Become a Campus Technology Role Model

While preparing for this workshop on how school administrators can become technology role models for their campuses, one thought and guiding principle (no pun intended!) remained in the forefront of my mind; if schools and classrooms are effectively going to change to reflect the skills and processes necessary for our students to be successful in a new and ever changing global society, that change needs to take place from the top down.  It is my firm belief that unless our educational leaders  consistently and appropriately model the use and power of technology to their staff, resistance to embedding technology into the classroom will remain a major obstacle to the creation of 21st century classrooms and schools.  It is in our nature as humans to resist change, even if that change is beneficial to all parties affected.  Change, especially the kind of change that takes one out of their comfort zone and requires one to learn a new skill set, is something that often requires hard work, time, and giving oneself permission to fail. Perhaps this is part of the reason why change is coming so slowly to our schools.  Our teachers and administrators are already overworked and underpaid and still we expect them to take time out of their tight schedules to learn and experiment with new ways of teaching and learning.  It's a challenging and difficult row to hoe, but nonetheless it is something that needs to be done, our staff and students are counting on us to guide them along the way, even if we are unsure where the road is going to take us.   It is my hope that the discussions that take place in this workshop will encourage you to step back and reflect on the ways you are, or can, effectively model the use of technology to those that you lead. 

Links to Principal and Administrator Blogs

Presentation

Link to Presentation

Additional Reading and Listening

• Campus Technology Leaders by Wes Fryer- Technology Integration Lessons from the Texas Leadership Academy
• Invitation to Identify Educational Technology "Best Practice" - You are invited to look in your classrooms and at your campuses to identify truly outstanding examples of best practices in one or more of the following areas: Core Technology Skills; Curriculum, Learning and Assessment; Classroom and Instructional Management; Teaching and Learning; and Professional Development. Once you have used the assessment instrument and feel you have an example of best practice, submit the form nominating the classroom or campus for consideration.
• CASTLE - UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education - College of Education & Human Development at the University of Minnesota.  This website offers a wealth of tools and resources for campus administrators looking to enhance their schools' learning environment through technology and educational leadership.
• LeaderTalk - LeaderTalk is the first group blog written by school leaders for school leaders. We hope that our insights and resources are beneficial to P-12 administrators and educational leadership preparation programs.
• SBEC Technology Applications Standards (All Beginning Teachers) - These Technology Applications standards are expected of ALL beginning teachers and will be incorporated into the new TExES for Pedagogy and Professional Responsibilities at each certification level.
• National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators - The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Administrators developed through the Technology Standards for School Administrators (TSSA) Collaborative identifies knowledge and skills constituting the "core" of what every P-12 administrator needs to know about and be able to do with technology regardless of specific job role.
• Dr. Scott McLeod on Administrator Idea-Sharing via Blogs, Digital Social Networking, and Educating Others for the Transition to 21st Century Schools - Wes Fryer's interview with Dr. Scott McLeod. In this interview Scott discusses the impact blog reading and writing has had on his work with school administrators, his recommendations for constructive ways administrators can not only learn about the benefits of blog reading and writing but also better understand the ways education needs to change in the 21st century.