One of the best experiences at Tech&Learning’s most recent SchoolCIO Summit, which was held last September in Denver, CO, was when we forced, er, requested the 50 or so attending district executives to participate in some group management role play.
Now, any veteran of professional development retreats will tell you that these exercises can be at best awkward and at worst embarrassing. But thanks to the mastery of T&L advisors Hank Thiele, chief technology officer for the Maine 207 Schools in Park Ridge, IL, and Carl Hooker, Director of instructional technology at Eanes ISD(TX), as well as gathering the collective feedback from these executives by using the group editing features of Google docs, the session ended with some of the most cogent, insightful analysis we’ve had the pleasure to publish. From budgets to resources to social media strategies, this wish list should be a useful roadmap. Be sure to also go online to www.schoolcio.com/ciosummits to dive into the full complement of presentations and session conversations.
While we are on the subject of utopian scenarios, managing editor Christine Weiser interviews James Aldridge, chief technology officer for MSD of Warren Township in Indianapolis, IN, who recently redesigned 200,000 square feet of his district’s libraries and classrooms into modern creative learning spaces. While his experience during the process was a bit less than perfect, the end result makes me want to move to Indy only so that my kids can go to school there.
As always, feel free to get in touch to share your own best-case scenarios. We’d love to hear them.
— Kevin Hogan
Editorial Director
khogan@nbmedia.com
