Calling all bloggers! - Leadership Day

Many of our school leaders (principals, superintendents, central office administrators) need help when it comes to digital technologies. A lot of help, to be honest. As I’ve noted again and again on this blog, most school administrators don’t know

• what it means to prepare students for the 21st century;
• how to recognize, evaluate, and facilitate effective technology usage by students and teachers;
• what appropriate technology support structures (budget, staffing, infrastructure) look like or how to implement them;
• how to utilize modern technologies to facilitate communication with internal and external stakeholders;
• the ways in which learning technologies can improve student learning outcomes;
• how to utilize technology systems to make their organizations more efficient and effective;
• and so on…

Administrators’ lack of knowledge is not entirely their fault. Most of them didn’t grow up with these technologies. Many are not using digital tools on a regular basis. Few have received training from their employers or their university preparation programs on how to use, think about, or be a leader regarding digital technologies.

So… let’s help them out. Wednesday, July 4, 2007 is American Independence Day and is as good a day as any to celebrate independent (and hopefully innovative) thinking and leadership. I hereby invite all edubloggers to blog about effective school technology leadership next Wednesday.

Blog about whatever you like: successes, challenges, reflections, needs. Write a letter to the administrators in your area. Post a top 10 list. Make a podcast or a video. Highlight a local success or challenge. Recommend some readings. Do an interview of a successful K-12 technology leader. Respond to some of the questions below or make up your own. Whatever strikes you. Please tag your post with this Technorati tag:

schooltechleadership

and/or link back to this post. If you don’t have a blog, comment on someone else’s post or send your thoughts to me and I’ll post ‘em for you. I’ll do a summary afterward on what folks wrote and talked about.

Please join us for this important day, because I promise you: if the leaders don’t get it, it isn’t going to happen. Thanks.

Some prompts to spark your thinking

• What do effective K-12 technology leaders do? What actions and behaviors can you point to that make them effective leaders in the area of technology?
• Do administrators have to be technology-savvy themselves in order to be effective technology leaders in their organizations?
• What are some tangible, concrete, realistic steps that can be taken to move administrators forward? Given the unrelenting pressures that they face and their ever-increasing time demands, what are some things that administrators can do to become more knowledgeable and skilled in the area of technology leadership?
• Perhaps using the NETS-A as a starting point, what are the absolutely critical skills or abilities that administrators need to be effective technology leaders?
• What is a technology tool that would be extremely useful for a busy administrator (i.e., one he / she probably isn’t using now)?
• What should busy administrators be reading?

Comments

[Patrick]

Scott,

This is a fantastic idea and I plan to participate in some form. I am pushing my superintendents to let me offer a class called Administrator 2.0, where I would begin to have these conversations with our building administrators. Still in the wings as of now though.

[Sue]

I agree with this completely, thanks for the post.

[Brandon Waggoner]

Great idea. I've been needing to kick off my new blog, so this will do the trick. It is so vitally important to "sell" administrators on integrated technology, but so few do it. I can't wait to post it.

[Lloyd Forster]

From your article I gather that the US education leaders do not have the vision for ICT in school, I think in the UK the government is pouring cash into ICT to bring schools up to date with new technologies. The problem is how these new technologies match teaching and learning that is not so clear to anyone.

[Scott McLeod]

Lloyd, it sounds very similar to the US (except for the pouring cash into ICT part!). Sounds like a good blog post for you next Wednesday!

[Max]

Agreed Scott. This is a great idea -- and I think you hit the mark when you point to school admin. as the gateway to the teachers and students.

It is not enough for a district to pour money and equipment into schools. It is a start but not enough in itself. In fact, I think it is critical to have both school-based AND district admin. excited about and competent with Info. Tech. In my district there is a strong contingent at the district office and funds are directed to them. They are excited about the potential for change and want to bring it about. I think like many though, they are not at all sure about how to make the change -- or what change to make.

But more on this on the 4th. This is a great idea to start a conversation.

[Jason Bednar]

I am excited about the opportunity to change the way my building staff looks at technology as an occasional use item and make it as essential as core academic skills. With a finite budget(some might say small) for my building, I am trying to sell staff on using Wikis as a starting point.

[Jose Rodriguez]

You are absolutely right. He have to make sure that are message is directed to those that can make the change happen. I recently participated in a leadership forum in our district. It was a session on introducing web 2.0 tools to administrators. It is here where the conversation starts. We cannot assume anything. Educational leaders come from all backgrounds. Thanks beginning this discussion on the edupodosphere. Our challenge is to take it back to our own district administrators and our school principals.

[Roger]

Hi
What a great idea to get some interconnectedness going between people who see creation of positive futures for our young people as an exciting challenge.

For those interested in just some thoughts from 'down under' you might be interested to have a look at one of my blogs..

Leaders In Public Schools LIPS - can be seen at

http://pryorcommitment.com/lips2/

Comments and feedback welcome, and I look forward to the ride !

[Tracy Rosen]

This was such a fabulous idea Scott - I enjoyed participating and look forward to more opportunities like this one.

Here is my post :)
http://leadingfromtheheart.edublogs.org/2007/07/04/why-technology-in-schoolsand-how-to-lead-something-that-is-constantly-changing/