Name: Ryan Silver
Age: 27
Title: IT director, three years
District: Yavneh Hebrew Academy in Los Angeles, CA
Tell us some of your big-picture tech goals for the year.
Getting all our teachers trained to a “minimum proficiency level/standard” on all our systems, doubling the amount of SmartBoards we have (from six to 12), introducing blogging to our teachers and getting them involved in teaching general and subject-specific blogs, and introducing social networking and creating an in-house social networking environment/system.
What tech accomplishments are you most proud of?
Getting all our teachers/staff on board with technology and using it daily in their classes and work (and possibly even at home too), breaking the gap between technology/computer use being acceptable in our community and getting our parents involved (online homework, etc.), getting both our teachers and students involved in SmartBoards, and setting up two computer labs that run simultaneously.
Are you planning to let students BYOD? If so, when?
Not currently.
Traditional or online textbooks?
Traditional, but we are looking into online textbooks.
Can your students/teachers use Facebook, MySpace, or other Web 2.0 tools?
Not yet, but it is a goal for this year and next.
Professional development: face to face, online, or blended?
The majority is face to face with some online. We are moving to balance it out online and see from there.
What are some of your guilty pleasures?
Watching House – I’m a big House fan!, and playing games on my iPod.
