2023 Cohort
ATLIS Leadership Institute
2022-2023 R&D Projects
Build Your Own Table
The Silo Busters
Cristi LeBron, Michael Rivera, Kevin Warenda
For those technology leaders not included in senior leadership or governance meetings, having a network of people who are at those tables provides a possible solution. Build your own small table strategy by reaching out to key stakeholders, department heads, and other senior leaders. Setting up regular meetings with school partners will allow you to find out what’s going on, learn the challenges other leaders are facing, and offer ways to partner to solve those challenges and move their goals forward. This is the kind of outreach that can serve the school's mission and build meaningful relationships that will improve your position and effectiveness in the school over time.
The advantages of a small table approach include: making space for all parties to speak and be heard, inspiring open discussion and robust conversation with disparate points of view, allowing collaboration and teamwork, building trust and transparency.
This guide includes a justification for creating small table relationships and practical tips for building access and influence with other administrative leaders at the school.
Format
Video
Infographic (PDF)
Guiding Questions
Are you the last person to learn about a tech initiative? Are you the first called in to put out a "fire" when things aren't going as planned?
How can we be proactive in an environment where we are constantly in a “reactionary” state?
What can technology leaders do to move the needle forward in this area rather than wait for an invitation?
What actually gets done at “the big table,” and is it really the best place for a technology leader to spend their time?
What other strategies would produce better results to be included and have a voice?
Where is tech in the org chart?
Are Tech and Mission separate considerations?
Can the idea of co-elevation discussed in Keith Ferrazzi’s book Leading Without Authority provide a strategy that would be an effective approach to address this challenge?
Does the technology leader then have an incredible opportunity to be a strong DEI force by connecting people and ideas throughout the school?
Purpose
To help technology leaders who are disconnected from the decision making process and discussions at their schools to improve their impact and access in support of the school mission and its initiatives.
Audience
This guide is for school technology leaders, especially those who feel they do not have “a seat at the table” when it comes to being included as a strategic partner in the operation of their school.
DEI BONUS
A small table approach can be an effective strategy for tech leaders to partner with DEI professionals to have a greater impact on their school communities.
Data: Superhero or Supervillain
Wingpeople
Aisha Bryant, Jennifer Hencken, Lita Bledsoe, Jeremy King, Brian Pugsley, Bryan Barnett
Data has a powerful impact on independent school leadership and how decisions are made. We believe that when used courageously and strategically by those within the school leadership team, data has the potential to be a superhero; however, when abused or misused, data can quickly become a supervillain whose rampage cannot easily be undone. Whether it is used to improve student outcomes or inform the purchasing choices of school leadership, data has a significant impact on school success. It is essential to develop strong protocols for collecting and utilizing data to maximize the potential value, while limiting its risks.
This tool provides school and tech leaders with guidelines, practical resources, and prompts to begin these important conversations around using data to safely and collaboratively guide the school’s tech leadership, professional learning, and ed tech strategy.
Format
Video
Resource Playlist (Wakelet)
Infographic (PDF)
Guiding Question
How can independent school leadership teams develop effective protocols for collecting and utilizing data that leverage its potential value while minimizing its potential risks and negative impacts on the school community?
Purpose
To help school leaders understand the role of data in decision making, its power for driving clear and purposeful actions, and its safety stewardship concerns.
Audience
Technology leaders
Data team
School administration
WAKELET PLAYLIST
Forging Community Relationships Through Technology
The Support Spaniels
Bradley Lands, Kevin McDermott, Keegan Bowen, Jo-Rel Wilkins
Technology represents a huge financial investment for schools, which tend to hold on to their investments long past their usefulness. When tech has reached the end of its life at a school, this need not be the end of the story. Options for disposal include recycling, reselling, donating to charity, and repurposing. This guide includes checklists and best practices for each option. When technology is no longer needed for its original purpose, school have an opportunity to think creatively about their use to forge important connections with community organizations
Format
Guiding Question
What innovative solutions are available to schools for disposing of end-of-life tech?
Purpose
To provide a resource for independent school technology teams to make community-conscious decisions for disposing of end-of-life tech equipment and hardware.
Audience
Independent school technology teams
WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?
RECYCLE devices for a more sustainable environment.
RESELL equipment to fund new initiatives.
DONATE usable hardware to build community relationships.
REPURPOSE to creatively upcycle parts and learn about design.
Knowing Your Institutional Partners
The Round Table
Isabelle Pisini, Josh Bain, Oscar Sosa, Matt Glaser, Ravi Persaud
Collaboration with institutional partners is critical to technology leadership. As these and other school leaders formulate projects, they can use the guiding questions provided to direct them to the appropriate department partners. Once these partners are identified, they can consult the relevant department profiles to gain a clearer sense of what the department and its members do, their challenges and pressure points, any particular language they might use to communicate, and tips for collaborating successfully.
Format
Video
Guiding Questions
How do you know who to work with?
Once you know, how do you understand their language, institutional responsibilities, and perspective?
What does it look like to complete a project with a variety of department partners?
Purpose
This resource is meant to help ed tech and IT professionals in schools collaborate more effectively, as their every day work and involvement in school projects and initiatives infiltrates every aspect of the school, its mission, and its operations.
Audience
School leaders
Technology team
DEPARTMENT PROFILES
Academic Technology
Advancement
Business Office
Co-Curricular Programs
Communications
DEIB
Onbotech: A Multi-Year Map of Technology Training & Professional Development
Upside Down Octopi
Alex Demushkane, Camelia Perez, Bernadette Shilliam, Andrew Teets, Denise Woodward
We view onboarding with technology as an ongoing need for independent schools. With this perspective in mind, we provide a framework that focuses on the re-onboarding process for training and professional development of all employees.
Examples are intended to be used as templates that can be tailored to specific needs when onboarding and re-onboarding faculty and staff. By creating an ongoing training sequence, this resource supports teachers from providing the basics up to the making available more advanced tools to support teaching and learning.
Format
Guiding Questions
How can we use our existing tools to facilitate the technology “journey” of employees in our schools?
How do we “bring back” those employees who may have forgotten what they learned, or who may have developed their own tools while we were in hybrid learning?
How do we share more of what the technology department(s) do so employees have a resource to return to with questions?
Purpose
To provide a tiered template for ongoing PD at independent schools and to demonstrate that such a template can be adapted to any school with an LMS.
Audience
Faculty and staff
RESOURCE GUIDE
