Skip to main content

Define: Facility Needs

By
Getting bogged down by the jargon on 21st century learning? You are not the only one.  One of my first tasks in starting a relationship with a District is discovering the District’s terminology for departments and special programs.  Special education is always an area where terms like Special Day Class can mean a whole host of different things and require different type of spaces.  Different approaches to learning and the world of technology have exploded the learning vocabulary to the point there needs to be a dictionary.  A Dictionary For 21st Century Teachers: Learning Models & Technology

Creating common language is key to making any organization work.  One of the unsung heroes of a facilities master plan is the cross pollination of jargon, philosophy and purpose different departments have in an organization and how they affect the final environment.  

Teachers will ask why they can’t paint their classroom a different color and the maintenance department will demand a reduction of paint colors in a construction project order to limit the amount they must keep in stock.  While this paint example is a simple one, I am always amazed during a master plan what opportunities are missed by not having connections between departments and the frustration that is resolved by having a meeting together.  Visioning and creating standards are two wonderful times to have those conversions.  Where representatives across disciplines can come together and work out an approach, which, in the end, serves the ultimate goal of the organization as a whole.  In education, that ultimate goal is as Tim always says “is all about the kids!”

How is your department's needs/objectives misinterpreted by other parts of the organization?  Do you have a success story of bringing different departments together to solve a facilities issue?
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 17, 2015 at 11:10 AM

    Ellen's point in this BLOG is one of the key drivers in creating a successful master plan for not only our educational clients, but as well our other clients who want effective, efficient, productive work environments.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 17, 2015 at 4:47 PM

    One other communication tool for the generational divide.
    http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2015/02/how_to_be_more_generationally_savvy_part_1.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFebruary 19, 2015 at 8:50 PM

    Ellen I really enjoyed your blog. Simple and to the point. I hope school project managers and staff get to see this and follow your advice.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changing an Icon

By
Changing an Icon I draw. Little doddles cover cards and note pads at large and small gatherings. It was a note taking technique I was taught and gratefully adopted early in my career. The reason, beyond my lack of spelling talent, is really to distill the spoken word into the most basic pictorial concept because when gathering information from so many, it needs to be contained and expressed in the most condensed form. The smallness allows all input to be displayed at once. Most of the drawings are well accepted icons to today’s texters, our culture’s emogies. These symbols hold strong association. A “house” is often drawn with gable roof and two symmetrical windows on either side of the door in the middle. We faithfully hold that image in our head even though very few, if any, have ever lived in a house that looks like the icon. We have many of these connections imprinted on our brains. Think of trains, building types, flowers and genders, which all have the easy mental imag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Window Pain

By
At just another regular day of meetings at school district office, I (Ellen) just had to laugh.  Even with well-informed architects in the building, there was one room with the heater on and another room with the door open and the air conditioner pumping away.  Yap, we have a problem.  It brought flashbacks to a day I met with the facilities staff at a school district. They told me, in no uncertain terms, there will be no operable windows in the District. What no operable windows?!? We are in California.  Fall, spring and lately half of winter, big savings could come from using what Mother Nature is providing by opening a window.  They added, not so jokingly, if only we could control the doors too. At the time I was beside myself.  Today, however, on some level, I understand. This is not the first meeting I have been in where doors and windows are open with the air conditioner on and it is hotter outside than in.  Still, I don’t think tota...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deeper Thinking with the Microwave Generation

By
While at a Kiwanis event this past weekend I (Ellen) ended up sitting at a table with all educators except for me and one other person, who asked how are kids different these days?  One of the educators replied with, “they are part of the microwave generation , zap and here is the answer.”  It is interesting to ponder a group of people, who for all their life, when presented with a question had the ability to just ask Google .  One of the educators went on to say that it is hard to get her students to work into the depths of a problem.  Of course, that is exactly where you want them to go, deep into a problem because Google is there for everyone, right?  So, what does going deeper into a problem look like in a classroom?  What tools and what environments provide support to the “microwave generation” to move beyond the quick answer?  Access to the internet only gives them Google…. At a workshop, I also attended recently, a STEM ( STEM  ...
Post a Comment
Read more