Category: It Just Works: Devices

Education Technology Duality: Nouns, Verbs, and “Everything Just Works”

There is a duality in education technology: the hardware and software (the nouns) and what you want to do with it (the verbs). And even when you work to focus on the learning experiences made possible with the technology, that that technology works as needed/when needed is critical.

I write a lot about a learning-focused approach to education technology, including a Learning Technology Framework, an exploration of whether we are talking learning or talking technology, or imploring education technology leaders to focus on learning. This work is embodied by the phrase, “More Verbs, Fewer Nouns,” a request to focus more on what we want to do with technology (verbs) than on the tech itself (nouns).

Students learning with technologyAnd yet, now that I’m a tech director in a small rural (yet, technology-rich!) district, responsible for expanding their learning focus on education technology, I’m discovering that there are no verbs without nouns. The technology must work before we can get too far into the learning. It is not one or the other, but rather both.

Because the nouns need to be in place and function as planned in order to implement our verbs, we’re working toward a philosophy of “Everything Just Works.” At the core of “Everything Just Works” is the belief that teachers are more likely to use their technology with students if there are no hiccups and everything works for their activity as planned.

So “Everything Just Works” is the intersection of our nouns and verbs. It is not sufficient to make sure all the tech functions, but rather that it functions as needed for the learning activities planned. In other words, students have the devices, tools, and connectivity they need, as they need it, for their learning. That’s a different lens for how the technology is expected to work. That’s a verb-focused lens for the nouns.

And we know that we have work to do on Everything Just Works.

How do we know? When some students don’t have the apps and it’s not easy getting onto the student devices, or the Apple TV drops your device from projecting, or you can’t connect to the WiFi, or the WiFi works fine, but the filter won’t let you access the education website you were going to use, or when the teacher’s or the students’ devices are stuck in an endless update loop, or you just updated and now the app you were relying on for the less doesn’t work…

But we’re making progress…

So, Apparently, There are No Verbs Without Nouns

This is how I learned that there are no Verbs without Nouns. You can’t work on instruction and learning experiences unless all the tech is working seamlessly. And that’s when I realized that you can only be Verb-focused when everything just works.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I finally have the opportunity to help shape an entire district toward More Verbs, Fewer Nouns. We were, with the Superintendent’s direction and blessing, going from a previous Tech Director who focused on techie things (Nouns) to my becoming Tech Director focused on learning and teaching (Verbs).

MSAD 44But that’s easier said than done! At least at first…

I was hired just before school started and there was, for a variety of reasons, and the passing on about systems, subscription, tools, and accounts from one Tech Director to the other was spotty. Plus the Elementary Technician had also retired when the previous Tech Director did. I’ve always been a technology for learning experiences guy and my own knowledge about how to handle the techie issues is VERY limited.

So, no matter how much I wanted to lead out the gate with conversations about pedagogy, and instruction, and good learning experiences, I was met, of course, with questions of “When can we distribute devices to students?” And “Are you ready for the eRate WiFi project at the middle school?” And “Is everything set for testing?” and “I can’t find my students’ passwords, can you help?” And “We have 3 new students; how quickly can we get them devices and accounts?” And “Don’t forget we need to move a SMART Board from Room A to Room B.” And “When will the new staff have email accounts and accounts in the student information system?”

These were certainly all Noun issues.

And just as certainly I wasn’t going to get to do any Verbs unless all these Nouns were addressed.

So I sent out an email to district administrators letting them know that I would do my best to address any issues they send to me and the Tech Team, but, for September, I would focus on these priorities:

1) Bring an Elementary Technician on board
2) Get student devices up and running and into the hands of all students
3) Do our best have NWEA testing go smoothly
And we were reasonably successful.

For the most part (with a handful of exceptions) teachers and we got student devices up and running for the year, and NWEA testing went relatively well. One of the elementary principals, who had been a teacher who leveraged her class’s technology fairly well, was especially helpful with making sure the MacBooks worked with the testing and assisting me as “elementary technician” until we could hire a new one.

The Elementary Technician position had been posted earlier in the summer, so I had a list of candidates to work with. The hiring process went fairly well, with the longest portion of hiring being waiting for our hire to be released from her position in another district.

Our Elementary Technician has been working with us for several weeks. She comes from tech-rich district and knows a great deal about working with MacBooks, and is quickly learning the iPads. She is picking up on new skills/duties quickly and works really well with both our Middle/High Technician and me. She’s a great addition to the team!!But most importantly, the lesson I learned very quickly is that there are no Verbs without Nouns. You can’t work on instruction and learning experiences unless all the tech is working seamlessly.

And that’s when I realized that you can only be Verb-focused when everything just works.