15th
A Few Thoughts About Ed Tech in Kentucky
Fresh off another great KySTE Conference in Louisville, KY I wanted to share a few thoughts about technology in our state.
In Kentucky we do a lot of things as a team, statewide. We have state contracts for purchasing computers, network connectivity, networking hardware, printers, some software, technology surplus, and telephone systems. This helps districts with controlling costs but it also helps us by allowing us to lean on each other for experiences and support. One district runs into a problem and they head to our state listserv to share the challenge and back comes replies of different ways to overcome the challenge.
We also have one single, statewide domain running on Active Directory that allows us to have a consolidated e-mail system. We are about to transition from an Exchange server in every district to a consolidated, hosted Live@edu solution. It will be a major challenge but once again, we will lean on each other to get through.
We have a single statewide student information system that keeps attendance, behavior, census, grades, and health information that is provided by Infinite Campus. With this system we can deliver real-time data to administrators, parents, staff, students and teachers. It was a monumental task to migrate to the new system but together, as a state, we got through it and continue to learn from each other.
This week the districts of Region 1 in Kentucky will sit down and talk Acceptable Use Policies. We will bring our individual policies to the table and share ideas of what works and what doesn’t and hopefully each district will walk away with a better policy to implement.
I have been to conferences in other states where I have talked with districts that seem to be on their own, individually… sometimes even schools within districts are doing things on their own instead of a consolidated approach. I can not imagine doing my job at the level I am afforded without the help from our state department, other schools and our wonderful vendor partners.
When I go to conferences in Kentucky and I can sit and hear what other districts are doing it adds to my bag of resources. It allows me to walk away knowing I am a part of something larger than my district alone and it really leaves me with a sense of security.
Thanks KySTE for a wonderful opportunity to learn from other districts and thanks to KETS for being such a large part of the conference.
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- KySTE Conference 2010 (cio-corner.blogspot.com)
