Educational Discourse

I ran across a neat blog by Karl Fisch about customer service. He had a video from David Pogue’s blog. Now, I usually don’t watch too many videos for a variety of reasons but I did this one.

Now, Karl goes on to talk about customer service in his school:

I’m still the first line of defense – and the only person on-site tasked with this. My high school has about 2,150 students and 150+ staff members, so about 2,300 end users – with about 570 of them new each year. We have just over 750 computers, 50 or so printers, 75 or so LCD Projectors, and a variety of other peripherals such as scanners, digital cameras, camcorders, etc. We have the usual assortment of software, ranging from Microsoft Office to Geometer’s Sketchpad to Audacity, and I also help support our student information system (Infinite Campus). If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know that I also do a little bit of staff development as well.

I’ve been reading Karl’s posts and his videos are great. So why to I bring this up with a ridiculous title?

As an administrator in a small school of 208 students in a community of 1200 people in rural Saskatchewan, I don’t come across nearly as many people or the problems that Karl will have. Yet, I know that I need to serve each of my “customers” with great care and pay special attention to their needs. In fact, with fewer people, the errors can become even more apparent because so many people notice them. Now, I do  some of the technical assistance in the school and I tend to be the “go to” person when it comes to use of software and such. I know that the best way to help a person with a computer related problem is to work through it with them so they might fix it themselves the next time. However, like Karl,

Too often I find myself just trying to solve the problem quickly myself, instead of helping the student or staff member learn how to solve the problem themselves. And as more and more tech “stuff” has come into the building, I’ve done a worse and worse job of serving my “customers” – I’ve given them a fish (Fisch?) instead of teaching them how to fish. This is particularly ironic considering my constructivist leanings.

Like Karl, I too have very constructivist beliefs about education yet, in the business of the day, it is sometimes easier to fix things oneself. That is where the pitfall is – easy.

Learning, as I have come to see it, isn’t about being easy – it is about expanding ideas and understandings and then using them in unique ways.  Up until recently, I was on the “easy” path with technology, fixing and not showing, using and not sharing. This left my “showing” side with points (30) while the “teaching/assisting/helping” side wasn’t doing very well (0). How did I change this? Serve(d)

Now, I’ve found that by taking the time to work with whomever is having trouble or needing assistance and showing/assisting/teaching, I am developing staff who are willing to take risks, use technology and seek out new opportunities. By helping students and teaches to see applications and places for the use of these tools, I am encouraging a shift. Where before, I would get frustrated with having to do something “again”, now I ask what they have done to help themselves – for them to show me.

Unlike Karl, I have the luxury of smaller numbers which has allowed me to shift how I work. This type of thinking has moved into many of the areas of my administration. I know that if I empower people and help them to with understanding and let them create, things will develop and grow. The hard part? It takes time. And time! This is where our schools may need to be counter cultural and in doing so, be more willing to embrace and use the technologies that are available. It takes more time to show/ assist / teach. Could it be that what we were doing in school before wasn’t completely teaching? Or not the teaching that sticks? As we look at what schools need to be doing, we need to also look at what it means to teach and adjust accordingly. It is possible depending on how you serve.