There are so many thoughts in my mind from this weekend’s Learning 2.0 Conference. Where do we begin with our school (ISB)? Can we really achieve what we have set out to achieve? What does that look like? What would Alan November say about it? But before I try to answer (is there an answer??), I want to address what I call the future of the international recruiting fair. Blogging!
I guess one of my reflections from the weekend is on the talent we have at ISB. Justin Medved, Kim Cofino and Dennis Harter are amazing! Until you hang out with the Geeks of the world, you don’t really realize how impressive the Geeks of the world are. You don’t really understand their jobs and how they make our (my) jobs easier. Would I deeply value technology as the future of education if it weren’t for Justin’s thinking all last year? How lucky are we at ISB to have dedicated Geeks whose main job description is teaching teachers how to use technology to enhance student learning? Do our teachers truly understand that this job does not yet exist at most international schools? And at ISB we have 3 Geeks- 2 in the Elementary School alone. We are lucky!
I was also amazed at the impact of blogging. We met and hired Kim Cofino last year through blogging because we (Justin) already knew how/what she thought. Are we “inventing” a new way to run our HR Dept.? We hire people because of how they think independently of what “smart” things they write on their CVs? How could that impact international school job/recruiting fairs? Kim came up to me on Saturday at the conference and excitedly told me how Will Richardson wanted to meet her. Why? Because he follows her blog (Always Learning) and wanted to put a face to the mind, not a “name to the face”. How different is that? Justin and Dennis saw Jeff Utecht from SAS (Shanghai) and greeted him like an old friend. When I asked Justin how long they had been friends, he replied that this was the 2nd time they had met. In other words, because they read each other’s blog and know how the other thinks, they are great virtual and real-life friends. Whoa!!!
As an international school administrator, how amazed would I be if a potential recruiting teacher contacted me through my blog or discussed it during an interview? What if I read their blog? I would already know how they think, not what they think of during an interview in order to get a job.
Does this apply to other HR fields? Other businesses? I am sure it must. How can we as educators get into each other’s minds? Should there have been more international school administrators at the Learning 2.0 Conference? Now that I read Will Richardson’s blog, if he contacted me on Monday morning and asked for a job, would I even need to interview him in person?
I know the Geeks already use this practice. I know we have (indirectly with Kim), already used this practice. My question is now how will we continue to use this practice further to recruit great thinking, highly tech-able minds to come share in our vision of a 21st century education at ISB? Will we have to actively attend recruiting fairs?
Only time will tell…..
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September 18th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Struan- you too have been “geeked” this weekend! And I am starting to realize that a little bit of “geek” can go a long way. Recruiting with a blend of blog could certainly make this a real feast and, more importantly, push us to other limits and dispositions.
A little bit of geek can go a long way… I am eager to find a “god” (Geek On Demand) to help me become more tech savvy… so I have asked Jack in the HS to find me a student who is willing to be my “god”. This will free up Justin, Kim, Dennis and Stephen to attend to the many, many other demands of geeking.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Struan,
WOW! This is how you start blogging? If this is your first post…you are way ahead of the curve! You have a great team at ISB. I should know…I’ve been in contact with all of them via, blogs, Skype, Google Chat, and now in person. There is so much conversation behind the scenes that I think you are only now being exposed too…just wait. I promise if you continue to hang around those three…you will be geeked with a capital G!
You hit on some very interesting points. First, you are an administrator that is blogging…but you are reflecting…you are using this space for your thoughts, not as a communication tool for parents or your community as so many other administrators think blogging is…that is called a digital newsletter. Blogging is learning…blogging is reflecting…blogging is finding, linking and sharing resources. You my friend (I call you friend cause you are now in my RSS reader) are a blogger. Please don’t loose that. Please continue to try and make sense of all of this…and with those 3 by your side…I know you are in good hands.
Blogging as recruiting: I like this theory. Would you hire a technology person at your school today if they did not have a blog? Or maybe expand that to an online presence. Do you Google potential hires? You are just starting to understand this world of the geek. What they do, how they network. How they rely on that network as a way to learn. You don’t need to know it all…you just need to know who to ask if you don’t! That is the network that this creates…that is how Kim, Justin, Dennis and I work. We rely on each other to have part of the whole piece of knowledge that we need. This is how we learn…this is our classroom. Personally if a technology teacher did not know how to use this network I would not hire them. Questions I would be asking at a job fair:
1. Do you have an RSS reader?
2. Who is in your RSS reader?
3. Where do you go when you need to learn something?
Of course there are other questions, but these three I believe should be asked of every technology hire…and eventually teachers (but we’re not there yet.)
That brings me to a teachable moment. How did I find you..find this post? As an administrator (and a blogger) I encourage you to make sure you are monitoring yourself on the web. I have a Google Blog search for my name in my RSS reader. http://blogsearch.google.com/ so anytime my name is mentioned on the Internet I know about it. I do this for a couple of reasons. 1. It’s good to know what others are thinking and saying about you in this open web. 2. You want to be able to cover your back side.
Welcome to the blogosphere Struan. It’s always great to see administrators reflecting on how learning is changing. You have a great geek crew at ISB…they are going to do great things for your school. Allow them to lead you, to geek you and the staff, and you will continue to be one of the leading schools in Asia!
Jeff
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
One little word of warning…..
You’re blog will get hits on search engines looking for ISB shortly AND candidates will know what you have said in this blog.
This is all good and well, but I am always aware of the negatives of the results of a flat recruiting world too. In fairs (virtual or otherwise) we rely on the outstanding educators floating to the top of the heap. Could our blogs give the others too much of a resource??
I have been blogging on and off for about a year and have found it to be a great recruiting tool, but when I posted this post http://sentimentsoncommonsense.blogspot.com/2007/01/first-posting-recruiting-on-road.html
and a candidate noted to me that they had “googled” me and found this and other posts I became VERY aware of the brave world of recruiting was indeed flattening out right in front of me in 3 dimensions!
BTW… we hired the couple and they are GREAT teachers!
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:14 am
I love your thoughts on blogs as a great HR tool… if both applicant and administrator were using blogs, what a great way to find out if we’re a good ‘fit’ for each other, outside of the narrow limits of what we can learn about each other from a brief interview. As a relatively new blogging administrator myself, I say welcome to the blogosphere, and I look forward to learning more about your school.
September 23rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Yes! I am ready for a “Geek On Demand” too! In fact, if the word gets out and it becomes “hip” for HS geeks to offer teachers their services, I see big time opportunities to foster teachers’ progression towards being tech savy if we could request a “god” for help. And, at the same time turn our students into teachers.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:07 am
I feel compelled to lower the level of intellectual discourse on Struan’s web.
I notice frequent use of the word “geek”, usually with positive implications.
What is origin of the word ? For what I understand, it orginated in the traveling carnivals that moved through the U.S. mid-west during the 1920s and 1930’s. The geek show was a big favorite. At the end his show, the geek. who had been acting strangely to attract laughs and amazement, would bite the head off a live chicken.
On a more serious note, I really value what Jeff Utecht said in his second paragraph — Blogging is learning…blogging is reflecting…blogging is finding, linking and sharing resources. Now that I have my own blog and am a certified old coot, I am trying to learn the whats and whys of blogs. Jeff’s comment really helps me.