Did you hear the one about the math teachers who came back from a conference with software that their network administrator refused to load on the system? Or how about the tech director who bought laptops that the elementary students couldn’t fit in their backpacks? Unfortunately, it can be challenging for the instructional and technology folks to get along. They come from two different mind-sets, and in all but a few cases, the technology department did not go to ed school.

The good news is that the situation is improving. At a lot of schools across the country, the two sides have found common ground and are working as a solid team. Here,we’ll look at some of the challenges and fixes.

Problem: Who Is in Charge?
“Superintendents and principals tell me their technology directors can’t do certain things, but many times I can show them other districts doing those things. It’s not a technology limitation—it’s a mind-set limitation,” says Scott McLeod, an associate professor at Iowa State University and director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. Instructional leaders naturally defer to the tech staff when it comes to technology problems because they don’t understand boxes and wires, but technology is an essential school function that shouldn’t be handed over so completely.

Resolution: Have an Attitude Adjustment.
McLeod tells superintendents to “ask the tech department the tough questions and educate yourself. Do not hand the tech over so completely if you consider it an essential function of the school.”

Thirteen years ago, when Jim Klein left the private sector to become director of information services and technology at Saugus Union (CA) School District, he had to learn how to stop measuring himself in terms of business efficiencies.

To shed his corporate mind-set, he spent time with teachers, learning about their goals. One of the things Klein’s staff does is take the “scary” out of technology. For example, when they handed out 1,600 netbooks to fourth graders, they made the interface look and work like a cell-phone interface. They also included a button to restore the computers to their default settings. “Kids can load them up or mess with them,” says Klein. “We want to take away the fear of failure and encourage experimentation.”

Problem: Technology Is Hard to Use.
Historically, business-productivity tools have been repurposed to serve educational needs. According to Sonny Magaña, director of education strategy for Promethean and a former principal and teacher, we’re doing it backwards. “We tend to overlay technology on top of existing instruction, curriculum development, and assessment,” he says. “It’s difficult for tech folks, who don’t have instructional experience, to frame technology tools as serving instructional ends.”

Resolution: Combine the Tech and the Instruction into One Role.
Colleen Dixon, Issaquah (WA) District’s executive director of educational technology, created a centralized tech department and hired 23 technology specialists—one for each school. “On-site help is critical. Teachers won’t go to the lab if they can’t trust it.

“If you don’t understand what goes on in the classroom, it is hard to have a meaningful conversation about network security or accessing YouTube,” says Dixon.

As Magaña says, start by reframing the question. “Instead of ‘How can we use technology to transform curriculum, instruction, and assessment?’ we must ask ‘What instructional strategies are effective at meeting student needs, and what technology is designed to support those instructional strategies?’” One of the best ways to do this is to have a person in place who speaks both languages.

Problem: Professional Development Regarding Technology Is Still Weak.
“A lot of schools don’t see teachers as learners,” says Will Richardson, blogger and author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. If teachers don’t recognize technology as a fundamental part of their own lives, they can’t bring it to kids in a meaningful way.

Resolution: Make Professional Development Smarter.
If you ask teachers what they want and put them at the heart of the process, you can provide customized professional development. Each year, Rob Mancabelli, director of information systems at Hunterdon (NJ) School District, surveys his teachers about various technologies. He asks them to rate their skill level in, for example, podcasting or Skype, as well as their interest in learning these tools. Next, teachers meet with their supervisors to set technology goals for the upcoming year. Mancabelli offers summer classes in the technologies the teachers identify, during which they write lessons to use what they’ve learned. The classes are taught by teachers who are already using the technology effectively.

Problem: “We Do Not See Eye to Eye.”
Unfortunately, there is often an artificial segregation of administrative and instructional that leads to warring camps. “What we need instead is a chief technology leader who views the job horizontally,” says Keith R. Krueger, chief executive officer of Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). “Until we step back and determine the core things we’re trying to solve, we won’t bring the two camps together.”

Resolution: Make Decision Making a Shared Goal.
After hearing horror stories about districts purchasing software that no one could use, Aurora (CO) Public Schools formed a technology steering committee composed of top-level administrators, finance people, teachers, tech folks, and human resources. “By looking at initiatives and discussing student impact ahead of time, the committee can make informed decisions and put together timelines,” says Dan Davis, chief information officer. “First, teachers sit down with the technology staff. Then we start with small tests to see how the product works.”

Ivan Duran, director of instructional technology, says the committee focuses on instructional achievement. “Our conversations are about what we want the kids to do and what the teachers must learn to make that happen.”

At Mancabelli’s Hunterdon District, half of the educational technology committee is teachers. The rest is made up of department supervisors who still teach, parents, school staff, and only three technology people. “The tech members make the others aware of how certain products will change teaching and learning, and the teachers tell us if it will work in class and how long it will take to implement in terms of class dynamic,” says Mancabelli. “As a team, we discuss the learning outcomes and decide if it’s a worthwhile investment.”

Problem: “I Don’t Know Where to Start.”
Teachers sometimes feel lost. They may know the menu items by heart, but they don’t have a starting point for using technology effectively in their classes. “One reason Google Docs has become so popular in the business world is that people want to bypass the tech department as much as possible,” says Ben Werdmuller, a Web strategist who has worked with education clients for 10 years. “Teachers say the IT folks are too restrictive and unavailable when they need help. Furthermore, IT doesn’t provide the right training when they are around. Sadly, IT folks can also be patronizing.”

Resolution: Form a True Collaborative Partnership.
Find ways to encourage teamwork. “We’re very customer-focused in our district,” says Hunterdon’s Mancabelli. “The closer you get to the user, the better the solution will be.”

Mancabelli’s method breaks down barriers. “Teachers see us as being on their side,” he says, “responsive to their needs. We aim for them to view us as an indispensable resource.”

Plenty of tech departments are accessible only via e-mail, or require teachers to fill out service-request forms. Although ostensibly this is done to control workflow, it can be a huge deterrent. Mancabelli has a help desk with technical and non-technical people answering teachers’ calls. “If it’s a tech emergency, we’re there within 15 minutes,” he says.

Six STARTING POINTS
1.Put dedicated tech specialists in the schools, at least part-time.

2.Help the technology department realize that it serves the instructional team’s needs. Its mission is to enable teachers and support staff so that students can learn.

3.Help the curriculum department realize that it cannot have everything it wants. It must be willing to make compromises and look into different ways of doing things to reach the same end.

4.Look at informational technology as a support, not a driver. Deploying cool technology for technology’s sake will never be the right decision.

5.Remind everyone to focus on the students first. At the end of the day, achievement is the only thing that matters.

6.Require the tech team to go into a classroom and watch what’s going on. If possible, have them teach a lesson to a classroom of kids so they have a better understanding and appreciation of what a teacher does.

From SchoolCIO