Nannette Johnston and team
Hardin County Schools
I really
view myself more as a life-long learner that uses technology as the means to
stay in touch and grow personally and professionally. I am currently connected through Twitter,
Facebook (district only) LinkedIn and other professional onboarding tools.
Being
connected has really become a necessity in keeping up with constant change in
education. I am definitely not a “techy”
person but I enjoy learning. I know that
in order to learn I must be entrenched and actively involved in my own
learning. Through reading and research I
have learned that the level of implementation in a school and district (especially
in the area of technology) depends on the leader. The best way to raise the “technology
leadership lid” of our administrators is to use
technology as a tool in our work. I
believe technology should not be a stand-alone novelty. It should be a natural part of “how” we do
our work. It is important for me to
model this belief through my work with the administrators in our district.
Last
year, we embraced this philosophy beginning with paperless meetings. We have a Wikispace that we use for all of
our administrative leadership meetings.
We house all notes and support articles on this site for use during our
meetings. Throughout the meeting we also
use Today’s Meet so our administrators can comment and ask questions. Each month we have a section on our agenda
called “techy tips”. One of our
principals that has attended several technology trainings shares various apps
that are useful. She also shares ways to
use technology as a means of organizational efficiency and personal learning. Last year, one of our “techy tips” was on how
to set up a Twitter page. At follow-up
meetings, our administrators share examples of how they have used the tip from
the prior month. This year, we have
added a hash tag (#hcsisd) site to share pictures and ideas that are occurring
in classrooms across our district. Our
“techy tip” during the month of March and April last year was an introduction
to Lync. We used March to introduce this tool and April to practice the
implementation with hands-on opportunities.
Our May administrative meeting was held remotely with each person
remaining in their school and work station throughout the district. Our last meeting this year will be another
Lync meeting. We are also beginning to
have “mini meetings” throughout the district via Lync. In addition, many of my staff messages are
recorded and then video-streamed to our staff.
Being
connected has helped me to continue to grow as a professional but modeling the
act of continuous learning through technology has helped others grow as
well. As the district leader, it is
rewarding to see what is modeled in our monthly meetings being replicated at
the school level with principals and teachers.
Now, several of our principals rely on a Wikispace within their school as
a way to organize, connect and share with their staff. As far as my personal professional growth, I
have moved from the stage of exploration to a stage of exploring and
sharing. I have set a personal goal to share
what I have read or ideas I’ve seen in the classroom through Twitter. I enjoy this mode of learning because I can
access information it in small chunks. My
time is very limited; therefore, when I do have a free moment, I feel like I
must manage the down time. Being
connected has helped me make the most of every single minute by being a
continuous learner anytime and anywhere.
Start
with exploring. Set up a Twitter account,
connect to people that will help you grow and set a goal to read the posts
several times a week. Move from reading
to re-tweeting articles and ideas of professional interest. The ultimate goal is to increase the depth of
use by creating and sharing with others.
As you become connected on Twitter, you will naturally grow and increase
the number of professional connections.
Nannette Johnston is the superintendent of Hardin County Schools.
