Harnessing the Northants BLT

Leaving Silverstone Study Centre for pastures new was a difficult decision. In so many ways, managing and teaching there has been the best post of my career, rewarding and challenging in equal measure.

However, the opportunity arose to develop and manage Northamptonshire County Council’s Harnessing Technologies (HT) strategy as it relates to schools and school improvement. The prospect fired up my imagination and whet my creative appetite to see the Northamptonshire schools landscape, with all its formal and informal facets, transformed into networks where all children and young people make effective and appropriate use of technologies to learn better – for themselves, their families and their communities.

The Dream HT Team

On 1st September I was appointed Harnessing Technologies Manager (Schools) to work alongside three other managers, each with a slightly different focus and function in the development and implementation of the HT strategy in Northamptonshire.

Tony Sheppard, of Grumbledook fame, is the HT Technical Manager (Technical) and has written his own take on his ‘technical’ role in the team on his blog. I first came across Tony back in 2006 and have always been impressed by his ability and enthusiasm at translating technical ‘geek-speak’ into something that can be understood and – most importantly –  put into action by other educators. His wide network of on- and offline contacts across a wide range of fields make him an effective channel for new ideas and approaches. Some people have said that Twitter is their personal Google. For me, Tony Sheppard is my personal search engine of choice.

Brenda Scoble, the HT Manager (CYP), is pulling together the strategy for the Children’s and Young People’s Directorate and its related agencies within the local authority. She has a wealth of experience within Northamptonshire, knows and is liked by everyone, and has a keen handle of how the political (with a small ‘p’) mechanisms work within the county. Her ability to assimilate complex data and strategic information into documents and reports that inspire ‘vision’ is quite beyond me. She has, however, promised to teach me how it is done!

Stan Davies completes the team as HT Manager (Contracts). Our team manages the provision for schools of broadband connectivity and of our county-wide learning platform solution. Stan never looks pressured as he deals with the management of these and other enormously complicated and time-consuming contracts and projects. His ability to tie the crucial business processes to the overall vision of the team ensures that there is an overall coherence to the strategy.

The BLT Challenge

Despite the clear talents and abilities of the folks mentioned above, the Harnessing Technologies Team will never be able to produce on its own the desired transformational outcomes for young people. A specific technology or software will not automagically make learning better either. Our broadband connectivity in Northants is very effective on the whole, as is our county-wide enable learning platform that provides the potential for schools to engage parents, make more effective use of staff time, support management and leadership, and motivate, enthuse and excite children and young people to continue their learning wherever they are.

However, the potential of these and of the many other technologies that could improve the Northants learnscape will only be fulfilled for all learners through the development of networks and communities of learning, made up of people – lifelong learners – willing to share their knowledge, experiences and ideas of Better Learning using Technologies. BLT networks – without the bacon, lettuce or tomato – will be the key drivers for change and need to feature prominently in our HT strategy. Areas that work in ‘silos’ or as ‘islands’ may produce better learning using technologies for some in the short term but as the rapid pace of technological change continues unabated, only a wider network possesses the capacity to harness – and the agility to embrace – technological opportunities to make learning better for all.

Learnscapes

Jay Cross and others have coined  ’learnscaping’ to describe the nurture of  a complex environment conducive to informal learning in the world of business. I think that it has implications and application in educational settings for all types of learning with technologies, formal or otherwise.  Learnscaping is summed up in the following diagram.

With apologies to Cross, these are my priorities for improving the learnscape using technologies in Northamptonshire schools and beyond:

• removing obstacles to using technologies for better learning;
• seeding communities of learning using technologies;
• increasing effective use of bandwidth;
• engaging conversations;
• growing BLT (Better Learning using Technologies) networks.

Each of the above will be the subject of separate blog posts but one thing is certain – learnscapes are indeed complex. Northamptonshire is no different in that respect but as a ‘node’ in emerging networks, the Harnessing Technologies team is already beginning to connect and build relationships across a variety of spheres of influence. Tony Sheppard’s Technical Champions‘ network is an effective example of this progress. A major step for me as HT Manager (Schools) is to begin to build a grass-roots BLT network of educators and other stakeholders interested in making learning better using technologies. Let the learnscaping begin!