February 2025 Member Spotlight

Robin Gunter, CETL®

Robin Gunter, CETL®, is the Director of Instructional Technology at Richardson ISD (Texas). Her career began as a junior high teacher before moving through library services to educational technology. Having attended Richardson ISD herself, she now leads the district of 50 schools serving approximately 36,625 students.

1.  How long have you been a member of CoSN? 

“I have been a member of CoSN for approximately 10 years."

2.  Why did you join CoSN? What do you enjoy about being a member?

“When I began working in the field of educational technology in 2013, I remember the technology leaders in the school district were a part of CoSN.  It did not take me long to figure out the incredible resource CoSN was to our profession.  We were able to network with so many other educational technology professionals on a variety of challenges that we were facing.  Staff, students, and community tend to look to technology on a variety of issues – technology related, technology adjacent, and areas that are not the sole responsibility of technology.  When faced with a new challenge, I always think ‘how are other districts handling this?’ CoSN helps connect me to resources and other leaders to assist in answering that question."

3.  What CoSN Committee are you a part of?

• "CETL Governance Committee (CGC)
• Student Data Privacy Initiative Educator Advisory Panel
• Awards Committee"

4.  How did you get into the field of educational technology?

"I have been in education since the beginning of my career and all 27 years have been spent in the same school district, which happens to be the same one I attended and graduated from as a student. I started out as a junior high teacher and moved into library services.  I have always tried to continuously challenge myself throughout my career and moving into technology from library services felt like a natural progression since information literacy and technology literacy skills go hand-in-hand.

Working in educational technology has allowed me the most impact on instruction to this point in my career.  The most exciting part is seeing how the support for teacher and student use of technology in learning continues to adapt to meet their needs, support innovation, and ensure our students are prepared for their futures."

5.  What does your daily work entail?

"This is such a great question and one many close to me probably also wonder.  I look at my daily work in two buckets: supporting others and looking/planning ahead.  When we discuss facilitating learning with technology, there is always a place for supporting students and staff through identifying strategies and district tools that will meet their learning objectives.  This is the work we do daily.  At the same time, I am always researching and planning ahead for what we needs to be on our radar, piloted, and/or tightened up.  Some examples include: approving instructional resource requests, supporting those who work with me as they plan and implement something new, attending a vendor meeting to identify language and read-aloud supports they offer, planning for a device refresh, and coordinating an AI Advisory Board meeting."

6. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities you see in the future of educational technology?

"I feel there are two big challenges we face in instructional technology: student data privacy and facilitating learning with technology.

Continuing to raise awareness and the importance of securing student data is a high priority.  We create and revise processes and identify ways to share those processes to ensure our staff makes this a point of emphasis when teaching with technology.

This leads me to our second challenge, ensuring that technology is engaging, enhancing, and extending the learning goals for students.  (Shout out to the Triple E Framework.) We are always cognizant of what students are doing with technology and screen time.  The technology piece should not drive the learning, but instead be a conduit to connecting their learning – supporting their wondering, discovering, collaborating, creating, applying, and reflecting through the learning process."

7. What is something you are excited to be working on right now?

"This year, our district has created a North Star Goal that states ‘Every student, teacher, and leader will meet or exceed their academic growth goals.’ Instructional Technology has played a critical role as we have implemented a new learning management system this year. The portfolio feature within this system has allowed the team to be on the front lines of supporting our North Star Goal. The portfolio is where all students and staff are curating their artifacts to show growth toward their goal.

I’m excited to see how this first year goes and look forward to evaluating how to make it a part of our culture moving forward."

8.  What is your favorite book and/ or TV show you've enjoyed recently?

"Two recent books I have read that have stuck with me:

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon and Go As a River by Shelley Read.  One has kept me thinking about all those who impacted history that we may not have learned about in school and the other is a tale about growing up, persevering, and the impact of your decisions.

I’ll let you read to figure out which is which."

9.  What hobby(s) do you enjoy doing outside of work?

"I enjoy reading and traveling.  I am also a coach’s wife.  My husband coaches baseball for one of the high schools in the district.  I get to spend a lot of time attending and cheering at baseball games this time of year!"

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