EdCircuit Staff 
Lorrie Owens 
Lorrie Owens, President of the Board of Directors for the California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA), will be presenting a handful of sessions at the 2020 Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC) covering the topics of organizational change and transformational leadership.
Part two in a two-part series. View part one here.
Sharing Information
In part two of this interview, Owens talks about the importance of collaborating and sharing technology information. Although there is an emphasis on collaboration within states, greater emphasis can be made to move efforts across state lines. Lessons learned in one state can benefit leaders in another, helping add to resources that affect best practices across the country. The ultimate goal of all school leadership, regardless of the region, is to set students up with the necessary 21st century skill sets to bring success. The sharing of information is an essential first step, and Owens brings up an interesting parallel found in cyber security interference that illustrates it.
“In the area of cyber security, part of the reason cybercriminals are successful is that they share so much information. It’s scary, but they do. One [criminal] will get far with the potential breach and then share how they did it, what they did, and how far they got on the dark web with their colleagues. They eat that information up and take it to the next level.”
She adds, “I don’t want to say that I want to use the bad guys as an example, but part of the reason why they are so successful is because they share information. We need to do it even more. I welcome, honor, and feel privileged to have the opportunity not only to present [at FETC] but also to learn from my colleagues from all over the nation.”
Equal Exchange
According to Owens, FETC offers a “plethora of information” that is exciting to take in and relay back to colleagues in California at CETPA. There is a benefit to an equal exchange of information that naturally takes place at conferences like FETC. It’s the responsibility of the attendees to use that exchange of information to enhance and benefit their particular areas of need. Additionally, Owens feels a responsibility in returning the favor to other colleagues and attendees at conferences.
“In carrying forth some of the work that they’ve done, one of the areas we are spotlighting are presentations on the disaster recovery and business continuity coming out of the wildfires last year here in California. It was devastating,” she says.
“One city, Paradise, California─the whole city burned to the ground, and that included the school district. The CTO from that school district will be presenting and talking about how to rebuild from the ground up, how they prepared in terms of having backups, and the lessons they learned.”
There are compelling stories to share that can prepare others across the country for similar incidents. Owens sees real value in terms of lessons learned that can be shared nationally. As she adds, “There are those [types] of back-and-forth scenarios I envision being able to exercise even more as we branch out and connect with FETC on that partnership.”
Subscribe to edCircuit to stay up to date on all of our shows, podcasts, news, and thought leadership articles.
