Last week, I wrote about organizing yourself with wikis. Not surprisingly, someone emailed, asking a couple of questions of how this might be relevant to superintendents and the work they are about. The two questions highlighted a deeper issue–Is YOUR Superintendent taking advantage of the latest tools available to stay in contact, foster collaboration among staff?

When I read Technology Tools for Educators, I was immediately hopeful that such tools might find their way into the hands of superintendents. My own experience with people in those high level positions is that they are “big picture” oriented, moving from project to project facilitating deep thinking about project management and implementation. Keeping that data in a wiki might be useful, but might be too time-consuming and considered “high-tech.” Superintendents are less hands-on than a principal or director level position, and, they may fear that the involvement may jeopardize stakeholder opinions. After all, a superintendent is THE BOSS.

Yet, every reason I can think of for a Superintendent NOT using these tools is also a reason FOR using them. Wikis and their use can equalize powerful ideas, regardless of their source, and yet, not detract form the Superintendent’s ability to make the final decision. A project management wiki–like the one I shared in my previous entry–can be useful. It allows the Superintendent to focus on ONE aspect of a project at a time at his/her leisure. Yet, it allows his Cabinet to work together on multiple aspects.

Wikifying the Superintendency might result in the following benefits:

1) Increasing transparency of work among all parties, keeping everything fair and above board for all. However, transparency can be challenging. The challenge in itself is worthwhile, but some superintendents may not be ready for the consequences. For example, consider what this superintendent wrote on his blog–another Read/Write Web tool that facilitates conversation–about the wiki he had started:

In either case I can’t serve as moderator on two forums and do my “day job.” Ulitmately when the public is comfortable with how open web 2.0 environments work, they will police themselves. In other words the first mature reader that noticed the “Duh – look I changed the page” comment – they could have restored the original comment immediately. (Same philosphy on vadalism – remove the perpetrator’s work immediately)
Source: Why the Wiki is Down

In this case, the Superintendent was responding to the charge that he was being less than transparent when he removed the wiki. The Superintendent rightly pointed out that a wiki is a community effort. I would advise a superintendent seeking to use a wiki to select the community he first starts working with (e.g. his/her Superintendent’s Cabinet).

2) Allow you to, as John Maxwell shares, “staff your weaknesses.” A superintendent can flesh out an idea, general directions, outline non-negotiables, and then allow her team to fill in the missing components, as well as enhance the basic framework. For example, one approach to this is exemplified by a wiki created by Laura Nelson. Ms. Nelson is facilitating a class, but her approach to modelling wikis for use by her students could easily be applied to a superintendent’s use of a wiki.

3) The wiki can be used as a place to track ideas. Emily Dickinson wrote that “A word is dead, some say, when it is said….” However, put those words and ideas into a wiki, and they live on until they are needed. A wiki page for new ideas can be accessed by the Superintendent’s team, and serve as the basis for new initiatives, projects, or ways to complement existing ones.

While there are other considerations, the questions that arose as a result of my previous entry are as follows:

The two questions that I was asked included the following. I have shown my responses underneath each:

1. Do you think your superintendent would relate to this subject? Does he/she use one?

My current superintendent would relate to this subject; he even keeps a blog online at http://www.saisd.net/superintendent . I hope that previous work on recording podcasts as a means of communicating with campuses and constituents will bear fruit. Most superintendents I have met focus on oral communications, creating environments that their staff can flourish in. Putting things in writing isn’t something superintendents like to do…and a wiki requires just that.

That caveat in mind, I do see superintendents encouraging their staff to take advantage of wikis simply for the transparency aspect. A superintendent can get a quick report via a wiki, but they can also check the wiki themselves or know that their team (the cabinet) is working on a project. There’s no reason why wikis closed to the public couldn’t be used to facilitate online conversations that continue AFTER the meeting is over.

2. Do you know other superintendents who do?

I do not know of any superintendents who use wikis. The tool is “new” for use in education, but especially so at the superintendent level. Of course, it is that newness and usefulness that makes it worth sharing. I welcome any superintendents who are using wikis to share how they are using them in the comments.

Other superintendents might see the wiki as a place for their constituents to share ideas…for example, how can we improve what we’re doing? Are there any services that could be streamlined to provide greater benefit?

As a technology director, I often ask myself how I can use new and emerging technologies to change–for the better–what I do. If new technologies like the Read/Write Web can foster increased communication and collaboration, and knowing what emphasis top level administrators on such activities, it seems wikis and superintendents could be a nice fit.

What are your thoughts?