Welcome everyone, my name is Doug Johnson and I am a Technical Project Manager at planIT Consulting. I started with this company in December of 2014, prior to that I was a Tech Director in both Valdez and the Aleutians East Borough School District for six years. Previously, I was also the Director of Student Services at Prince William Sound Community College.
Another ASTE conference has come and gone. For me this was the first time attending not as a Tech Director, but as a vendor. What a different experience! As a Tech Director, ASTE was five long days of coordinating with my staff in attendance , in addition to working on future district IT projects. As a vendor, my main goal this year was to get out the message of what our company can offer to school districts.
I have always felt in many ways that Alaska is ahead of the lower 48 in the use of Technology in schools. I think going down to the Northwest Education Conference four years ago solidified that for me. We may not always have the fastest internet, but we have learned to do a lot in the classroom in helping students have more opportunities for learning. I saw the many ways we were ahead of the folks down there. That being said, one of the things I hope we could get back to at ASTE is having more presentations of what is working in the classroom for districts across the state. We need to use our time during ASTE to make sure that we have the training opportunities for teachers, techs and directors to make the best use of technology in education. Vendors need to be able to offer training opportunities that tie in with the ASTE conference. We also need to take advantage of staff being in Anchorage to use the time before and after the conference for more training opportunities.
This year as a vendor, I realized that at previous ASTE conferences I attended as a Tech Director, I did not get, or have time to check in with other directors to see what was going on in their districts across the state. It is with that thought in mind that we are starting the Tech Directors Corner, a blog that will be available to Educational Technology Directors and their technical staff across the State of Alaska. We would like it to become a place to discuss technology issues, in education, across the state.
At planIT Consulting, we are hoping that by providing this blog we can come together to improve technology in Alaska’s education. If you are interested in learning more about our company and what we have to offer, please take a look at our web site www.planitak.com.
It was great meeting many of you at ASTE and talking with you about your dreams and issues. With State wide testing coming up, I think that would be a great upcoming blog topic.
