Yes Tech!

Scott McLeod has asked for bloggers to participate in “Leadership Day,” a day to reflect on digital leadership with the purpose of helping school principals, central office administrators, and superintendants become more effective to lead the effort of preparing students for the 21st century.  Specifically, how to recognize, evaluate, and facilitate effective technology usage by students and teachers.

In my role as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for a large school district, I work with teachers as they use technology in their classrooms.  I need your help; I cannot do this without you.  

Technology professional development is not required according to the teacher contract and it is not required for administrators.  However, there are Michigan GLCE’s (Grade Level Content Expectations) that include student use of technology in every curricular area.  Michigan curriculum is required.  Using technology is no longer something that can be used “when there is enough time.”  Our students depend on us to prepare them to think critically, work efficiently, solve problems and communicate in creative ways, collaborate with others, and be able to figure out the best ways to do all these things, taking risks to do so.  Technology changes quickly and our students must adapt to it.  We all do.  We are the professionals who need to ensure that it happens. 

What can administrators do to help lead the effort?  Although I am thinking of specific things for my school district, these ideas could be applied to any school district.

• Take my online course “21st Century Skills for the 21st Century Educator.”  The purpose is to provide you with opportunities to experience tools that are now available online that will enable you to easily connect and share with others, participate in authentic collaborative activities with other educators, explore new web-based educational tools, and reflect on how all this impacts your professional life.  Contact me for log on information.
• Set your own personal technology goals.  Make the time to try out tech gadgets and web tools.  Ask for help; you know who to ask.  Be a learner.  Without this step, the rest simply cannot occur.
• Set technology goals for your school; work with teacher leaders to set them and carry them out.  Communicate them with teachers, parents, and students. 
• Attend the Spice it Up Technology Conference.  It’s local, it’s free, and you can learn a lot.  There is a strand just for administrators!
• Know the difference between using technology that will and will not make a difference in student achievement. Doing a worksheet on a computer or copying info from the Internet on a PowerPoint slide will not make one bit of difference in student learning. 
• Be aware that there are educational technology standards for administrators.  Study them, work with other administrators to make sense of them, and include them in your daily work.
• Hire only those who are tech savvy and creative.  In today’s economic climate you can be very picky.
• Expect that the technology that we have is used constantly.  Do something about it if it is not. 
• Showcase lessons that allow students to make choices, think outside of the box, and demonstrate their learning in creative ways.  Don’t call attention to the technology used, call attention to the content and the process.  

With your support at the building (or the district) level, together we can make a huge difference.  Our students will be more engaged, our teachers will be more effective, our students will develop deeper understanding of concepts, and our parents will be pleased with our efforts!  

 
The MACUL Conference was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan last week.  The conversations, networking, and social events helped me connect with others, and spending time with others who “get me” for three days was pretty cool.

The pre-conference session with Jason Ohler on digital storytelling was a highlight, for sure.  Jason was masterful at helping everyone see that digital stories have everything to do about the story, and little to do with the technology.  By the end of the day, EVERYONE had written and produced a short digital video using either iMovie or MovieMaker, then we shared our creations with the group.  The stories were fabulous! 

I attended a wide variety of sessions, and picked up at least one thing from each of them.  I was on the MACUL blogging team, so I wrote about many of the sessions on the Conference blog.

So, now it’s time to set goals to figure out new ways of bringing the joy and effectiveness of technology into the arms of the students and teachers in the classrooms.   After much thought, I think that one of the things that needs to be done is to find ways to reach the school principals… the instructional leaders at the building level.    One principal from my district attended this year, and he has already made plans to add on-line collaborative experiences for the students at his school.  What could happen if all the principals were to attend MACUL next year in Detroit? 

So far I haven’t found a way to systemically communicate the need for keeping abreast of newer technologies that were not available even a few years ago to the building principals.  I’ve been asked to train them on using Word, PowerPoint, Excel, email, etc.  I’m  happy to do that, and learning to use these programs help them with their administrative tasks, but somehow there hasn’t been time for more meaningful types of staff development.   When I do have the opportunity to speak with the group, I have a short amount of time in their packed agenda. 

I plan to work closely with the principal who attended MACUL, and I’m banking on him having clout with his peers to ensure that we find time for doing what we need to do to prepare our students for the world they now live in.  We cannot do it without technology.