Interview Highlights

Interview with a senior decision-marker within the Toronto District School Board

presented by Rob KahlonUniversity of Ontario Institute of

Technology

Visionary Leadership

"...support all the devices and all the students and we have that true anywhere/anytime learning..."

"It sounds simple, but...you need a lot of infrastructure in place ...you need to ensure that people can use the technology..."

Her vision

Digital Age Culture

"Someone who's helping teachers teach math or science or anything should just as well know the technology tools "

"...there are a very large number of teachers in our system who have done excellent work..."

She wants technology integrated across the curriculum

"the Ministry resources... need to be modified, and have stuff added... because a lot of it is just text, text text, and static pictures."

"Why aren't we doing more on game development?"

She wants a vast improvement in e-Learning content

"A ton of kids bring their own... teachers need to know how to engage them, otherwise [the kids] would just do their own thing, if they're even allowed, because in a lot of our classrooms it's 'leave it out there at the door'"

"If we're using e-resources, the kids have to have something to use them on. There's no sense having e-resources if you don't have the tools."

She wants mobile devices in the classroom

"over the last 2 years, I've been talking about, 'Let's have an e-high school'"

She wants an e-secondary school in the board

Excellence in Professional

Practice

The TDSB has purchased 3500 computers per year for the last 8 years. Next year, it will purchase 18,000.

"I haven't spent any more money. I've spent the exact same number of dollars."

"[Interviewer: So it's much more efficient use of the same resources.]"

"You'd better believe it!"

She's used the budget more effectively

"...don't forget, these are public dollars. They're not school board dollars... it's someone else's money and we should manage it effectively and efficiently."

"Where's the return on investment? Where's the value at?"

School boards should be held accountable for their budgets

"I belong to a lot of things... you have to, otherwise you get obselete pretty quick."

"I also give talks in a lot of places"

"If I were to say as an IT professional, I'll just wait until my company pays for [my professional development], I would not be where I am... I have to have that initiative, that desire, to move and grow and learn."

She's committed to her own professional growth

Systemic Improvement

"...there's a lot of resistance, including your teacher's union..."

"when we rolled out the first set of laptops... people were all upset, 'You mean the teachers have to spend time on professional development?'"

"...the question that came back to me was, 'What's in it for me? Why should I?'

She has run into huge resistance within her organization

"You get to a point... when you neglect a system for so long, that it will not just be doing more with less, it will you will just have to stop doing"

"You need to look at technology in a proactive way."

She's concerned that the IT budget has been cut every year

"If you have a really old furnace, you're not going to save money on the heating bill even if you turn the heat down... if you invest in a furnace that is more efficient... although you spent money, you will save"

A tech spending analogy for the TDSB

The media services department had no technology to produce digital media.

"...nobody gave them appropriate equipment to do animations or video... what did it cost? $8000? And now they can do some fantastic things."

Resources were going to waste

"We're a big system, we should be able to leverage that very well."

"If there's a new resource out, I would like to have it at a very, very reasonable price."

Getting the most out of the resources

"Can we not partner with industry to do some of these intiatives? ... Maybe I'm stepping on some political toes by saying that, but... that's a very narrow view of things"

Public-Private Partnership

Digital Citizenship

"I think we can do a heck of a lot more, and better, to engage the students far better than we are currently..."

"That's how you keep the students motivated and really moving forward."

She wants more for the students in the TDSB