Sunday 27 April 2014

A Classic Tale of Mistaken Identity:
How I Ended Up At An IT Leaders Conference


It all started a number of years ago when I was invited to be a member of a Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) Accreditation Team.  If you don't know about this process, to contextualize this post  let me first give you a little background.  Each school within CAIS undergoes an accreditation process on a regular basis.  An integral part of this process is a school visit/evaluation by a team of professionals who are assembled from across the country.  As stated earlier, I was a member of one of these teams in 2013 and was invited to visit St. Mildred's-Lightbourn School in Oakville, Ontario.  Prior to departing for the visit, my understanding was that I was asked to join the group because of my background in school leadership, leader development and pedagogy.  Upon arriving in Toronto I travelled to the host school and met the other members of the team.  When I received my nametag I noticed that everything was correct, except for one thing, my title.  It read:


Jason Rogers
Principal of Technology


Quickly, as not to mislead anybody, I disclosed that I was in fact a Principal of Rundle Academy and even though I knew a little about technology, I certainly was not a principal of technology.  In fact, to this day I have never heard of anybody who actually has had this role.  Thankfully the group was dynamic, flexible and understanding and we each used our talents over the course of the next 4 days to give this school some great feedback on all aspects of their program.  We finished the accreditation visit and I actively participated in the areas of school leadership, pedagogy and some technology.  By the end of our visit my teammates saw clearly I was not a Principal of informational technology, I was a Principal of a school who had some background in technology.  Never the less, in the CAIS community this title had some legs and before I could get out ahead of it, it got out ahead of me.


Before I knew it, I received a call from the Heads of Technology at Bishop Strachan School and Upper Canada College asking if I would be willing to help organize a national 'IT Leaders Conference.'  This time, I had the benefit of knowing where they were coming from and what their misconceptions might be.  To avoid any further confusion I disclosed that I was a school principal, not a principal of IT.  At first, they were confused.  As this confusion passed they, and I, saw the possibilities that came with having a Principal of school involved in the planning of an IT Leaders conference.  Over the course of the next 18 months a team of 6 of us went on to plan Canada's first IT Leaders Conference for Independent Schools.  In attendance were 100 of Canada's top technology minds and, as result of this confusion, a few school leaders as well!


As I took in the conference, I found I was asking myself, "Should the school leader have a seat at these types of conferences?"  My answer each and every time is a resounding “yes.”  What I learned over my time is that technology leaders are agreeing that it is not about the 'technology,' it's about 'how technology can support and improve teaching and student learning.'  One keynote at the conference, Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura presented on a model that artfully demonstrated the connection between content, pedagogy and technology (see model below).  What was most remarkable about the entire presentation to the IT Leaders of Canada was that was not about technology, it was about teaching and learning.  
venn diagram pedagogy content technology.jpg-2.jpg
As Dr. Puentedura ended the conference he stated, "The higher we climb on the SAMR ladder (a hierarchical model for learning- see model below), the less and less important technology becomes."  Maybe the most remarkable part of this statement is that 1) he said it to technology experts who often believe technology can solve all world problems and 2) the technology leaders overwhelmingly  endorsed his comment and support his approach.  
samr_model.png     SAMR-MODEL-TECHNOLOGY-INTEGRATION.png

When I think about our larger school community, it is easy to transpose the above diagrams onto overall school success.  


"We need to use technology, not for technology sake but for sake of teaching and learning."


If we agree on this statement, a leadership conference that has only technologists and technology leaders would work in isolation, that specialized group would not have the cross pollination of divers opinions and therefore would be considering technology in isolation.


To resolve this conflict I think we need to continue to approach learning with a design thinking model in mind. Design thinking is the kind of thinking which happens best when a group of people with diverse backgrounds comes together to solve mutually beneficial problems.  Then, when the idea of design thinking is transposed onto educational technology, it is would be easy to see the importance of education and technology leaders,coming together to improve the overall learning of our students.


As incoming Headmaster of Rundle College, it is my hope that I will never be mistaken for the Headmaster of Technology. However if this mistake is made, I will embrace it and know that it is an invitation that might lead to future, unforeseen, opportunities.  


To avoid future confusion, perhaps we can all agree on:


Jason B. Rogers
Headmaster of Rundle College

Leader of Learning Teams

Saturday 5 April 2014

Puddle Jumping

This past weekend I had the chance to visit my brother, Garett, his wife and their young son in Vancouver.  They are a young working family that would qualify as being middle income.  They rent a small two bedroom apartment on the 25th floor of a downtown highrise.  My nephew Toby, is a busy little 3 year old and his mother Carolyn, is starting to consider what school to enroll him in as he approaches his kindergarten year.  As so often happens when people are aware that you are involved in education, our conversation turned to the topic of ‘what should I do with Toby in the coming years?’.  Carolyn knows that I am well versed in information around independent education, so she had several questions:  “What do private schools cost in Alberta?”, “Do they teach the same curriculum as public schools?”, “What is the admissions process like?” It was easy to see that she was clearly thinking of this option for Toby.  It was about half way through the barrage of questions that she said something profound,

“I just believe that private schools will provide the safest environment for Toby to learn and to become his best self.” 

For obvious reasons, these words resonated with me and reminded me of the vision of Rundle College. 

Later that afternoon I went out for a walk with Toby.  It was just Toby and I, walking down an empty sidewalk.  It had just stopped raining and there were puddles strewn about.  Toby, being a curious little man, he was drawn to most every puddle on the sidewalk and on the street. 



I knew that Toby’s parents were not big fans of him playing in water and getting too wet, so as his uncle I had a decision to make.  Do I let him safely explore his creative and playful impulses or do I restrict him entirely?  It was in that moment, that I decided it was best to let him learn and play, within parameters.  He could jump in the small puddle that were on the sidewalk.  After explaining the guidelines to Toby, we took a second and quickly defined small puddles and made sure we both understood what was the sidewalk and what was not.  We walked down one street after another and indulged our fun loving creative selves, together jumping in one small puddle after another.

After the excitement of the day was over and Toby was in bed I was back at our Bed and Breakfast, I reflected on the day with my Sarah.  We were talking about Carolyn’s decision and about the walk I had with Toby. It was in this moment that it occurred to me that I had just experienced the essence of what makes Rundle College so special.  There were three points that were clearly illuminated in my short time with Carolyn, Garett and Toby. 

First, Rundle College is affordable to most middle class families.  My brother’s family currently pays around $1200 a month in child care.  They certainly have to make sacrifices to make this happen, but they have made the necessary cutbacks and are making ends meet.  In British Columbia independent schools do not receive government grants and as result, they are roughly twice as expensive as Rundle College.  In short, my brother’s family cannot afford private school in BC whereas they could afford it in Alberta as a middle income family.  The second learning came in Carolyn’s statement about why she wants Toby to attend an independent school, “Because I want him to be safe.”  Carolyn is certainly thinking about the impact of other children on Toby but in the coming years she will realize that safety extends well beyond the immediate student to student interactions.  Safety is about having a great place to learn, empathetic teachers who are skilled at their craft and people working together to create a culture where students choose to be kind to each other.  Finally, Rundle College is about taking chances within parameters.  Much like Toby’s puddle jumping experience, at Rundle College we create an environment that acknowledges the individual learner and their excitement about learning.  We provide a well rounded environment where students can excel in any number of areas outside of their core curricular.  Students can choose debate, football, drama, technology, track or music.  More than anything, students are encouraged to take chances in a safe environment.  They are encouraged to jump in the academic and extracurricular puddles that surround them!

Who knew that puddle jumping could illuminate much of what Rundle College is all about?  Those puddles really brings to the forefront that at Rundle College, we are blessed to have a program that is affordable, safe and individualized.

Jason B. Rogers