Rob Dickson, the executive director for information-management services for thein Nebraska, has spent this school year fending off dozens of cyberattacks, managing a shift to cloud computing, and worrying about both teachers, who鈥檝e come to technology late in life, and students, who can鈥檛 seem to get off social media.
Like it was for many ed-tech leaders across the country, the 2018-19 school year was a challenging one for Dickson, and the year ahead could be even more so. Looking back, Dickson, who has been in Omaha for five years and is headed to Wichita, Kansas, next school year, says there were five especially big challenges he faced this year, and tackling them provides important lessons learned for other school district technology leaders. Here鈥檚 a look at those five:
1. Building Digital Literacy Among Teachers and Students
What鈥檚 the biggest digital-literacy challenge for staff members?
鈥淲e have the largest workforce gap that we鈥檝e ever had. People don鈥檛 retire like they used to,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got generations of folks that are coming into technology at such a late cycle in life, and due to that, there鈥檚 a skills gap.鈥�
Dickson has three daughters, one is still in high school and two have graduated, and he feels their exposure to technology in school has been very inconsistent, depending largely on the expertise and interests of their teachers. 鈥淚 look at their experience with technology and I don鈥檛 want that to be circumstantial anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want them all to have the same chances to be able to utilize technology and to expand their learning with technology.鈥�
What about the biggest digital-literacy challenges for students?
There鈥檚 a real range there. 鈥淪ome kids live in poverty, and their experience with devices may be just a cellphone, and they may not have internet access at home. As a district, we try to make sure that we level the playing field,鈥� he said. What鈥檚 more, Omaha鈥檚 students鈥攁nd just about everyone else their age鈥攕pend an 鈥渆xorbitant amount of time on social media.鈥� He wonders what effect that has on them and on society.
Omaha鈥檚 solution: Leaning in on 鈥渄igital citizenship.鈥� In fact, the district has a full-time staffer devoted to digital citizenship, who helps schools implement a curriculum designed by , a nonprofit that advocates better use of digital media in schools. The goal: help students learn about cyberbullying, what鈥檚 appropriate to post online and what鈥檚 not, and even how much screen time is good for you. Over the past five years, 80 of the district鈥檚 96 schools and programs have been recognized by Common Sense for their work in this area.
The district has given out more than 30,000 devices over the past two years and has plans to allocate another 26,000 next year. But schools have to embrace the Common Sense curriculum before they can begin using the new devices.
鈥淲e make sure we lead out with that prior to devices being accessible to kids,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how we鈥檝e kinda dangled that carrot to drive the change to happen.鈥�
2. Data Security: A Constant Concern
That鈥檚 a huge topic. What specifically are you worried about?
It鈥檚 just a constant concern for a district like Omaha, Dickson said 鈥淭his year, we鈥檝e had more targeted attacks than we鈥檝e ever had,鈥� he pointed out. 鈥淓very month, there鈥檚 a good 40 or 50 types of attacks that we get from phishing attempts to malware. But since I鈥檝e been in the district, we haven鈥檛 had any type of outbreak.鈥�
Part of the solution: Consistent vigilance. Omaha uses a cloud app (Cloud App Security) from Microsoft. And Dickson and his team do monthly security checks. A third party comes in once a year and does a security assessment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really about having consistency of reviewing. It鈥檚 a question of what processes do we have, how do we change those processes, and how do we move forward,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e constantly adopting things,鈥� including programs to allow for more collaboration in the classroom. But with any collaborative program, like a new online curriculum, 鈥測ou have to take a look at what the weakness are.鈥�
One example: Omaha just adopted a digital curriculum and worked to make sure that it automatically 鈥渞ostered鈥� each class with the teachers and students that are listed in the district鈥檚 student-information system.
That makes life more efficient for teachers, who don鈥檛 have to spend time adding their entire class list to the system. But it鈥檚 also great from a security standpoint, Dickson said, because the system will automatically update if a teacher or student leaves.
How do you balance strong data security with making sure teachers can innovate?
There鈥檚 a formal process for that, Dickson said. The district built an 鈥渁pp approval鈥� tool three years ago. Using materials provided by Common Sense, the district takes a look at privacy protections, legal issues, and more. Once the district鈥檚 tech committee makes a decision about a particular app or program, it will post it on a dashboard so all teachers in Omaha know which apps have the greenlight and which don鈥檛.
3. Journey to the Cloud
Can you tell me a bit about how cloud computing is used in your district and how that鈥檚 helped or created unintended consequences?
Right now, Omaha is moving its entire district data center to Microsoft鈥檚 Azure Cloud Computing platform, Dickson said. There are some big pluses, including easier disaster recovery, backing up data, and the flexibility of not having to buy new hardware, which can be a five-year investment for a district, he said. The district only pays for the storage it uses, and the privacy protections are stronger than on-site.
Still, it requires an organizational shift.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a challenge because it鈥檚 a different way of managing,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淏efore, you might have had three or four people managing different resources in a data center, and this is like one person or two people managing an entire cloud infrastructure. So it鈥檚 a change in roles and how people work.鈥�
How do you see cloud adoption evolving in the future, and what are the upsides and downsides of it?
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 only going to happen more and more,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淒istricts from a budgetary standpoint need to be efficient, but they also need to be nimble. I don鈥檛 see our adoption of programs lessening. I see it only happening more and more as devices become more cost-effective and we deploy them in places that are needed to be able to support learning for students.鈥�
Any downsides to cloud computing?
It鈥檚 something that can be easy to get into but tough to get out of, Dickson said. 鈥淚f you want to change to a different cloud provider or bring it back on the premises, sometimes there鈥檚 a large or significant charge for that.鈥� But security is less of a worry. 鈥淐loud security has started to mature as districts migrate their data and solutions there,鈥� Dickson said.
4. Using Analytics to Improve Student Outcomes
Where is Omaha in the use of analytics to make instructional decisions?
It鈥檚 a big and growing part of the district鈥檚 strategy, Dickson said. 鈥淲e use them for coaching teachers, for student assessments, even for attendance of staff and students, so every kind of facet that you can think of. I only see that growing,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 just making sure we鈥檙e putting data where you need to see it at the time you need to see it and understanding what data a principal needs to see, what data a teacher needs to see, even what data a student needs to see.鈥�
What鈥檚 your take on the use of machine learning or algorithms to analyze data?
鈥淚f it can present insights for a teacher, that鈥檚 great,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淚 still want the teacher to make the decisions. Cause really, that teacher owns the learning for those students. But if I can give the teacher insights into what鈥檚 happening, that鈥檚 perfect.鈥�
5. Being the 鈥楬ow鈥� for Business and Learning
What exactly do you mean by being the 鈥渉ow鈥�?
Technology is integral to everything, but Dickson and his staff have limited bandwidth and expertise.
鈥淎ny time you鈥檙e doing any type of implementation of anything in the district anymore, it involves technology. The challenge that we have as a department is that you don鈥檛 want to own every project just because technology is being used,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淚t becomes challenging because we don鈥檛 grow in staff much and we end up taking on large projects. Anytime you become the how for everything, it鈥檚 just not sustainable.
What are you doing to address that?
鈥淚t comes down to project management. It鈥檚 identifying those business leaders of that particular project and providing that professional development to really empower them to own it,鈥� Dickson said.
Can you give me an example of what you鈥檙e talking about?
Omaha is adapting a school safety solution right now. 鈥淔rom a technology standpoint, I can tell you everything we can do. But I need the safety person to own what we should do. If the project was driven by what we can do, then I don鈥檛 know that we鈥檇 be meeting the needs of safety.鈥�
