Enterprise Architecture Reflection
My first discovery is simply learning about the existence of the concept of Enterprise Architecture. Although it now seems so logical and makes perfect sense, I had never before been exposed to the idea of creating a blueprint for an entire organization’s operations. It’s a great (and quick) way to get a visual snapshot of an organization’s comprehensive efforts to achieve their goals. My second discovery would be that IT must be connected to the whole. Especially as the role of IT increases exponentially, it’s now (more than ever) critical that IT be removed from its silo and integrated with all the other facets of the organization who are affected by technology everyday. IT is integral to an organization achieving its goals, so it’s no longer possible for IT to remain segregated from other operations. My third discovery is that all the efforts of an organization can be coordinated and integrated with thoughtful planning and decision-making. While job one of an organization will be to set goals, the next important step may well be to design an EA as a blueprint to get you to those goals. EA provides a great, 30,000 foot overview of all organization’s working parts, as well as an opportunity to be thoughtful and intentional about the best way to make those parts work in harmony. As a future educational leader, I’m going to be more wary of tech decisions. I will now be more inclined to consider tech decisions as they may affect the entire school. Before I would have likely been fine to leave the big tech decisions to IT, but now I’ll want to involve other stakeholders in an effort to avoid unintended consequences and unnecessary duplication. And of course, I’ll want to create my own EA for my own school, so I have a clear visual of how all the facets of the organization work together to increase student achievement.
My first discovery is simply learning about the existence of the concept of Enterprise Architecture. Although it now seems so logical and makes perfect sense, I had never before been exposed to the idea of creating a blueprint for an entire organization’s operations. It’s a great (and quick) way to get a visual snapshot of an organization’s comprehensive efforts to achieve their goals. My second discovery would be that IT must be connected to the whole. Especially as the role of IT increases exponentially, it’s now (more than ever) critical that IT be removed from its silo and integrated with all the other facets of the organization who are affected by technology everyday. IT is integral to an organization achieving its goals, so it’s no longer possible for IT to remain segregated from other operations. My third discovery is that all the efforts of an organization can be coordinated and integrated with thoughtful planning and decision-making. While job one of an organization will be to set goals, the next important step may well be to design an EA as a blueprint to get you to those goals. EA provides a great, 30,000 foot overview of all organization’s working parts, as well as an opportunity to be thoughtful and intentional about the best way to make those parts work in harmony. As a future educational leader, I’m going to be more wary of tech decisions. I will now be more inclined to consider tech decisions as they may affect the entire school. Before I would have likely been fine to leave the big tech decisions to IT, but now I’ll want to involve other stakeholders in an effort to avoid unintended consequences and unnecessary duplication. And of course, I’ll want to create my own EA for my own school, so I have a clear visual of how all the facets of the organization work together to increase student achievement.
Education Plan vs. Technology Plan
Educational technology only exists to increase student achievement. And in 2016, technology is ubiquitously integrated at every corner of the classroom and school. To describe an education plan without mentioning technology in the same breath would imply an educational plan that is sorely behind the times. Education and technology have become irreversibly intertwined. Blended education is no longer a pedagogical practice luxury, but a necessity to keep up in the real tech-driven world beyond the classroom. Thus, any modern district education plan must include the technology piece right alongside the curriculum. A district could choose to add a “tech plan” supplement to follow the education plan, if only to provide a sequestered look at just the tech elements that are involved with the main education plan. But to leave those tech elements out of the main “education plan” document would create an education plan from the 1980s or earlier. Education plans and technology plans must be combined if a school is to have a meaningful plan to educate its students.
Educational technology only exists to increase student achievement. And in 2016, technology is ubiquitously integrated at every corner of the classroom and school. To describe an education plan without mentioning technology in the same breath would imply an educational plan that is sorely behind the times. Education and technology have become irreversibly intertwined. Blended education is no longer a pedagogical practice luxury, but a necessity to keep up in the real tech-driven world beyond the classroom. Thus, any modern district education plan must include the technology piece right alongside the curriculum. A district could choose to add a “tech plan” supplement to follow the education plan, if only to provide a sequestered look at just the tech elements that are involved with the main education plan. But to leave those tech elements out of the main “education plan” document would create an education plan from the 1980s or earlier. Education plans and technology plans must be combined if a school is to have a meaningful plan to educate its students.
The Brick Model
Applying the “brick” concept to my own teaching could provide a nice snapshot of my current and future practice. My “baseline” would include my core curriculum strategies such as the Nearpod website/app, the DBQ Project essay-writing curriculum, the Flocabulary.com content videos, the Google Apps for Education, and the Britannica School content resource. As for “retirement,” I don’t have much to categorize there, since I stop using resources/strategies as soon as they stop working effectively. There’s no need to plan ahead for that category. For “emerging,” there’s an app I discovered recently called SeeSaw. I am currently monitoring how another teacher uses it to see if it’s something I want to utilize in my own classroom. Regarding “strategic,” I’m attempting to keep tabs on the best personalized learning technologies for students. Apps that are adaptive and respond to the individual student’s level and abilities are the future of technology, and I am always exploring these different approaches at conferences. Maintaining a brick could always help a teacher keep a teacher thinking about the future.
Applying the “brick” concept to my own teaching could provide a nice snapshot of my current and future practice. My “baseline” would include my core curriculum strategies such as the Nearpod website/app, the DBQ Project essay-writing curriculum, the Flocabulary.com content videos, the Google Apps for Education, and the Britannica School content resource. As for “retirement,” I don’t have much to categorize there, since I stop using resources/strategies as soon as they stop working effectively. There’s no need to plan ahead for that category. For “emerging,” there’s an app I discovered recently called SeeSaw. I am currently monitoring how another teacher uses it to see if it’s something I want to utilize in my own classroom. Regarding “strategic,” I’m attempting to keep tabs on the best personalized learning technologies for students. Apps that are adaptive and respond to the individual student’s level and abilities are the future of technology, and I am always exploring these different approaches at conferences. Maintaining a brick could always help a teacher keep a teacher thinking about the future.
Business Architecture
Having taught at Samueli Academy for 70% of its entire history (the school is only 3+ years old), while also contributing to major foundation-building decisions along the way, there was not much I discovered about the school (when it came to systems and processes) that I already didn’t know. Our capability is getting underserved and foster youth in Orange County, CA ready for college and career. To achieve that end, we employ project-based S.T.E.A.M.
learning in small technology-rich classes, led by veteran teachers. An internship program, authentic audiences for student presentations, and school-wide learning outcomes add to our value stream. Our “business” is to achieve college acceptances and high AP scores for our students. Interviewing our principal about our current and desired states, however, did enlighten me a bit regarding one macro issue supporting our entire architecture: fundraising. To support our capabilities, we (as a public charter school) are in need of capital. I learned we are in the midst of a capital campaign study, preparing to launch two major capital campaigns in order to add two new buildings to our growing campus. Achieving that goal will expand our capabilities, and add to our value stream. Researching and completing the BA matrix helped me to see the variety of avenues the school leader must manage simultaneously. Contrasting current and desired states, while managing the steps to get from the former to the latter, means the leader will always have a lot of balls in the air. But while illustrating the complexity of the “Business Architect’s” job, it was also helpful to learn that creating a BA can at least assist the leader in keeping all the goals and systems integrated and organized.
Having taught at Samueli Academy for 70% of its entire history (the school is only 3+ years old), while also contributing to major foundation-building decisions along the way, there was not much I discovered about the school (when it came to systems and processes) that I already didn’t know. Our capability is getting underserved and foster youth in Orange County, CA ready for college and career. To achieve that end, we employ project-based S.T.E.A.M.
learning in small technology-rich classes, led by veteran teachers. An internship program, authentic audiences for student presentations, and school-wide learning outcomes add to our value stream. Our “business” is to achieve college acceptances and high AP scores for our students. Interviewing our principal about our current and desired states, however, did enlighten me a bit regarding one macro issue supporting our entire architecture: fundraising. To support our capabilities, we (as a public charter school) are in need of capital. I learned we are in the midst of a capital campaign study, preparing to launch two major capital campaigns in order to add two new buildings to our growing campus. Achieving that goal will expand our capabilities, and add to our value stream. Researching and completing the BA matrix helped me to see the variety of avenues the school leader must manage simultaneously. Contrasting current and desired states, while managing the steps to get from the former to the latter, means the leader will always have a lot of balls in the air. But while illustrating the complexity of the “Business Architect’s” job, it was also helpful to learn that creating a BA can at least assist the leader in keeping all the goals and systems integrated and organized.
Enterprise Architecture KWL
What I knew: I had never even heard of EA before this course, so I knew practically nothing. I DID know the definitions of the two words: “enterprise” and “architecture,” so the joining of the two concepts did make sense to me at the outset.
What I learned: -A virtual model can be used to detail the interrelation of activities within an entire organization.
-EA can provide a holistic overview of everything that’s happening within an organization.
-EA can help prevent “piecemeal” planning/architecture, when decisions are made without looking at the big picture.
-Once an EA framework has been established and becomes used throughout the whole organization, it can help prevent unnecessary inefficiencies.
What I want to know:
-I would like to see some (succinct) case studies where an EA model was the direct cause of reducing inefficiencies.
-I would like to see examples of schools successfully implementing EA. I have a sneaking suspicion that EA mostly exists in massive companies with the necessary budget to allow modelmaking which may or may not contribute to the bottom line (but makes them feel good) - but I would like to be proven wrong!:)
What I knew: I had never even heard of EA before this course, so I knew practically nothing. I DID know the definitions of the two words: “enterprise” and “architecture,” so the joining of the two concepts did make sense to me at the outset.
What I learned: -A virtual model can be used to detail the interrelation of activities within an entire organization.
-EA can provide a holistic overview of everything that’s happening within an organization.
-EA can help prevent “piecemeal” planning/architecture, when decisions are made without looking at the big picture.
-Once an EA framework has been established and becomes used throughout the whole organization, it can help prevent unnecessary inefficiencies.
What I want to know:
-I would like to see some (succinct) case studies where an EA model was the direct cause of reducing inefficiencies.
-I would like to see examples of schools successfully implementing EA. I have a sneaking suspicion that EA mostly exists in massive companies with the necessary budget to allow modelmaking which may or may not contribute to the bottom line (but makes them feel good) - but I would like to be proven wrong!:)
Enterprise Architecture & Teaching Social Studies
I think if we substitute "enterprise" with "class," then the concept of Enterprise Architecture can indeed apply to the job of social studies teacher. Each class starts with "goals and initiatives," in this case usually educational standards set by the state. There are also a school's own goals to consider, as well as the individual teacher's goals. "Products and services" could be seen as the lectures, activities, projects and other curriculum furnished from the teacher to the students. "Data and information" could be the student demographics that a teacher must consider while teaching. "Systems and applications" could be the variety of software used to facilitate student learning, "Networks and infrastructure" would be the same as traditional EA (wireless networks, devices, e-mail accounts, etc). "Lines of Business" simply represent the different classes taught by the same teacher, all of which may require variations of the five components mentioned above. The analogy starts to get a little murky when you start to also incorporate the EA "cross-cutting" components (security, standards, skills, technology, business, strategy) into the five main components of the classroom, but certainly strategy would figure prominently into all five areas of the class. Learning the basic EA framework has given me new things to consider while planning rich learning experiences for my students.
I think if we substitute "enterprise" with "class," then the concept of Enterprise Architecture can indeed apply to the job of social studies teacher. Each class starts with "goals and initiatives," in this case usually educational standards set by the state. There are also a school's own goals to consider, as well as the individual teacher's goals. "Products and services" could be seen as the lectures, activities, projects and other curriculum furnished from the teacher to the students. "Data and information" could be the student demographics that a teacher must consider while teaching. "Systems and applications" could be the variety of software used to facilitate student learning, "Networks and infrastructure" would be the same as traditional EA (wireless networks, devices, e-mail accounts, etc). "Lines of Business" simply represent the different classes taught by the same teacher, all of which may require variations of the five components mentioned above. The analogy starts to get a little murky when you start to also incorporate the EA "cross-cutting" components (security, standards, skills, technology, business, strategy) into the five main components of the classroom, but certainly strategy would figure prominently into all five areas of the class. Learning the basic EA framework has given me new things to consider while planning rich learning experiences for my students.