CoSN: 2005 CoSN Compendium

CoSN Compendium


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The 2005 CoSN Compendium

The third edition of the CoSN Compendium looks at six issues of vital importance to education technology leaders today. All the monographs from both this and the first and second editions of the Compendium are available for free to CoSN members in PDF format.

Best Practices for CTOs: Lessons Learned by District Leaders: Over the past year, the CoSN CTO Council has conducted a series of Leadership Forums at which technology leaders from districts around the country have come together to discuss CoSN's Essential Skills of the K-12 CTO Framework, to talk about the challenges they face, and to share the best practices they’ve discovered in their day to day work. This monograph examines the best practices identified for each of the nine Essential Skills.

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Becoming an Advocate: Advice for K-12 Technology Leaders: Education technology leaders know that all one has to do to witness the power of technology to improve K-12 learning is walk into a wired classroom. However, Congress's profound cuts to education technology programs reveal that many lawmakers in Washington do not understand the fundamental connection between technology and improved K-12 learning. To bridge the gap, education technology leaders must go beyond their traditional roles as facilitators of technology in schools and become advocates for technology on the state and federal levels.

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Partnering For Success: IT and AT Together: This monograph examines the factors that have hindered IT-AT cooperation in the past and offers practical suggestions for building effective partnerships to move beyond the challenges and bridge the gap between these two communities for the benefit of all students.

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What Could Go Wrong? Talking to District Leaders about Cyber Security: Security is a difficult topic to address. K-12 technology leaders are often not certain they fully understand it themselves, much less feel confident explaining it to others. Meanwhile, superintendents and other district leaders can feel overwhelmed. Technology is not their primary concern, and it's easy to be seduced by "you're better off not knowing." Even though everyone is working in an educational setting, it can be hard to reveal how much you don’t know. So technologists don't talk, and superintendents don't ask, and everyone ventures into insecure territory with eyes half closed.

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You are Not Alone: Options for Data Management: With data an increasingly integral part of K-12 instruction and operations, a school district's technology infrastructure has become mission critical. Easy access to quality data gives teachers tools to monitor and shape student progress, helps administrators identify what’s working and where more resources are needed, and allows the district to demonstrate compliance with NCLB requirements.

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From TCO to TVO: Measuring Total Value of Ownership for K-12 Technology: Total Value of Opportunity is emerging as a means of demonstrating the value of investments in technology. As a more sophisticated measure than Total Cost of Ownership, TVO is not a single metric but rather a portfolio of frameworks that provide a multi-faceted view of the value proposition. TVO is a quantitative and qualitative value methodology that applies a standard set of concepts and models to answer key value questions about existing or potential IT investments.

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Primer on Open Technologies for K-12 Education: The words "open," "source," "standards," "interoperability," and combinations of these terms represent specific ideas cherished by various communities. This monograph begins to sort out the emerging standards, their respective sponsors, and terminology associated with each. The goal is to help readers investigate and answer some initial questions regarding these standards and their relevance to infrastructure questions.