The Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS) hosted its monthly Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 3:00 pm Eastern. The focus was a conversation for Google users during which attendees brought to the table their questions about Google functionalities for their school, answered questions about recent updates, and shared resources together to improve user experience.
The Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools (ATLIS) hosted its monthly Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 3:00 pm Eastern. The focus was “Back to School 2021” with conversation surrounding challenges, successes, and opportunities entering a new school year.
As attendees considered the state of their school at the start of the 2021-2022 school year compared to last year, most agreed that they are faring better, with a stronger ability to navigate unexpected challenges that arise. Conversation included reflections on positive changes that have carried through from the first full pandemic school year into this year. A common theme that arose was greater connectedness with their school communities due to new ways to make content available to parents and the community in an asynchronous fashion.
There is a new willingness to engage in live streamed events, performances and meetings that wasn’t always present before. From shy students who are more comfortable engaging through technology, to working parents who can’t always attend school functions, the lessons learned from last year surrounding technology and asynchronous events are presenting opportunities for more equitable access to participation among the school community.
The increase of schools leveraging technology across more practices causes greater need for education and training around cybersecurity, providing both more opportunities and more demand on the technology team. Daisy Steele of the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon shared that she was able to work with HR to add videos on multi-factor authentication, phishing, and appropriate use of school computers to the mandatory training videos all school staff have to view. She added that the faculty has been extremely receptive to these cybersecurity measures and have come to her for assistance and guidance.
Other technology leaders on the call have found creative ways to bring technology and cybersecurity training to teachers who are burned out from virtual professional development, including sharing cybersecurity tips at faculty meetings, and creating engaging videos to incorporate into new staff onboarding.
Ethan Delavan from the Bush School in Seattle said on the call, “I’m feeling a lot more traction for tech, media and information literacies now, especially in curriculum mapping efforts”, and most participants agreed. Overall, school leaders seem to be forging stronger strategic collaborations with the technology teams to weave media and tech literacy into their programs. The future is bright for technology leaders in independent schools, and the ATLIS community is here to help along the way.
The July 2021 Virtual Town Hall invited participants to share what they were most excited about for the coming school year and to ponder what kept them going when times were roughest. -- SD [10-minute read; 1 hour video]
Video Archive
ATLIS Virtual Town Hall, July 21, 2021
In this gathering of the ATLIS Virtual Town Hall, participants pondered the changes that have come to the leadership role of technologists in independent schools, including acting as trusted guides for the many complex technologies that are now desired at their schools.The technology leader has a new sense of authority, but also new responsibilities. Leaders need time to reflect and reassess the nature of technology at their schools alongside other school leaders, but they also need to look to their teams and assess what to keep and what to let go. [10-minute read, 1 - hour video]
Video Archive
ATLIS Virtual Town Hall, June 16, 2021
The ATLIS Virtual Town Hall for May 12, 2021 found our technology colleagues at independent schools reflecting on their schools’ identities and pondering how to refresh both the tech and the tech teams at their schools this summer. -- SD [15-min. read, 1-hour video]
ATLIS Virtual Town Hall
Video Archive
May 13, 2021
Our latest Virtual Town Hall introduced our audience to Will Richardson, keynote speaker for ATLIS 2021: Undaunted, and launched a discussion of the major shifts in our schools over the course of the past year. Next we wondered what you think will stick after the pandemic has passed. We then ask what is the best vision of schools we can imagine for the future and how technology can undergird the vision we share. - SD [10-minute read; 1-hour video]
The first ATLIS Virtual Town Hall of 2021 gave special recognition to the many tech team rock stars who keep the technology humming along smoothly at our independent schools -- help desk staffers, data managers, IT and systems administrators, edtech implementation coaches, and, yes, those who serve as all of the above. Our conversation ranged from helpdesk implementation to considering the school’s value proposition to the community to favorite hacks and solutions for the challenges faced by tech teams in recent months.
[15 min. read]
This last Virtual Town Hall of 2020 provides numerous resources shared by our participants. Our conversation focused on assessments, content areas that may have been lost in the transition to online and hybrid learning (along with ways to recapture them), and a general accounting of the participants' well-being after this very challenging year. -- SD [10-minute read; 1-hour video]
Photo Credit: Ronjamin (Ronald C. Yochum Jr.), CC BY 2.5
Late in the fall season, technology leaders have hit a stride, adjusting to the ever-changing circumstances around school during a pandemic. In this reflective town hall, leaders discussed what has worked well and needs to continue beyond this school year, along with what needs to be adjusted. Special guest Pamela Livingston Gaudet, author of 'Like No Other School Year' joined us to share her insights.
Quick Links
The technology leaders who gathered for our August 12 Town Hall were in the final phases of preparing their schools for reopening. Their usual summer planning and projects have been compounded by the constantly changing landscape for opening schools amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet technology leaders continue to meet these challenges and carry their schools forward into the future. In our latest Virtual Town Hall, we discussed "When Your Data Is Breached" with special guest Todd Doss of the Ankura Data Response Team, school reopening challenges and solutions, the emotional impact of the pandemic, and shifts in professional development strategies. -- SD [10-minute read; 1-hour video]
Over the past few months, a constant refrain of concerns about working in hybrid learning environments with younger students has emerged in our Virtual Town Halls and other conversations. The need for a specially focused Town Hall on Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Learners thus emerged. For this conversation, we focused on the faculty perspective, even as we recognized the need to wrestle with parent, student, and larger community concerns as well. -- SD [15-minute read]
The May 20 ATLIS Virtual Town Hall focused on the ATLIS Technology Considerations for Campus Reopening, a list of questions and concerns that originated with the ATLIS Think Tank. Topics included online training and PD, assessment, and school culture. -- SD [15-minute read, 1-hour video]
ATLIS continues to share a summary and video for its Virtual Town Halls. Our May 6 gathering focused on feedback and reflection for faculty, planning ahead, and summer plans. -- SD
[15 minute read; 1 hour video]
This archive continues to record and summarize the key ideas and questions shared by technology leaders in independent schools from around the world. On April 29, the group openly shared their contingency planning, questions on their minds for next year. They began to reflect on what they wished to hold onto for the future from their transitions during the coronavirus crisis, and they shared numerous ideas for reaching out to parents and maintaining school culture. -- SD [25 minute read; 1 hour video]
Quick Links
According to the ATLIS Vitals Check, 100% of our survey participants have completed the transition to online learning. ATLIS staff reflections about the development of the past few weeks identify three stages of the transition: "All Hands on Deck, followed by "OMG, It's Working... and now "Looking to the Future" as Technology leaders are beginning to reflect on the changes that changes to virtual school have wrought, particularly on their positions within the school. More immediate challenges discussed include end-of-year programs, to record or not to record 1:1 meetings, and vetting tools and resources discovered by faculty. This VTH archive also includes an update on the new resources to be found on the ATLIS Clearinghouse page. -- SD
[10-minute read; 1-hour video]
As we move into the second stage of the remarkable transition of education to online spaces, new concerns are arising. Even as independent school technology leaders are assuming an even more critical role in their schools, they are wondering about what school will look like in the future and how this impacts their projects and plans for the coming year, as well as their budgets. Overall, we must question how the recent changes in the ways school is delivered has made a lasting impact on the independent school model. -- SD
[10-minute read]
Each week technology leaders from around the globe gather to discuss issues and concerns related to the challenges of the day. In this edition, we discussed ways schools are supporting parents who are working from home and helping their children attend school virtually. We also discussed how tech teams need the support of their leadership and schools to maintain self-care during this crisis. Other issues, such as repair and breakage policies, filled out the hour's discussion. -- SD
[10-minute read; 1-hour video]
Things are changing quickly for independent schools, so we are gathering technology leaders every Wednesday at 1pm EST for a virtual town hall discussion. We’ll address your challenges and share lessons learned. Here we share our video archive from the ATLIS Town Hall on March 18, 2020. -- AC
ATLIS partnered with ISTE's IISN to launch a live chat of technology leaders from around the world to tell their stories and discuss strategies for school continuity in response to COVID-19. Among the many lessons learned was the need to create spaces for this group of forward-thinking technology educators, which is isolated from peers and colleagues even under "normal" circumstances, to create a space for connecting over the course of the coming weeks. To that end, ATLIS has created a weekly Virtual Town Hall tor the community to come together until further notice. Below we share the video from our first gathering, questions raised, and resources shared. -- SD
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