It has been a crazy month, weeks, launched the 1 to 1 laptop in the Middle School, then followed up with the transition to letting the students take them home….. juggling the options and needs of a new Student Information System…. and making sure the process and procedure allows us to make a good choice, with a clear understanding that nothing is perfect and everything has a learning curve……

sprinkled in between this, was a trip to Beijing China. It had been 8 years, and the change, and face lift the city has had with the push of the Olympics was mind boggling… I did not recognize it. It was evident, that there is a shift in the world and the Chinese are the new big players. The days actually where spent doing an IT Audit for an International School there…the visit, conversations, observations, and collective discussions brought about a lot of points of reflection on my own role as an IT Director. It is always so much easier going into a school and looking from the outside inside, and then coming up with talking points, frameworks and observations for improvement, or enhancements. It is interesting how this whole area of having IT Audit done by other International School IT folks is still new. I think the exchange and collaboration bring a lot to both parties. I left after a busy busy three days, with greater clarity on my own goals, and direction, strategy and belief about the school I work in, and the people I collaborate with. In return I from the outside was able to restate, re-frame many understanding about the IT systems, process and procedures which where in place that need to be looked at, and enhanced AND that the staff and faculty themselves already had highlighted. As Jamie McKenzie always says ” there are no prophets in your own back yard.”

Next today I head out to Jakarta to help out with the http://www.learningdigital.org/ conference, which I will be facilitating workshops and co-presenting the Sunday Keynote….

it is often amazing how as an IT Director and part of a collaborative group of people in my school how often we get eaten up by the day, and almost are blinded by the day to day grudge of our responsibilities, variables and tasks, that there is little time to reflect, sit back, and get into the academic aspects of our work, and the impact and connections with the world outside. For me these trips are a unique opportunity to sit back, and connect and start remembering why I love this field and work… and how important that we understand we all are facilitators of an understanding of the Digital World out there around us. The pace, tempo and stress of International Schools tends to prevent us too often from reflecting and digging deeper into the meaning of our work, ideas, actions and plans. So as I head out, and get to spend a few days with other educators, and Jeff Utecht: http://www.thethinkingstick.com/ and David Elliot as co-faciliators of the keynotes…. my mind is ready for the academic juggle, exchange and sharing. This allowing again to frame my own day, and busyness with critical moments of refleciton on what this is all about…. Information Technology in International Schools.

John @ISTES