Moving at just the right pace

Sometimes it’s hard to know how quickly to embrace change, but it looks as if the Jay Schools technology committee is moving at the right pace.
The committee, headed up by Jeremy Gulley, has been charged with figuring out the right strategy to take Jay Schools from what Gulley refers to as Technology 1.0 to Technology 2.0.
Making that transition involves not falling behind rapidly changing technology but also not jumping too soon as each new device or software or application presents itself.
In an environment where change is constant and in a field like public education which has a tendency to chase the latest fad, it can be difficult to find the right balance.
So far, it seems the committee has found it, with just the right amount of tension between going-too-slowly and going-too-quickly.
Jay Schools teachers and administrators have seen other school corporations make the plunge, putting iPads in the hands of every student without a clear plan on how the devices will be put to use in the classroom, how to make sure kids use them effectively, and how to protect the interests of the taxpayers who are picking up the tab.
This is one case where not being a pioneer can pay big dividends. It’s smarter to learn from the mistakes of others.
It’s also smarter to focus — as the committee has done — on education first. That’s what is driving the move to Tech 2.0, not the latest shiny object to come out of Silicon Valley.
Gulley, whose committee won full support from the Jay School Board on Monday, acknowledges this is going to be a huge transition and the degree to which it’s embraced by teachers will vary.
But it’s a transition that’s going to happen, and public schools won’t ever be the same.
Jay County High School principal Phil Ford says it’s comparable to the shift from one-room schools to consolidated schools, and that may be understating the case.
So the approach taken so far — walk, don’t run — makes sense.
There are plenty of questions ahead: What sort of device fits best in the classroom, how will the Internet and tablets be integrated into the curriculum, how to pay for it? And more.
But we have confidence the committee is on the right track to find the answers. — J.R[[In-content Ad]]