Shownotes
Teachers face the ongoing challenge of staying current with new and emerging technologies in the classroom, which is crucial for fostering student engagement and success. This week’s Inside Scoop features Dr. Starla Townsend, the director of Instructional Technology, who discusses how her team supports educators in effectively integrating technology into their teaching practices. With a unique blend of teaching and technical expertise, the Instructional Technology team helps bridge the gap between available technology and its impactful use in the classroom. Dr. Townsend explains their approach to discerning between fads and sustainable innovations, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and collaboration with academic departments. The conversation highlights the excitement and engagement that technology can bring to students, ultimately preparing them for a future where proficiency in tools like AI will be essential in the workforce.
Guest: Dr. Starla Townsend, Director of Instructional Technology
Chapters:
- 00:00 - Emerging Technologies in Education
- 04:21 - Navigating Educational Technology: Addressing the Challenges
- 08:06 - Integrating Technology in Education
- 14:19 - The Role of Technology in Education
- 16:14 - The Importance of AI in Education
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Takeaways:
- Teachers need to stay updated with emerging technologies to effectively engage their students.
- The Instructional Technology team plays a crucial role in integrating technology into classrooms.
- Sustainability is key when determining whether a technology is a passing fad or an innovation.
- AI is becoming essential in education, and students must learn to use it responsibly.
- Effective collaboration between academic departments and technology specialists enhances student learning experiences.
- The Learning Innovation Design Framework helps teachers integrate technology that excites and engages students.
Transcripts
How teachers stay on top of new and emerging technologies in the classroom is the topic on this week's edition of the Inside Scoop.
David Owen:Hello and welcome back to the Inside Scoop.
David Owen:I'm David Owen.
David Owen:We all want our students to learn with the latest and greatest technology in the classroom.
David Owen:When I say technology, that's not just computers and software, that's smartphones and a variety of other things as well.
David Owen:What about new technology on the horizon?
David Owen:Is it an industry changing development or just a fad?
David Owen:To be competitive in the workforce, our students need to learn about it all.
David Owen:How teachers stay up to speed on all the advancements to ensure they serve our students well is a real challenge.
David Owen:Here to tell us about the folks that help with all of this is Dr.
David Owen:Starla Townsend, our director of Instructional Technology.
David Owen:Starla, welcome to the podcast.
Starla Townsend:Thank you, David, for having me.
David Owen:So tell us a little bit about your department and what you guys do.
David Owen:You're kind of one of those mystical titled departments, so give us some insight on that.
Starla Townsend:Well, we are Instructional technology and we are under Technology Services.
Starla Townsend:However, our staff of TTIs have been in a classroom as teachers, so that really helps us to be very unique in bringing our tools to a classroom.
David Owen:Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you said TTIs.
David Owen:What does TTIs stand for?
Starla Townsend:TTIs is a technology Training Integration specialist.
David Owen:Just rolls off the tongue.
Starla Townsend:Just rolls off the tongue.
Starla Townsend:But this group of people, we have 27 in the district, which is totally unusual because most school Systems may have one or two, but we have a staff of 27 and we serve all 112 of our schools.
Starla Townsend:We bring in not just the equipment, but we bring in the reasoning behind using the equipment to engage students.
David Owen:Oh, okay.
David Owen:So it's like, forgive the rough terminology here if you will, but you guys are, it sounds like you are two double brained people.
David Owen:You have the teacher brain and then you've got the technical brain and you put the best of both worlds together and then you're able to like essentially translate for the tech jargon into academic.
David Owen:Is that the gist of it?
Starla Townsend:That is the gist of it.
Starla Townsend:Okay.
Starla Townsend:Having that background in teaching actually gives us the experiences and the knowledge to know what our teachers are doing now and how it's impacting learning.
Starla Townsend:So we, like I said, we just bring that technology that works with that content and.
Starla Townsend:And help to engage students.
David Owen:Okay, so when.
David Owen:Let me just throw this scenario at you.
David Owen:Do you guys still use projectors?
David Owen:You do?
David Owen:No, it's all smart boards.
Starla Townsend:It's all smart boards.
David Owen:See, ever since we did away with chalkboards, I'm at a loss.
David Owen:Okay, don't be.
David Owen:But if a teacher has a smart board problem, do they pick up the phone and call technical services or do they call you?
Starla Townsend:Well, technically, it is tech service.
Starla Townsend:It's the technical services.
Starla Townsend:We would advise teachers to put in a ticket with our help desk.
Starla Townsend:However, sometimes we are able to help with the simple problems or issues, things you've seen before.
Starla Townsend:Right.
Starla Townsend:So if we are in a classroom and we see a problem, or if a teacher reaches out to us real quickly, we'll take about five minutes or so to diagnose.
Starla Townsend:And if it's something we can fix, we will.
Starla Townsend:But usually we like to refer them to the help desk.
David Owen:Okay, so that's kind of where the line is.
David Owen:If it's supposed to be working this way, but it's not.
David Owen:The help desk is who they would reach out to then.
Starla Townsend:Exactly.
David Owen:Okay, so this is a question that may be a curve ball for you.
David Owen:We know the superintendent came from the technical world.
David Owen:I think he was not looking for brownie points here.
David Owen:I'm sure he came from.
David Owen:He used to be the chief technical officer.
David Owen:I believe when he became superintendent, he made a.
David Owen:I would say a declaration of we're not going to chase fads.
David Owen:So how do you discern between what would be a fad versus what's an innovation that's going to hang around for a while?
Starla Townsend:Good question.
Starla Townsend:Well, I think that the main thing that we look for is sustainability.
Starla Townsend:We're going to, as a team, look at what's happening in the industry, going to work with our corporate partners, our business partners, to learn from them what they're actually using.
Starla Townsend:So when we look at technology, we're not looking for what's the latest thing, and something's going to come along a couple weeks to replace it.
Starla Townsend:And when Mr.
Starla Townsend:Ragsdale brought in this innovation thought process, that's exactly what we need in education.
Starla Townsend:We are moving away from being static and being what we used to be, what our lives were like when we were students.
Starla Townsend:And now we're meeting our students where we are.
Starla Townsend:And I think it's great that he recognized that, because it has really helped our team to really be able to go in schools and have that credibility.
Starla Townsend:So the fact that our leaders in the district recognize the importance of technology really helps us to go into schools.
David Owen:Yeah, and you would think, being a former chief technology guy officer, that he would be all about bells and whistles, but it's oddly not the case.
David Owen:He's got a lot of Credibility in that corner.
Starla Townsend:Absolutely.
Starla Townsend:And that's been very helpful to what we do to know that he has that mindset.
Starla Townsend:And, for example, we're all familiar with ctls, and that is a tool that we are able to use in our schools, not just for the teaching piece, but also the learning piece.
David Owen:Oh, yeah.
Starla Townsend:And we can go in and get whatever data we need to support.
Starla Townsend:Support our students.
Starla Townsend:And that is unusual in a learning management system.
Starla Townsend:I mean, there are lots out there.
Starla Townsend:But this is custom designed for Cobb and it's state of the art.
Starla Townsend:There's nowhere like this and nobody like this.
David Owen:You know, I remember, Gosh, probably over 10 years ago, he had the foresight.
David Owen:And this isn't all about our superintendent.
David Owen:This is.
David Owen:But he does need to receive the credit for having the foresight, for example, to install a fiber backbone into each of our school buildings.
David Owen:Right, Absolutely.
David Owen:And realizing that we're going to have to accommodate a lot of data, and then all of a sudden we get to the pandemic, and lo and behold, that's exactly what we needed.
David Owen:So ctls.
David Owen:I don't like using acronyms.
David Owen:I think everybody knows what it is.
Starla Townsend:But tell us what that acronym teaching and learning system.
Starla Townsend:And I think, like you said, I think everybody knows ctls.
Starla Townsend:But for those who are not, this is our learning management system, specifically designed for cop.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:And he's all about the data.
Starla Townsend:All about the data.
David Owen:Now, not to drill into the CTLS system.
David Owen:We do have a podcast on that if you're interested.
David Owen:You can find that out.
David Owen:Go deeper on that.
David Owen:But one of the beautiful things is that it allows the teacher to be able to focus on individual students, where they are and what they need to be meeting the standard or even exceeding the standard.
Starla Townsend:Right, exactly.
Starla Townsend:And that's where we come in.
Starla Townsend:That's where our team comes in.
Starla Townsend:The teachers work really hard with the content and making sure that their academic standards are met by students.
Starla Townsend:What we actually do is come in with the tool.
Starla Townsend:So we work with the teacher to see, you know, what is the learning about now?
Starla Townsend:What are you teaching students?
Starla Townsend:And then we look at ways that we can integrate technology to enhance and engage students with that standard.
Starla Townsend:So we're not teaching the content.
Starla Townsend:We're actually using our tools to help students learn the content and hopefully learn some things that they'll be able to use once they left us, once they've graduated.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:And the engagement part, that's huge, right?
Starla Townsend:Exactly.
David Owen:So you're talking basically about the technical side, what we knew as the technical side throughout the pandemic but obviously, the academics department is involved.
David Owen:How do you guys relate to academics overall?
David Owen:That department of academics?
Starla Townsend:We have a very wonderful relationship with our academics team.
Starla Townsend:We work with them regularly, daily, pretty much to understand what their focuses, how they're helping students, teachers, schools to meet their goals and the standards for what they're working on.
Starla Townsend:So we're able to get with our colleagues and academics and bring to them ideas in a way that we can support what they're doing.
Starla Townsend:For example, we have our STEM department.
Starla Townsend:We are working very diligently with them to bring some modules, to bring some training for teachers to help them when they actually go back to school to use the STEM format with their students.
Starla Townsend:So it's really exciting to be able to work with the academic side and then to integrate what we do on the tech side.
David Owen:Okay, so they're, like, determining what their goals are to be able to meet standards.
Starla Townsend:Absolutely.
David Owen:And then you guys, I would say, come to the rescue with the technology to help get there.
David Owen:Is that a fair assessment?
Starla Townsend:We like to complement what they're doing.
David Owen:Okay, fair enough.
David Owen:Fair enough.
David Owen:So I've heard the phrase learning innovation program.
David Owen:What is that?
Starla Townsend:Our learning innovation design program, or framework.
Starla Townsend:I like to call it a framework, was specifically designed for our county, and it allows us to have a framework that we can operate in and hopefully share with teachers and schools as they continue to develop and integrate technology.
Starla Townsend:But what that program specifically does is allow us to collaborate with teachers, again, looking at what they're teaching and how those standards are to be engaged for students.
Starla Townsend:And then we give suggestions or thoughts of how the technology that is around us can be used to help them in teaching as well as to help the students learn.
Starla Townsend:What we found is everybody gets excited.
Starla Townsend:Teachers get excited, students get excited.
Starla Townsend:Schools, principals get excited because they see a difference in the students as they are learning.
Starla Townsend:Students don't even realize that they're learning because they actually have the tools that they're playing with, and they're not playing with them in terms of, oh, let's sit down and play a game.
Starla Townsend:They are using tools that help them to think critically and solve problems.
Starla Townsend:So we love that piece.
Starla Townsend:The other side to that I think principals love is we don't actually have to take a teacher out of the classroom to train or show them how this works.
Starla Townsend:Once we have established that relationship with them and we understand what they're teaching, our team actually comes in and we model it.
Starla Townsend:We will model how to use the technology as it relates to the standards.
David Owen:So you guys just rotate through the.
Starla Townsend:Various classes, we might have a team of three people in one day that serves a school.
Starla Townsend:As we are working on a project, sometimes it takes our whole staff, but we are flexible and we're able to do that the way we set up.
Starla Townsend:So we may reach 10 classrooms in a day, we may reach two, maybe one, but we walk away with excitement and enthusiasm.
Starla Townsend:Students know who we are, and when we come in that classroom, they're excited because they know they're about to learn something new.
David Owen:Something new and fresh, engaging.
David Owen:Exactly how do you reach all of the classrooms with so few people?
Starla Townsend:Well, it is a challenge sometimes, but it's a fun challenge.
Starla Townsend:And we work as a team.
Starla Townsend:We may have a partner of ttis that serve a school one day, and we might have three to go out the next day.
Starla Townsend:We do divide up the district into different zones or regions like we like to call them, and we have TTIs in those different regions to serve all those schools in that region.
Starla Townsend:So we're looking at probably eight or nine schools per TTIs that they are point of context to, but they can reach out to any of our team members to support them.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:And I would imagine if you're bringing something helpful and engaging to a teacher, they're probably going to share it with the other teachers nearby and it's just going to spread like wildfire.
David Owen:To some extent.
David Owen:Right?
Starla Townsend:And it has.
Starla Townsend:We've actually had this happen with our principals.
Starla Townsend:We've had several principals to reach out to us to ask, hey, we heard about this.
Starla Townsend:This is what we would love to do, come out and help us do it.
Starla Townsend:So we're even more excited about that because we love to engage with our principal because that helps us to understand what their goals are and then we can align that way.
Starla Townsend:So we do have teachers that reach out, but we have just as many.
David Owen:Principals, and they also, they know their teachers and they know which ones might, for example, be struggling with engagement side.
David Owen:And so they could point you in the direction of those classrooms.
David Owen:So this is called the Inside Scoop podcast.
David Owen:Do you have any inside scoops on what technology might be on the horizon?
David Owen:Something exciting and engaging.
Starla Townsend:We all know that AI is on the forefront of everything that we do.
Starla Townsend:Actually, we saw this coming for several years.
Starla Townsend:So in the background we've been researching, we have team members that are, we call experts in this field because they love it.
Starla Townsend:So they have gone through a year or two of doing nothing but studying this.
Starla Townsend:So we are able to bring to our teachers information about AI and how to use it, not just Professionally for their productivity, but actually for students.
Starla Townsend:And what's really important to my team about AI is not necessarily the fascination, but the fact that students are going to be expected to use AI when it comes to a job.
David Owen:Absolutely.
Starla Townsend:No longer do we go into jobs, corporations, where we spend six months training or a year doing the onboarding.
Starla Townsend:Now, the expectation is that these students come in with a basic foundation of technology, and AI is a part of that.
David Owen:Yeah.
Starla Townsend:So while we have to be careful, as this is still a new technology.
David Owen:Yes.
Starla Townsend:We do want to use it when we can, to help students learn how to use it safely and for productivity.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:And with credibility.
David Owen:I know the term hallucinating is real with AI, I've seen some results that came back.
David Owen:It's like, no, that's not real.
Starla Townsend:Exactly.
David Owen:So trying to come up with that discernment, or I guess build that discernment into students along the way is what's.
Starla Townsend:Really important for everybody to understand.
Starla Townsend:And for us as a team, we really pushed this is we don't want to take away things like AI and technology.
Starla Townsend:We have to help students understand, like you said, the credibility, how to research that, how to use it, and how to just think critically and solve problems, which is one of the big things that AI is really about right now.
Starla Townsend:So while some people like to use it for.
Starla Townsend:For fun and that's okay, too, there are things that we can do from a professional standpoint.
Starla Townsend:That is going to be the expectation probably in the next year or two or three, you know, in terms of other things that will come along.
Starla Townsend:So AI, while we're still learning it, it's really important that we get our students acclimated as well.
David Owen:Absolutely.
David Owen:If you're going to have a competitive student in the workforce, you got to make sure they can do that.
David Owen:So it sounds like you and your department are doing some incredible things, bridging that gap between the technology side and the academic side and bringing some, frankly, some excitement to the classroom.
David Owen:I bet the kids are always loving to see you guys walk in the door.
Starla Townsend:Absolutely.
Starla Townsend:Absolutely.
Starla Townsend:As a matter of fact, we've had so much business that we've had to really make some changes, challenging decisions as to which direction we want to go.
Starla Townsend:But we want to serve everybody, so we make it work.
Starla Townsend:And that's a good challenge to have that.
Starla Townsend:You know, we got people that are on a waiting list to have us come in to do some of these.
David Owen:High demand.
David Owen:Yeah.
David Owen:High demand for what you do.
Starla Townsend:Yeah.
Starla Townsend:I'm very proud of, like I said, the principals that we've worked with the teachers.
Starla Townsend:Just really proud of how they've collaborated with us because that's the most exciting part for us.
David Owen:Absolutely.
Starla Townsend:Seeing the little faces smile and seeing our teachers with the light bulbs going off.
David Owen:And this is, this is at all three levels too.
Starla Townsend:@ all three levels.
David Owen:Okay.
David Owen:Well Starla, thank you so much for coming in and educating me.
David Owen:I've been in the district for quite a while.
David Owen:I knew y'all did something like that but I didn't know as much about, you know, all the details that really bring it to fruition I would say.
David Owen:So thanks again for coming.
Starla Townsend:Well thank you for having us.
David Owen:If you learned something from this podcast, make sure you give us a like subscribe and share it with a friend.
David Owen:You can find more information about it all in the show notes and the description.
David Owen:Thank you for listening to this edition of the Inside Scoop, a podcast produced by the Cobb County School.
