I recently described myself as a devout pragmatist – and that has been reflected in the way I’ve taken on my role as technology liaison in our IT department. I’m not an evangelizer; I’m a productivity and efficiency consultant. If I can find 5 minutes of savings for a teacher in their class, that’s time they can put to better use helping students learn; it’s time they can assess better; it’s time they can interact with parents. Sure, I want them to be collaborative, encourage curiosity, differentiate for student needs, but they need time and a structure to do that in.
We hit our first major time saving four years ago when we designed the first OneNote Class Notebook with structured sections for teachers and students, with the added benefit of a workflow for assessment & digital portfolios — and we’ve pushed for continual time savings every year through OneDrive and Office365.
So when Microsoft started the #My24Hrs hashtag to celebrate how technology was allowing us to empower ourselves and others through technology, to me… that’s all about how things have been made better.
Today, I’ll be asking faculty, staff and students how technology has made their lives easier, more efficient and more effective. And tonight, I’ll wrap up my thoughts.
