Academy+2.0

Administrator 2.0 Academy Bridget Belardi and Christopher Stengel http://lebopetec.wikispaces.com/ - take and use any/all information for our use
 * Discussion about what are they before doing anything else
 * Every admin. needs to know how to use tools
 * Tech person actually did a walk through to see what was going on in the classroom
 * 1-hour session with each admin. one-on-one
 * created their own blog engine
 * 2.0 Terms and Def.
 * leadertalk.org - blog for adminstrators (worth RSS)


 * __Administrator 2.0 Academy: Blogs Blocked? Wikis Weaned? Podcasts Poo-pooed? (Fred Hawthorne)__**

Presenters: Bridget Belardi and Christopher Stengel Affliation: [|Mt. Lebanon School District]

Chris is the District's [|Director of Technology] and Bridget is the [|Elementary Librarian] at Foster Elementary. One day while Chris was doing a building walk through he heard Bridget mention using a widget and that started a dialogue about how she was using it. Both agreed that the decision to make available or block Web 2.0 tools has to be made on the district level. But when Chris even mentioned it in admin meetings he saw blank stares. Eventually led to a collaboration to develop a program to give ALL district administrators a basic foundation in what Web 2.0 tools are so when they make a decision to block / not block they are doing so from the standpoint of knowlege and not knee-jerk (my words - not theirs). They viewed this as "seed planting."

Developed a one hour workshop where they would sit down one-to-one with every administrator in the District - Supt, Food Supervisor, Human Resources, Business Manager. This was done during the summer. The basic objective was to give each administrator sufficient information to know what they are and get some insight into how they could be used. Basic vocabulary was developed and covered. Best practices were demonstrated.

The first question they always got at these events was "do you have any I can look at" so they alway came prepared with unique examples of particular interest to the administrator's area of responsibility.

Cannot just block these tools and expect students to be responsible with them at home. Talked about using "teachable moments"

Question: Allowing access to YouTube - no concerns over bandwidth? Chris said they have a 10M pipe and it has never spiked at more than 75% utilization so no concerns at this time.

Blog - They have NOT opened public blog sites but felt more comfortable developing their own. They had a techie on staff who is very good at coding and in about four weeks built up an in-house blogging site for use within the district.