Chief Information Officer
From WikEd
Contents |
The Birth of the Chief Information Officer
On this page I will briefly explore the history and need for a Chief Technology Officer in the K-12 environment and why many leaders in schools today still don't understand how technology fits into the instructional process. I will also explore what skills are needed to become a good Chief Technology Officer and why there is a need to spend the amount of money that is required to provide a 21st Centuary education. This topic is based primarily on the research performed by the COSN organization with added material based my experiences and other referances.
What is Chief Information Officer?
The top technology position in a K-12 school district has many different names. Some of those names are Chief Information Officer, Director of Technology, Technology Coordinator, Network Manager, Assistant to the Superintendent for Information, as well as many more. The name sometimes reflects the value the school district sees the role of the top technology position playing in the district at the current time. An Increasing number of districts, however, are finding out that technology can lead the way to improved instruction and better business practices. The key to success, many believe, is if the top technology professional has direct contact with the superintendent. Today, technology plays a significant role in almost every area of the school district from the curriculum, food service, transportation, and business departments as well as everything in between. If the top technology position's information is being filtered by another department head, many ideas that may support other areas won't get the proper priority. The Chief Information Officer has to be many things to be successful. They have to be technical but be able to relate technology into the instructional environment. They have to be a good communicator and be able to relate to everyone from support staff to the board of education and everyone in between.
The Brief History of the top K-12 Technology Official:
In 1984, Apple and IBM came out with new computer models. Apple released the first generation Macintosh, which was the first computer to come with a graphical user interface (GUI) and a mouse. The GUI made the machine much more attractive to schools because it was easy to use. Sales of the Macintosh soared like nothing ever seen before. IBM was hot on Apple's tail and released the 286-AT, which with applications like Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet, and Microsoft Word, quickly became the favorite of business concerns.
That brings us up to about ten years ago. Now people have their own personal graphics workstations and powerful home computers. The average computer a person might have in their home was significantly more powerful than the huge room size computers of just a few years ago. The computer revolution has been the fastest growing technology in man's history.
The position of a K-12 Technology Director has also only been around in mass for around ten years now. The position started when computers started showing up in schools and no one knew how or who could take care of them. Some schools found a computer person and assigned them to the maintenance department and they became the computer maintenance person. Some other schools saw the link to instruction and found a more computer savvy teacher and paid them a stipend to maintain computers as sort of a side job. If the school district was lucky the teacher would perform some introductory computer instruction like "Introduction to word processing".
As the number of computers increased, and the need to start networking those computers was beginning to be discussed, schools found out that they needed someone who could be more involved with the everyday task of maintaining the computers and now the network.
The position, however, was very new to the k-12 educational world and was generally not thought of as being very important.
Moving quickly through time we find the top technology position still progressing. Today, almost every school district has a coordinator or director level position that reports to an Assistant superintendent or the Superintendent. The technology department is involved with almost every area of a k-12 district, from food service to special services. Many school leaders are beginning to see that technology does fit into the instructional process and that technology is more than just equipment. Technology can be the means to improved instruction as well as preparing their students to be successful in today's technology based world.
Some of the more progressive districts have even elevated the position to an Assistant to the Superintendent position that reports directly to the Superintendent and participates in their cabinet.
The top technology position is still evolving as technology evolves. The person that serves in that role must have a wide array of skills to be successful. Some of those skills are explored below.
Essential Skills
1. Leadership and Vision Works closely with the executive cabinet and stakeholders to create a vision for how technology will support the district's strategic goals.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Ability to establish and lead governance committees and facilitate the process of priority-setting and decision-making. Interpersonal skills and a willingness to work closely with all constituents. Ability to adapt known technologies to new uses and envision natural relationships between emerging technology resources and the education process. Big-picture understanding of school organization, of curriculum and of the issues of greatest importance to teaching and learning. Understanding of the change process and effective approaches to facilitating change.
2. Planning and Budgeting
Works with the instructional and technical teams to identify the steps needed to meet strategic goals and a budget that takes into account the total cost of implementing technology solutions.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Ability to think strategically, manage projects, and lead the district from vision to effective delivery of services. Ability to set practical and realistic timelines for technology implementation. Understanding of the steps and financial tools involved in the budgeting process. Strong working knowledge of the concept of total cost of ownership and the ability to translate that into realistic budgets. Understanding of the impact and need for technology throughout the enterprise - and the relationship between curriculum, instruction and technology in providing a teaching and learning environment.
3. Team Building and Staffing
Creates and supports cross-functional teams for decision-making, technology support, professional development, and other aspects of the district's technology program.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Strong leadership skills and the ability to empower others to assume leadership roles. Skills at facilitating team building activities, modeling examples of trust between department members, and utilizing quality improvement tools for decision-making. Ability to identify strengths and weaknesses and make effective hiring decisions. Strong communication skills and a commitment to keeping all parties informed about technology progress and choices.
4. Systems Management
Directs, coordinates, and ensures the implementation of all tasks related to: the development of technical specifications and infrastructure decisions; the selection, purchasing, installation and maintenance of IT; and the integration of technology into every facet of operations.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Knowledge and expertise about infrastructure and performance standards for all aspects of the IT system. Strong technical background accompanied by a personal commitment to ongoing research and learning. Ability and willingness to hire skilled experts to support and oversee different aspects of the IT program. Ability to make purchasing and implementation decisions based on needs of the total school system - and on an understanding of the full life cycle of technology purchases.
5. Information Management
Oversees the establishment and maintenance of systems and tools for gathering, mining, integrating and reporting data in usable and meaningful ways.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Understanding of data-driven decision making and the role information needs to play in shaping and supporting a district's educational programs. Understanding of techniques and tools for data gathering, warehousing, and analysis - including a knowledge of available applications and the options for customizing them or building new tools in-house. Knowledge of data-related industry standards (eg., SIF and SCORM) and of governmental mandates (e.g. NCLB or IDEA) with information reporting requirements. Ability to assess and respond to the needs and concerns of a variety of knowledge workers.
6. Business Leadership
Serves as a strong business leader who guides purchasing decisions, assists in determining the "return on investment" for all technology implementations, and fosters good relationships with vendors, potential funders, and other key groups.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Comfort managing a budget, making purchasing decisions, and handling the financial aspects of running an IT business. Knowledge about market rates for technology equipment and services and the issues that determine ROI. Ability to direct, manage, and negotiate with vendors and business partners. Strong communication skills, the ability to build partnerships and articulate a vision for the district's technology program.
7. Education and Training
Budgets, plans for and coordinates on-going, purposeful professional development for all staff using new technologies.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Current understanding of both technical and educational best practices and the appropriate uses of technology to support high-caliber, rigorous student work. Understanding of the key elements contributing to successful professional development. Awareness of technology-related professional growth needs of all staff members - including administrators and support staff - and the ability to respond to these needs, including providing "just in time" opportunities to remain current on technical content. Ability to plan professional development activities that help teachers meet a wide range of instructional goals for the district with help from interactive technologies.
8. Ethics and Policies
Oversees the creation, implementation and enforcement of policies and educational programs related to the social, legal and ethical issues involved in technology use throughout the district.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Knowledge about laws and legal issues related to copyright, privacy, filtering and other aspects of school technology use. Awareness of other relevant issues including safety, technology-related health concerns and guidelines for fair and ethical implementation of technology. Experience with AUP development and enforcement. Commitment to modeling responsible technology use and working closely with all constituents.
9. Communication Systems
Directs and coordinates the use of e-mail, district web sites, voicemail systems and other forms of communication technology to facilitate decision-making, dialog and effective communication with the community and other key stakeholders.
Knowledge or Skills Required:
Working knowledge of various communication tools - including purchasing options and technical issues related to implementation. Understanding of web design and support issues and the staffing needed to keep district and school sites updated and operational. Knowledge about converging technologies and new options for enhancing communication through technology.
Strong communication skills and the ability to provide leadership to stakeholders in the utilization of communication resources.
Personal Experiences
The most important thing for a CIO in a school to remember, is that they work in a SCHOOL! Their customers are the students, parents, faculty, and staff of the school. My direct supervisor at work is a CIO and it is so difficult for her to step back sometimes and realize that faculty and student support should be a major priority rather that the complete hardware integration of the accounts receivable software with the mainframe SIS database. While technology initiatives are important to keeping an organization running smoothly, sometimes a bit of perspective is needed to encourage them to invest in training materials for software and teaching programs. -- D. Melone
Our school cannot afford a CIO with a staff. I am not sure if other schools are similar, but our school has a staff of 1. I like the idea of a staff however, as the planning described in step 3 is often overlooked. A technology staff would seemingly need to interact closely with teachers to ensure that the network worked for the benefit of the students. It is difficult to assign an ROI number to an acedmic pursuit. I think CIO's in a school district would be a different role than a business CIO. Though many of the responsibilities outlined here do seem partially applicable. Greg Van Hoorn
References and other links of interest
The Chief Information Officer in Higher Education by James I. Penrold, Michael G. Dolence, and Judith V. Douglas 1990 Professional Paper Series, #4
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), http://www.cosn.org
Tech Learning, http://techlearning.com/content/about/tl_advisory.html
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®), http://www.iste.org/
Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators, http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/sci-tech/scicom.html
Visions 2020.2: Student Views on Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies., http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/site/edlite-default.html
The Metiri Group serves the education community through a broad range of consulting services that empower educators and education institutions to:, http://www.metiri.com/techsolutions/
School Technology Leadership Blog, http://www.schooltechleadershipblog.org/
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/index.jsp/
