As leaders in educational technology, how can you garner
support for the effective use of technology from your staff members? What will
this look like in your district, your building, and individual classrooms? How
will you plan to offset the “digital divide”?
For my post this week I am focusing on
Option 2, garnering support for the effective us of technology from staff
members and how to make this work at my school and finally how to offset the
digital divide?
To start off with I want to quote the
apostle Paul when he says in 1 Corinthians that, “Even so the body is not made
up of one part but of many.” This is very essential in understanding not just
in our churches but our workplaces as well. I teach at a Christian school, so
this is very apparent to me and must be grasped by all involved if we are to be
successful. Even at a public school, God has placed certain individuals in
certain places for His purpose.
I found an interesting article written
by Marcoux talking about the lack of teacher librarians around the country due
to budget cuts and the emergence of 1:1 in schools. The article also brought up
the fact that the resource librarian is the most key person in the whole
process of getting the digital divide crossed in the school! They usually are
the one with all the resources and ideas; they also have the time to research
and support the teachers and administration. When I read Picciano this week
there were some ideas brought up to help facilitiate the digital divide in our
schools. Ideas like broadcast television, asynchronous and synchronous
education. There was also the question what meets our student’s needs? What
does k-12 education look like and how do we deliver the best 1:1 program for
our students?
Further, when I read Hall this week,
one of the main points was group work and its effectiveness in online distance education.
Hall also talked about teamwork and collaboration is key to success of online
or 1:1 education being successful in the schools. Collaboration can be hard when teachers are
stuck in their old ways of doing things. Hall talks about training successful
teams through professional development opportunities are a must that every
school should invest in. This creates a good teamwork environment where members
don’t have to be intimidated to try something new.
In my experience this year at a new
high school where I was brought on to help start an online school and help
implement 1:1 integration with the ipads I have found it very rewarding and fulfilling
as staff and administrators alike are very receptive to learning new material
and buy in for the program. The reason
for this is that the administration and key faculty members were prepping the
rest of staff in advance and training them before they rolled out the programs.
This was very important in providing trust and safety in the process for
everyone. We need to remember this too when Piccaino asked us to answer the
question, “what meets our students needs?”. What does k-12 education look like
and how do we deliver the best 1:1 program for our students? Bottom line for me is that teamwork is essential,
collaboration is key, and to make a true successful distance education program
for students we have to work together as one body with many parts, like Paul
said.
References:
Hall, D. (2008). The Technology Director's Guide to Leadership: The Power of Great Questions. Eugene, OR: International
Society for Technology in Education.
Marcoux, E. Q. B. Q. (2014). Bridging the divide. Teacher Librarian, 42(1), 65. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA387953052&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=155b1dc0ac69a258b19e67372d545e1e
Piccano, A. (2011). Educational Leadership and Planning for Technology (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Marcoux, E. Q. B. Q. (2014). Bridging the divide. Teacher Librarian, 42(1), 65. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA387953052&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=155b1dc0ac69a258b19e67372d545e1e
Piccano, A. (2011). Educational Leadership and Planning for Technology (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
