I have recently been wondering about whether there is a need for a digital strategy.  I had always considered it important that every school had a digital strategy however more recently I have been wondering does the need for a digital strategy vary with a schools technology maturity?   If a school has technology which is reasonably well embedded is there still the same need for a digital strategy?

Getting started

At the early stages of technology use in a school I believe it is very important for a digital strategy to exist.   You are managing software and hardware requirements, underpinning infrastructure, maybe device end points as well as training and communication.   And it’s all new to you as you are only getting started.  There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of interrelated decisions, plus there is the whole issue of change management and bringing people with you.    The need for a strategy is key in planning all of this but also in showing people where they are going and charting a path there.   Without the strategy you may have different people pulling in different directions.

Mature technology usage

When however, you get to mature technology usage and your systems and processes are more embedded the challenges are different.   Significant change is much more difficult as you are no longer moving from a blank slate.   You are likely from a situation where technology is being used and is likely having benefits, albeit there may be issues which are leading to considering change.   Consider moving from iPads to Windows Laptops for staff for example;  Your staff will be aware of the benefits of the iPads given they use them so availability bias plays its part here in that we know with certainty the benefits of our current setup however the benefits of the planned new solution are not as clear or definite, therefore we over weight our current setup.   In terms of the drawbacks of the iPads, we are aware of these too however given we are using iPads we equally already have workarounds or simply sub-optimal processes whereas for the new solutions we are only predicting the possible drawbacks, so again we come back in favour of our current setup.   And the same issue arises if you are looking at changing an established MIS system or various other bits of technology.   You also have the issue that different technologies and associated processes might be tightly integrated, meaning any new solution, which would be a different solution, would need to be able to be equally tightly integrated, where this is seldom guaranteed.

If not technology strategy, what?

Once you have a relatively mature technology usage I suspect rather than significant change, it is more like iterative or evolutionary change.    The technology is more transparent rather than having a more central focus.   There isnt the same need for a three-year strategic roadmap and the ongoing renewal of infrastructure should be a simple matter of operational process.   So, given we accept technology continues to evolve, if it isnt digital strategy, what is it?    In a recent chat with Ian Yorston he planted the idea of Digital Culture with me and I think that is exactly what we should be looking to develop, where technology is simply the way we do things around here, supporting the overall objectives and aims of the school.   And culture is something that changes more slowly based on the stories and the narratives told around school, so we need to be paying more attention to this.  So its about having the opportunities to constantly review the narratives around technology use in school, to assess the impact and value and iterate and evolve.    In my school this is our IT Management Group but also working parties such as our AI working party.   It is also feedback processes through SLT and through Heads of Department.   I don’t think we have it 100% nailed by any means but then again if things are constantly evolving maybe this is to be expected.    One of the things I want to do more of is look to the “how we measure” impact and value and the how we know things are working or not.   

Conclusion

Maybe a technology strategy is very important to get started, but maybe once technology is embedded it’s all about developing the culture and softer adjustments and changes around the edges.      

And maybe it easier to show change and impact in the beginning which makes it easier to demonstrate the impact or progress against the strategy.   Once technology is more embedded this isnt so easy to measure or assess which means we need to start looking deeper, and this is something I hope to look into over the coming months.

Seeking Value

I remember someone telling me that IT is the 3^rd most expensive thing in a school after staffing costs and the cost of the building and school estate.  With such a large part of a schools finances invested in technology it is important to make sure that we are getting value.   Now I note my use of the word “value” as opposed to impact; This is due to impact being often associated with examination outcomes.   In my view this is a narrow view on technologies potential within education.  Exam results, for example, don’t provide a measure of the positive effect which technology can have to a student with Asperger’s who previously found it difficult to interact with the classroom discussion but now can do so easily via an online chat facility.    For me value suggests a broader classification which might include using technology to engage a particular student who previously wouldn’t or couldn’t access learning, like in the above example, it might include introducing new experiences to students which were either difficult, dangerous or costly without tech or it might be using technology to bring about new more efficient processes for teachers such as dictation of feedback, etc.   Value is much more diverse and also context specific than exam results.  Seeking value in our technology should be a key objective in all technology decision making but mustn’t be confused with cost cutting.

I have often heard about how technology should be led by teaching and learning needs.   I agree with this to an extent in that technology shouldn’t dictate what is done in the classroom, however we must be careful that whatever technology we are considering using brings about value.   It is all too easy to fall for the salesman’s spiel regarding the potential or to focus on a particularly nice feature and not appreciate the wider implications of a technologies use.  I remember VLEs being heralded for the potential they had to change learning giving students access to resources and allowing teachers to set homework and provide feedback, etc.  Sadly, in my view, they never really provided value as first there was the cost of the software, then the resource cost of training and of creating, posting and updating content, then the limited ways that content could be organised and presented which stifled the creativity inherent in good teaching.  The cost versus the benefits never added up for me, and with this I didn’t see the value.    I can name a couple of other technologies which have been rolled out due to their potential to impact teaching and learning, but where the costs and resultant value is doubtful at best.

A discussion of value in relation to an educational technology project is never an easy one given the concept of value is potentially so broad and all encompassing.  Important things, such as a detailed consideration of value, are seldom easy.   Judgements on value are also often subject to the different perspectives of the people involved in the project.   To that my answer is to look to the schools values and what it stands for and to see if the proposed technology fits with the schools wider aims.   If it doesn’t then the project should be dropped.  If, however it does then a trial or pilot study may help surface the value or lack of in the technology being examined.   Discussions with other schools may also help to establish value.    Assuming value can be established from such a trial a wider roll-out, either to a bigger pilot group, to a specific group or even whole school can be considered and planned.

I have now added “Seeking value” as one of the value statements for my IT Services team, as a reminder and key focus in supporting IT across the school.   It is my belief that it is important that we all have a similar reminder as we explore the many different and emerging technologies and technology solutions which might be considered for use in our schools.   Before proceeding we need to ask ourselves: Does this add value?

Part of the reason for questioning the process lies with my recent reading of Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and also The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb which I am currently reading.    In both books the author examines our ability to predict the future, with both authors arriving at the same conclusion, being that human beings track record in relation to future predictions is generally poor.    Both authors cite a variety of projects, where predictions in relation to costs and timescale in particular are required.   In each of the examples the project either ends up taking significantly longer or costing significantly more than anticipated.

Thinking about my own context, I oversaw an IT overhaul in a school back in 2007.   This was very much focused around updating the existing server and client PC infrastructure and developing a long term, 5 year plan for maintaining and renewing the equipment.   Had I been able to predict the iPad and its potential applications in education, which was only 3 years away and therefore well within the scope of my 5 year plan, my plan and also some of my actions may have been significantly different.

Given the above I have taken a different approach to my new 5 year plan.   I now accept that the further away from today, the more variable and unpredictable the future is.    Reflecting, this should not have been a surprise as unpredictability is compounded, like financial interest over time.   If you look at your mortgage bill and the total repayment amount you can see how a few percentile points compounded over a period of time can result in a significant increase on the original figure.   So a small percentage of unpredictability played out across a number of years would result in a significant level of unpredictability.

My new 5 year plan has a lot of detail in terms of what is planned for the coming 12 months.    Planning for the 2nd 12 months contains less items as this period is more difficult to predict, with planning for the 3rd year and beyond being progressively less detailed in line with the increasing level of unpredictability.

Now my thinking thus far has been focused on longer term planning in the magnitude of around 5 years with quite clear implications for periods extending beyond 5 years however is a similar issue applicable to short periods?    Can we accurately predict things within a single academic year?  If the answer to this is no then what implications might this have for planning within schools?    I also wonder about lesson planning however that may be for another posting.

How often do you engage in long term planning and in doing so have you considered quite how unpredictable the world is?

3D projection technology currently is, as far as I am concerned, a little bit of a gimmick with limited usefulness other than in specific subjects.     A nice thing for the limited student engagement during its initial deployment or for impressing parents on school tours however questionable in terms of impact in the wider context of the academic teaching year and versus the purchasing cost of the required devices.

Gamification merits a mention however I may be raising here due to my own sons love for Minecraft.   In fact I believe, as other do, that gamification is not limited to software and IT but extends beyond to turning learning into a game even if this is a physical board, counter or ball game.      As such I am not sure Gamification would need including in an IT strategy as it may actually be better placed in the overall teaching pedagogy strategy.

3D Printing is another newer technology often making an appearance in discussions of educational technology.    I feel there may be significant opportunities here in terms of IT strategy in engaging students in Makerspaces where they make use of technology to produce solutions to real problems.   As such ongoing development and exploration of how 3D printing technologies can be used may merit a place in the IT Strategy I am developing.

It is very difficult to judge what technologies will be available to us over the next 4 or 5 years, what the costs will be, what new uses will have been discovered and overall how the IT technology world will develop.   Given this it is clear that a focus on the technologies isn’t going to work.

In reality the question is not what technologies we are going to use as technology is but a tool.   What really matters is how we use this tool.    Given this my IT strategy doesn’t focus on what we will use but on what we hope to gain from the use of technology.   We want to develop students that are collaborative, communicative, solvers of problems, critical thinkers, resilient individuals, individuals of character, members of a global and local society as well as being tolerant plus possessing a growth mindset.   We want to deliver great learning experiences both within and beyond the classroom that stimulate and engage students.    We want teachers that are confident in using technology where appropriate to redefine how they teach.   We want to use technology to engage parents in the learning journey of their children and the engage the local community and wider world in the work of the school.   We also want technology that is safe, reliable, resilient and flexible.

It is the above which is the strategy and not the technologies we will eventually use.   It is the above which paints the picture of what we hope to achieve through the use of IT as a tool.    From the above we can then create our initial operational plan for the year ahead and initial outlines for the coming year or and beyond confident in the fact that the operational plan may change as new technologies, ideas and approaches become available however we will forever continue working towards the originally developed strategic outcomes.

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