Problem Solving for Educational Organisations in a Tech-enabled World

Published: 12 September 2019
Rob Walker is looking for schools to explore ways in which education technologies can enhance our organisations. This article questions how tech-enabled we are?

 

Increasingly, new technologies are changing the way we live. The way we solve problems as individuals has changed. Whereas I used to plan car journeys with maps, I now use my phone or laptop. If I need to tell somebody something quickly… I drop a text.

 

But how is this mirrored in the way our organisations solve problems? If a business faces a problem, its people use a combination of experience, professionalism and increasingly new technologies to understand the problem and then project and enact the required change.

We know that our Educational Organisations use experience and professionalism but how do they use new technologies to help them approach and solve the problems of the day?

 

Sometimes the very words ‘new technologies’ draw people down a particular line of thought.

 

The response is often: “That’s spreadsheets isn’t it? Let’s bring up the spreadsheets and look at how money is being spent… children are attending … etc.… etc.”

 

However, when do educational organisations use technology to address other areas?

  • Communication Technologies already radically change way school communicate with parental body, but how about the way leaders connect with each other, staff and the students?
  • Managing workflows by using notice boards is increasing amongst our schools but which ones and to what effect.
  • When did a school last build aspirations of staff and students through using a Ted Talk and to what effect??

 

More than ever schools need to focus on the value they give for public money and how are we using experience, professionalism and increasingly new technologies to reduce waste and improve outcomes?

 

The ask of schools…

 

Sheffield City Council and Learn Sheffield are seeking two volunteer Schools and two volunteer Multi-Academy Trusts to work together to further this question and understand how we can use technology  to ensure increased value for public money.

 

The commitment for each school will be to engage with a qualified and experienced educationalist (see below) who has a wide experience of working with businesses in the Educational sector. This consultant will initially work with the schools for a period of 3-5 hours to understand and develop a programme of activity.

 

This project is currently free to schools however, we will be asking for advice and thoughts as input into the costing model going forward.

 

Next Steps - To take advantage of this offer please contact Robert.Walker@sheffield.gov.uk

 

 

 

Rob Walker has a wide range of strategic responsibilities around developing Digital Skills for Employability. He leads and project manages a portfolio of different activities. This includes taking projects from needs identification, through inception, to securing funding, delivering and evaluating.  Rob has been a Headteacher in two Sheffield schools and an educational consultant for a further 10 years. He has a long standing experience of partnership working. This has included close partnership with businesses ranging from Micro – Enterprises through to BT, IBM and Google.

 

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