Databus Issue: 2009 2 04/01/2009
President's Message
Russ Brawn PresidentLeadership When It Counts
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Those four words, adopted as our 2009 Conference theme, have already proven to be prophetic. Most everyone reading this has that figured out already. Unless one’s reaction to the current challenges facing of K-12 education and the fiscal well-being of California and our nation has been ostrich-like, it is clear that we will once again be asked to help solve problems not of our making. The enormity and inter-relatedness of issues with which we are confronted is greater than we’ve previously seen in our professional life-times. However, events will occur and issues will be resolved – what is uncertain is the timeline for and quality of the solutions. Should any choose to bury her/his head in the metaphorical sand it will happen without them. Most contributions and solutions will not be as enormous and as complex as the issues from which they are spawned; much improvement will come from the cumulative wealth of relatively small, manageable actions. As before, there is value in breaking big problems into manageable grain sizes and tackling them one-by-one; albeit with a sense of how small contributions work together in getting at the core resolution. Leadership from all constituencies and in its most positive forms has more value than can be measured. Leadership counts now.
For many, the CETPA Conference has become the de-facto resource to turn to for inspirational concepts, strategies, and practical courses of action. Consistently the feedback has been that the conference affords attendees a venue rich in information targeted to answering prevalent inquiries regarding technologies, processes, theories and emerging dictates. The needs of practitioners with narrowly focused interests and/or seeking highly technical interaction are met, as are the needs of generalists and those exploring various facets of K12 technology leadership. Just as all these needs are greater than ever before, the extreme uncertainty of K-12 budgets makes answering them most at risk. A number of individuals within our K12 educational technology community have expressed concern that attendance at the annual CETPA Conference may not be an option in fiscal year 2009-10. Several have advocated that it is time for the conference to ‘go virtual’. The CETPA Board has been somewhat silent on this issue, but not inactive.
For several weeks, the Board has been gathering thoughts and concerns from our community, following the experience of other K12 professional associations, capturing and where possible quantifying risks. The idea was to capture threats to CETPA’s ability to provide meaningful professional development in forms in which members could participate in them, and determine what actions might be undertaken to mitigate those risks. Consideration is being given to both the near term and beyond – recognizing that the fiscal issues being faced will last for some time. The need for professional development will not wane. Further, conference planning and commitments extend into multiple years. Both transitory and more institutional risks are in play. The approach is not to devise one all-conquering tactic to answer all risk. Rather, we are identifying various components that can be addressed individually, all the while working to make a tenable whole solution. Some part of the whole solution may be to extend the conference experience in some virtual form. Reducing the expenses of on-site participation, some fragmentation of the conference, and work to embellish its worth may all be parts of the complete answer.
In the coming weeks, the Board will seek assistance form the CETPA community, especially past attendees, to get input as to the probability of and extent to which LEAs will be able to send people to the conference. What are suggestions for changes that might a) promote off-site participation, or b) increase the probability of an in-person experience? Likely there will be multiple surveys offered over time. As FY09-10 fiscal perceptions give way to realities, speculation will hopefully turn to substance. Please look for these surveys to be administered by the Conference Chair, Dr. Kelly Calhoun.
Had this column been published at a less challenged time, its focus would most certainly been on CETPA’s redesigned web portal. We have previously shared our excitement that it is forthcoming and that it incorporates many suggestions from our community for a more robust web experience. New attendee, speaker and vendor functionality are in production at this publication date. Soon to be provided are provisions for podcasts, RSS feeds, webinars, RFPs database, technology job descriptions, spotlights on emerging technologies and new listserv capacity. These advancements may enable CETPA to respond to the challenges addressed in the preceding paragraphs.
Though this message is tuned to the 2009 conference, do not lose sight of the resource in your hands. This DATABUS issue focuses upon Educational Technology. Contributors have highlighted creative uses of technology in the classroom and innovation designed to integrate technology throughout the curriculum. We are confident that readers will continue to find value in the experiences of others and that our community will continue in the generous sharing of knowledge that is the hallmark of CETPA. I look forward to your assistance in fashioning answers to any threat to our community of professional learners, so as not to diminish our capacity to tend to the needs of others.
