Welcome to SIG IS

Ten days ago, I got the following email: I am writing to congratulate you for your nomination and successful election to the SIG Independent School Executive Committee! I look forward to working with you! Jill Brown Not usually being one to toot my own horn, I wanted to share this with you. It was especially fun to meet many of the board members at NAIS last week. I was asked to write a short introduction for their executive committee page. Here is what I ended up with: Independent Schools offer unique perspectives and experience different challenges when weaving technology into […]

Why Can They Do This

We have a local service station, yes, a service station, not a gas station, which provides a full arrange of services, they fill up your car, wash your window, check your oil at an extremely competitive price. The average price of gas shot up to $3.59 in the area yesterday. You are greeted by a friendly attendant and even offered a small piece of candy. When we think of our schools, do we go the extra mile and provide a cutomer service experience like this? Go the extra mile? Posted via email from Vinnie’s posterous

Speed Innovation-Gas

My name is Vinnie, I am 49, I love baseball and long walks on the beach. One of the reasons I am attending NAIS for the first time this year was I was invited to participate in an experimental session type, Speed Innovation. During this session, attendees where able to pre-register for three 10 minute mini-sessions, just like speed dating. I had to prep for this 10 minute experience and repeat it three times. My session was “Millions of Ideas in 600 Seconds:Google Apps in Your School.” In addition to the time limit, I had to present this session with […]

NAIS – Connections

A funny thing happened when I was at the bar… I was unwinding after my session, visiting with my friend arvind grover. He introduced me to his former Head of School. All of the sudden, a gentleman comes up to me, shows me his phone  and says, “I couldn’t help over hearing you. I was just reading your tweets from the sessions.” The power of connections.

NAIS Workshop – Creating Connected Teachers

I have recently completed my presentation, Creating Connected Teachers, along with Peter Gow, Jason Ramsden, Demetri Orlando, Sarah Hanawald, and Derrick Willard at the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference. All and all, I am pleased about the way that the presentation went, but I think that there are areas which we could improve. Focus less on tools and more on how the tools have changed peoples lives. More personal anecdotes so that people connect with passion and emotion. Focus more on group conversation. We had planned this, but a 60 minute session turned into 90 minutes, so something had to be cut. More concrete ideas […]