The main challenge in being the Director of Technology is the dilemma of "wearing many hats," to quote our text. A technology leader for an organization has to deal with: Teaching and Learning, Desktop Support, Network Operations, Administrative Computing, and Budgeting/Planning. Each of these alone may be a daunting task, but juggling all of them at once could become down right overwhelming.
Like Ty mentioned in class the first night, he is an all around problem solver. He explained, exactly as our text does in chapter one, that a technology coordinator has to be able to discuss multi-million dollar budget issues with the superintendent first thing in the morning, fix someone's faulty printer just before lunch, and figure out why the network is running so slowly before going home for the day.
The text suggests qualifications that will help any tech coordinator to become successful. Education is paramount. So is an understanding of educational technology. A former teacher with experience integrating technology is usually a good candidate for the job. The tech coordinator needs to be patient, an effective communicator, and needs to have great leadership and organizational skills.
C.J.,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about a technology coordinator having to wear "too many hats." That is the greatest challenge of the job. It is probably what makes the job so interesting and exciting as well. As a teacher, you see the same students for 180 days out of the year. As a technology coordinator, each and every day is different and the opportunities to make a difference are endless. You have the opportunity to work with so many different people in the course of the year from teachers to administrators to the superintendent. The catch-22 of the job is that the work could, at times, seem endless. I know the teacher who is the technology leader at my building is constantly busy, but he doesn't let it stress him out. As with any job, the best thing to do is to live life a day at a time.