Enterprise Architecture Reflection

What a fall!  One of the two courses I took this fall at San Diego State was Enterprise Architecture, with Dennis Danielson (San Diego County Office of Education Director of Educational Technology) and John Cusack (San Diego County Office of Education Senior Director, Infrastructure and Operations).  This was a fantastic class and a great way to continue my Master of Educational Leadership program at SDSU.

This particular course focused on enterprise architecture and started to provide an understanding, and actually an awareness, for EA.  One of my biggest take-a-ways from the course was that EA may look daunting, but once dissected, is actually a novel way to bring teams together to work together on a common vision, using common language.  It is like putting our three-year budget, Local Control Accountability Plan, Strategic Plan, WASC together, all while working on the vision through the lens of the mission.  It truly ties an organization together.

Another take-a-way was reviewing a system in its current state, and where we would like to see the organization move.  This could either be with the same system or finding a new system to meet such a need.  It was enlightening to review some of the current systems at AAS and reflect on where the organization could go.  

Many take-a-ways, and a final one to reflect on in this post is on technology bricks.  The idea follows the first two (2) points, and is a visualization of where a system or tool is today, where it will be in the short-term, and where it will be in the long-term.  It also shows how the evolution of the tool may impact other systems and/or tools, providing insight on what may no longer be needed or what gaps may be created through this evolution.

​I continue to be impressed with the program thus far.  It is truly rewarding to be able to learn with my cohort, my peers!  Thank you Dr. Danielson, Mr. Cusack, and my cohort, for another great semester at SDSU!