter, replaced Symantec Ghost with FOG imaging server, LTSP Server for thin clients, 2X Thinclient server for Windows TS pxe boot thin clients, Ubermix for netbooks and lab PCs, open office and google docs for students

4. Purchased Refurbished PCs instead of new PCs for staff

5. Started a MOUSE Squad class for student tech support

6. Not replacing classroom printers when they die (remember – there is no printing from the iPads!)

7. Switched copier vendors

8. Utilize free web based tools for classroom instruction – CK12 flexbooks, web 2.0 tools like collaborize classroom, quizlet, easybib

9. Pushing student file storage to the cloud with youtube, dropbox and google docs

10. Using open source FreeNas white boxes for staff file storage with cheap commodity hardware and DFS for redundancy

11. Using AppleTV and iTunes for cheap digital signage (Danny Silva‘s brain storm)

That’s the list just off the top of my head.

That generally sums up my last eight years at Le Grand, sans the Mac migration and 1:1 iPad move. How we made that pivot is a topic for another day (And if you can’t wait, just listen to my podcast).

I just looked at my calendar and realized I’ve only got three weeks left at Le Grand and next week is finals week. So much to do and so little time. I feel like transitioning a Lone Ranger IT shop over to a new person is so much more involved than if I had some continuity in personel to bridge the change. Yikes. Maybe I should just do a video tour documentary for my replacement so he gets my eight year perspective on this place. Diagrams and Inventory lists can only tell so much of the story.

Eight years ago I fell into the education world almost by accident. I went to work for a great little district that dared to dream big. They trusted me to see them into the 21st Century and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that over the years. The district is half way through transitioning to a fully 1:1 learning environment. In just one and a half short years, the transformation will be complete. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished together. Teachers, Administrators, Students, Parents, Custodians, everyone. Working at Le Grand has been a rewarding and fun place to work and I will certainly miss it.

Transitioning for a one person IT shop can be a challenge and Le Grand’s diverse environment of Linux, Windows, iOS and Mac made finding a replacement even tougher. More importantly, bringing in someone that shares the vision and beliefs of what we have built and the direction we are going was critical to moving forward in the right direction. I’m happy to say we found the right person and I know he’ll carry the vision forward. Le Grand’s edtech future is in good hands.

So on January 3rd  my adventure begins with the East Side Union High School District. It’s a big district with a rich history and proud tradition. I look forward to leading the IT department in the support and service of the district’s 24,000 students, the community and all of the staff. Many challenges face education today but I believe now is one of the most exciting times to be involved with education technology.

On some level I am sad to be leaving Le Grand but just as coming to work here was an unplanned career move, so was this newest adventure. The opportunity presented itself and a new chapter in my life is opening. I’m excited to be moving back into actual management and to have the opportunity to positively influence the learning of so many students and staff.

The family and I will be trading small town Merced for the big city life of San Jose. It’s actually a return to big city living for us. We lived in downtown San Jose right out of college. This time we’ve got two kids a dog and two cats tagging along and I’m really looking forward to paying pet rent every month.

Back when I started in IT with Exodus Communications twelve years ago, it seemed like there was a priest like aura surrounding the tech departments in private industry.  They were the gate keepers and the first words out of their mouths when asked to do anything new was always NO.  Back then, in what I like to think of as the Dark Ages, IT departments were isolated from the business much as they are depicted in the excellent show The IT Crowed.  They lived in the basement and only came into the light of day to fix a problem.  That old school philosophy underwent a major change after the tech bubble burst in 2001/2 and outsourcing become the buzz word.  Suddenly IT was a commodity, a fixed cost to be cut.  IT shops in the private sector started to talk about adding value to the business and integrating themselves into core functions.  I believe this was mostly a self preservation tactic but it was a good one, because the IT shops that took on the customer centric approach became more responsive and valuable to their companies and in so doing they became more than just a commodity service or a cost center.

Having started my IT career right out of college working for a group called System Administration Services in the Customer Service and Support division I came out of the gate with a customer focus and never looked back.  It was really a great learning environment to be in as I worked with a wide range of experts covering diverse skill sets.  There were Windows admins and Solaris admins and CCIEs all working together with a common purpose. From them I learned that the platform (ideology) is not as important as the solution (results).  It was during this time I also learned that the customer is more important than the technology.

Lesson number one: Focus on the needs of the customer and on finding the right solution to meet those needs.

But a funny thing happened when I came over to the education sector.  I felt like I had stepped back in time.  Literally, from the equipment to the organization.  As far as IT went, 2003 might as well have been 1998.  I guess the threat of outsourcing had never materialized in local government agencies and so the shift from old school isolated command and control IT to customer centric, integrated into core business IT never happened.  My first thought was to seek guidance from our County Office of Education. Unfortunately they were not much help, being well entrenched in the old school IT thinking I was trying to avoid. The challenge for me then became how to transition my district into the 21st Century based on the principles I had learned at Exodus while working under this cloud of old school IT.  I set to work stabilizing the infrastructure for my district and ignored the cloud around me as much as possible.

Lesson number two: Don’t worry about that which you have no control over, focus on what you can control.

As soon as I was done stabilizing the infrastructure, I turned to my customers. I talked to as many people as possible as I started to develop short term goals for the District, a plan for technology and a budget to meet the goals.  I focused on building out the core infrastructure to support services for the next 10 years.  I learned that School Districts have tech plans.  I also learned that not everyone at a school district reads the tech plans.  And most importantly, I learned that technology was not seen as integral to the District’s mission but rather as something to spend large chunks of money on as it became available without planning or direction.

Lesson number three: IT is invisible to many but it is absolutely critical to any organization, make the district see the critical nature of IT as soon as possible.

The focus after getting to know my district became putting computers in the classroom (and building out the network to support them).  This is what the state wanted to know on its surveys, it was what E-Rate was designed for (Internet Access in classrooms), it was what Administration wanted and it was what everyone else was doing.  Had I not been overwhelmed by the magnitude of trying to move technology five years into the future in only one year’s time I might have noticed that while everyone said they wanted computers in the classrooms what they were really saying was they wanted what everyone else was getting.  And so when we did get four computers and an overhead projector in every classroom, they were not fully utilized.  In fact it took several years to get a significant number of Teachers using projectors and email and we never did see meaningful utilization of the four classroom computers.  I had made a fundamental mistake and lost track of who my customer was and what their needs really were.  Had I focused on teachers as customers, I would have identified training as a much bigger part of the project and I would have asked how those four computers would be used for instruction. Instead I focused mainly on the infrastructure and technology and we got a state of the art network with hit or miss classroom utilization. (although in my defense, the infrastructure needed the attention)

Lesson number four: Know who your customers are and what they need. (and nobody’s perfect)

After the big push to upgrade the District’s core technology, the next challenge was how to maintain it.  We had upgraded most of the infrastructure using one time grant money and E-Rate. While it was desperately needed, moving forward there was no real strategy or budget for maintaining the level of technology in place.  Over several years I was able to develop a budget and refresh cycle to maintain the core infrastructure. We leveraged strategies like thin client and refurbished machines to replace equipment and maintain the four to six computers per classroom and the computer labs. Fast forward to present day and the original plan for computers in the classroom has completely changed. We’re now focused on getting a device for every student.  It turns out that our high school teachers didn’t really know what to do with only four computers at the back of their classroom. What they needed was more labs and what is a lab really but a 1:1 learning environment? So we pivoted seemingly overnight and made the decision to change direction. Our solid infrastructure allowed us to do this relatively easily. But of course, the decision to deploy iPads has made it a bit more challenging.

Lesson number five: Be flexible.

In my eight years in education technology I have come to realize that school IT is not like business IT. Some practices are similar and can transfer over, but classrooms are living spaces that have unique needs. Business IT is about standards and control and not generally well suited to dynamic environments. It’s ok if we borrow from the business IT world, but only if it works and makes sense for education. Often times, it does not. So go visit some classrooms and see what your customers really need, chances are it’s not what you think.

(Note: This post was sitting as a draft for over a year. I finally got around to finishing it)