Directing Technology
Preface
editEvery school district, private school, college and university has a Technology Director whose responsibilities are becoming more important every year. Most technology directors have had to learn their skills and their job the hard way, on the job through trial and error. The tech director's position is a specialized job like the business manager or the facilities manager, and there is usually no one in the organization who can guide, or even question, him in the performance of his professional responsibilities: he or she is THE last word on technology in the organization. Unlike the business or the facilities manager, the tech director's responsibilities have an increasingly important impact on teaching and learning. It is vitally important for the tech director to develop a broad vision, a deep understanding of the job, and a collaborative relationship with curriculum and administrative staff. There is a shortage of texts that explain these issues in the kind of depth a technology director needs to learn and succeed. Directing Technology will attempt to begin the task of creating such a resource textbook.
Mobile technology is expected to be a disruptive innovation to the expensive and highly-controlled technology systems found in many schools, and every technology director needs to be aware of the pros and cons of these platforms. These technologies, which cost roughly between $100 and $500, are not only half the price of past school computers, but they also use a different cost and infrastructure paradigm for operating systems, applications, network access, and management. In 2011, five chapters were added to Directing Technology to explore the potential, affordances, and challenges these mobile technologies may offer. A page on the Kindle, smartphone, iPad, Android tablet, and Chromebook are found in the MobleTech sections below.
Table of Contents
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