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Insights from a TDSB Technology Leader

The author interviewed a senior leader at the Toronto District School Board about integrating technology into education. The leader candidly shared her vision for mobile devices, e-learning, and social networking in schools. However, she faces difficulties implementing changes due to budget cuts, resistance from trustees and unions. Nonetheless, she has started providing more laptops to students and believes partnerships could help fund needed technology. The interview left the author shocked by challenges but inspired by the leader's efforts to modernize learning.

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robkahlon
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142 views3 pages

Insights from a TDSB Technology Leader

The author interviewed a senior leader at the Toronto District School Board about integrating technology into education. The leader candidly shared her vision for mobile devices, e-learning, and social networking in schools. However, she faces difficulties implementing changes due to budget cuts, resistance from trustees and unions. Nonetheless, she has started providing more laptops to students and believes partnerships could help fund needed technology. The interview left the author shocked by challenges but inspired by the leader's efforts to modernize learning.

Uploaded by

robkahlon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Running head: INTERVIEW REFLECTION

Reflection on Interview with a Technology Leader


Robinder Kahlon
University of Ontario Institute of Technology

REFLECTION ON INTERVIEW WITH A


TECHNOLOGY LEADER

Reflection on Interview with a Technology Leader

I interviewed a senior decision-maker in the Toronto District School Board regarding


various issues around the integration of technology into education.
As I met her in the lobby of the school board offices, she was friendly and engaging. We
began our conversation in the elevator as I described my effectiveness of my online Masters
program courses. From this, she began a surprisingly candid discussion on her vision for moving
the TDSB forward into a new era of learning, and the difficulties she faced in making her vision
a reality. As I started the recorder, I worried that she may hold back now that she was on the
record. She absolutely did not. She described board trustees as being beholden to the special
interest groups that helped elect them, and teachers unions as reactionary, protecting teachers
interests at the expense of our education system. She decried the yearly decrease in the boards
IT budget, and the mismanagement of the TDSBs budget overall.
She is vehement in her promotion of her vision for technology: mobile devices
(smartphones and laptops) accessing e-resources that have been created by individual teachers,
by the TDSB and by the Ministry; social networking incorporated into learning; e-learning, both
in blended format and a full-time e-learning high school.
She has begun implementation of her vision by purchasing 18,000 laptops for students, a
huge increase from the 3500 desktops that were being purchased every year prior for 8 years,
with the same budget. She strongly believes that the school board should become more fiscally
responsible in its decision-making, investing in technology now that will yield dividends in the
future. She broached a contentious topic: suggesting that partnerships with sponsoring
corporations may be one method to give our students access to the technology they need.

REFLECTION ON INTERVIEW WITH A


TECHNOLOGY LEADER

She left me shocked by the obstacles surrounding technology integration in the TDSB, but
inspired that there are leaders such as her willing to take on these challenges. She invited me to
stay in contact with her, and I will certainly support her efforts to improve learning for the 21st
century learners in our school board.

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