Wanted: Smart, Technology-Literate Educator to Develop a Plan for Education Technology in Prince Edward Island

The Province of PEI has released a Request for Proposals, with an incredibly tight 9-day window for response (responses are due December 20, 2013), for the development of a “Education K-12 Technology Strategic Plan.” It’s a substantial project with two threads:

Development of five year technology strategic plan which aligns leading educational research in instructional strategies, critical thinking and other 21st century skills, as well as educational technology with provincial top achievement priorities;

Assessment of the current IT infrastructure and identification, quantification and prioritization of initiatives to ensure the IT infrastructure is optimized for the delivery of services to Education.

The project is to start in January and finish in April, and the result will be a template that will guide the use of technology in education in the province.

This is a process that demands an broadminded, technology-literate educator, not a “computer consultant” and I fear that the short time to respond to the RFP will unnecessarily limit the responses to it.

If you or someone in your network would be interested in and capable of conducting such a project, I encourage you to pass along the tender documents. Quickly.

Comments

johnny's picture
johnny on December 13, 2013 - 16:13 Permalink

Um, how about you do it?

Techie1's picture
Techie1 on December 13, 2013 - 16:35 Permalink

Surely there is a teacher that can tell IT what they need. It can’t be that hard.

Techie1's picture
Techie1 on December 13, 2013 - 17:30 Permalink

How about what you did with Teachernet plus Google Docs or Microsoft 360?

Ken's picture
Ken on December 13, 2013 - 20:30 Permalink

This is an RFP for the Lone Ranger when we need an RFP for @Notch.

So when the “research” is “aligned with top provincial prioriies” does that mean a browser upgrade from IE7?

Really's picture
Really on December 13, 2013 - 20:37 Permalink

How so?

The details look rather in depth and specific. Not some yahoo who’ll come in and suggest we add some wireless stuff from Future Shop around, and move everything to Google.

On the front line's picture
On the front line on December 14, 2013 - 03:20 Permalink

Oh dear Peter, you do realize that they already have someone chosen for this position,don’t you?
Releasing an RFP in mid-December to start work in January? Please!
Someone who will go through the motions of collecting information, consult with the stakeholders and then produce a report with recommendations that are mere incremental tweaks that are predetermined and palatable to ITSS and the folks in the Sullivan building.
More rearranging of deck chairs and buying of time.

Ken's picture
Ken on December 14, 2013 - 03:43 Permalink

More Gbytes of student files reside on Future Shop USB sticks than school servers, and when we compare 10Mb Novell Netmail to Gmail — any yahoo would pick Gmail. Future Shop is a step up from second hand.

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous on December 14, 2013 - 03:45 Permalink

So much for disproving Harper’s claim of a defeatist attitude. No idea who it will be awarded to, or what the results are, and already deciding it is a failure, and assigning blame and slightly veiled ad hominems.

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous on December 14, 2013 - 03:49 Permalink

But still shows how PEIers would rather nickel and dime a “good enough” solution (probably on a school by school basis) rather that work together to create something that wouldn’t make them look like poor rednecks.

Confused's picture
Confused on December 14, 2013 - 15:49 Permalink

There are 60 odd schools, and there just had millions poured into hooking them up to a new new network to give them all the same access access to centralized servers and the Internet, and had millions budgeted for infrastructure upgrades.

Sounds like the old Monty Python movie, where the Judeans were sitting around complaining that the Romans had never done anything for them.

Planning some sort of Island-wide centrally controlled thing makes sense. Unless you are from one of the rich schools in Charlottetown, you get penalized for living in a rural area.

Confused's picture
Confused on December 14, 2013 - 15:50 Permalink

Sorry, phone keyboard with autocorrect.

On the front line's picture
On the front line on December 15, 2013 - 19:46 Permalink

mm-mmm! That is some mighty fine party line push back. Tightly scripted and on offense. Extra credit for squeezing in a reference to Dear Leader and some Latin. Sounds like I touched a nerve on the government benches.
But really though, my optimistic friend, our online wanking does not amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. The proof of this little Departmental diversionary tactic will be in the pudding. How about if we agree to meet back here next year, or later, and review the positive changes this report has brought to teacher’s and student’s lives. I’ll bring the crow and we will see who dines ;)

Don't worry's picture
Don't worry on December 16, 2013 - 04:48 Permalink

Sounds like someone is determined to hate. Pre-denouncing the results of a report that hasn’t even started to gather Information yet seems a bit childish. And assuming it will not be good based on it not being written by you or your friends is pretty textbook genetic fallacy.

I assume they still teach basic logic in schools.