Anonymous Speaker in a “Share-trusted Environment”
Presentation: 2009-07-16

An upper administrator joined our class to talk to us about the process of technology leadership, policy-making and reform within the government. The first thing this person did during our meeting was emphasize that this meeting, and the items discussed therein, would fall into the category of a “share-trusted environment” – even joking that they could lose their job should these sensitive items move beyond this environment. With this in mind, the following blog will allow these comments to remain anonymous while commenting on my experiences in this forum.

As the meeting began, one of the key elements of IT leadership which this administrator covered, was to do with the framework of problem solving at the government (provincial) level. The questions posed were as follows:

· How might you reframe questions in a way that will engage more people?
· How do you define the problem?
· How do you couple an appropriate solution with a well-defined problem?

Our speaker asked us to consider how problems arise within the media and within the environment on the whole and how the government is then required to define the question and come up with an appropriate solution. One example that our class generated with in regards to the question of how should one deal with online sites such as facebook, and the issues that arise when it is misused.

From that jumping-point, the idea of “convergent windows” of opportunity brought to our attention the need to take initiative and engage certain ideas when they are in the forefront of public interest. These “convergent windows” give us the opportunity to make the changes, and institute new policies to deal with them when they are in the public eye and valuable. Realistically, these “convergent windows” also close and once missed, the ability to make change is no longer feasible.

Another item of consideration which we discussed at length was the question of the integration of ICT outcomes and their pervasiveness within the overall school curriculum. We spent a significant time discussing whether this curriculum was achieving its goals, and was still relevant in today’s model.

Our anonymous speaker is clearly a leader in the field of technology. The expertise this speaker shared and the way we were included in the discussion (despite an awareness of being in a “share-trusted environment”) truly assisted in my understanding of governmental challenges when it comes to making effective change to educational programming. The level of “transparency” with which this leader shared sensitive information with our class was a testament to this administrator’s interest in assisting in drawing ideas and solutions from our group. It was clear that the role of IT was important in this leader’s eyes, and that the challenges of new technologies were ones that interested them particularly.
At a general level this dialogue left me with an understanding of the three streams which government leaders must consider as they begin to engage in a problems.

· Problem Stream
· Political Stream
· Policy Stream

And I was able to draw a high level of continuance between this presentation and those of other IT leaders in the field of education. It became obvious to me that the issues of education only become more challenging and complex, the more entrenched in bureaucracy they are. I have a new sense of respect and admiration for people who are able to work within this constricting framework, and find effective ways to make change despite this.