Talking to tech coordinators « Videoconferencing Out on a Lim
Janine Lim wrote a thought-provoking blog post regarding the diminishing role of the tech coordinator in supporting videoconferencing.
I agree that there is a lot to be said for the power of a school-level champion in any specialty area and that person’s effect on changing practice of fellow colleagues. I’ve read elsewhere (sorry no source) of this, where colleagues in a school seeing a neighboring teacher engaged in a particular practice of interest can have a large impact on those around her/him. What better job-embedded PD could teachers receive than to see the technology being used combined with effective practice in the context of their own schools?
In another way, if a regional tech coordinator is being relied upon less and “the school level videoconference coordinators are doing fine on their own”, it’s probably a sign that the tech coordinator is doing her/his job of building self-sustaining capacity within the system. In fact, most of the tech coordinators I’ve met would love to work themselves out of a job.
I still believe, however, that a tech coordinator for a large number of schools is also a key piece to this puzzle. Creating communication mechanisms between schools, facilitating collaborations across a number of buildings, coordinating events or projects across schools or districts that a full-time teacher at a school just does not have time to coordinate (without burning out) has a value that can’t be measured.
We’ve seen this in Alberta with the VC Regional Leads Network (http://www.2learn.ca/vcrln/), a group of 24 talented but extremely busy teachers in the province who receive release time and training to support teachers in implementing VC as a valuable learning tool. While they’ve had great success within their own schools (the school-level champion) and even within their school jurisdictions, they have reported that branching beyond their school jurisdiction to support neighboring jurisdictions to provide support is very difficult. Enter Cathy King, the VC Regional Leads Network Provincial Coordinator, who works full-time (and then some) coordinating the efforts of the 24 Regional Lead Teachers. Our RLs (Regional Leads), who do fantastic work, rely a lot on Cathy in their work, and Cathy’s “big picture” outlook of the entire province is critical in the success of the school-level champions. Are you a grade 7 teacher looking for a partner class for a Spanish project? Cathy knows another person across the province in the same boat. Are you implementing electronic whiteboards in your course delivery through VC in high school math to remote schools? Cathy can contact other RLs who may be doing just that to find you a ‘buddy’. Do you need some training in engaging students through VC? Cathy has a province-wide workshop you can attend just by dialing in on a particular day.
I fully agree that the school-level champions play a vital role in the implementation of VC at that school and possibly even that school jurisdiction. They’re the fuel that keeps the engine running. I’d stop short of stating that the tech coordinators aren’t equally valuable, however, as people like Cathy have proven in spades.
