Since the past three have been so successful,* I am putting out a call for people to participate in Leadership Day 2010. As I said three years ago:
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.
How to participate
- On Friday, July 30, 2010, blog about whatever you like related to effective school technology leadership: successes, challenges, reflections, needs, wants, etc. Write a letter to the administrators in your area. Post a top ten list. Make a podcast or a video. Highlight a local success or challenge. Recommend some readings. Do an interview of a successful technology leader. Respond to some of the questions below or make up your own. If you participated in years past, post a follow-up reflection. Whatever strikes you.
- The official hashtag is #leadershipday10
- TO ENSURE THAT I FIND YOUR POST, please complete the short online participation form AFTER you post on Friday. This will allow me to mention and directly link to your post when I do my summary post a few days later. Everyone also will be able to see the complete list of submissions. If you want to link back to this post or leave a link to yours in the comment area, that’s okay too!
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 administrators can take to move their school organizations forward?
- What are some tangible, concrete, realistic steps that can be taken to move administrators themselves 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 new National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A) as a starting point, what are the absolutely critical skills or abilities that administrators need to be effective technology leaders?
- What strengths and deficiencies are present in the new NETS-A?
- What is a technology tool that would be extremely useful for a busy administrator (i.e., one he or she probably isn’t using now)?
- What should busy administrators be reading (or watching)?
- How can administrators best structure necessary conversations with internal or external stakeholders?
- How should administrators balance enablement with safety, risk with reward, fear with empowerment?
Here are the ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT posts from the past three years
- Leadership Day 2007 – Summary
- Leadership Day 2008 – Summary
- Leadership Day 2009 – Summary spreadsheet
A badge for your blog or web site
I hope you will join us for this important day because, I promise you, if the leaders don’t get it, it isn’t going to happen.
Checklist
- Post on Friday, July 30, 2010 about effective school technology leadership.
- Complete the short online participation form so I know where to find your post.
- See others’ posts.
- Publicize as desired using the #leadershipday10 hashtag.
* Footnote
Last year I intended to individually summarize and link to everyone’s posts (like I had in years past), but I was wholly unprepared for the sheer volume of participation in Leadership Day 2009 (see graph below). I apologize to everyone for not doing what I had done in previous years. I am extremely grateful to Karen McMillan and Dennis Richards, who together did the bulk of the aggregation of the posts that are listed in the 2009 summary spreadsheet above. That list would not exist without them. I think I’ve got a much better system now, so I hope my struggles last year won’t be a barrier to your participation in this year’s event. We’d love to have your perspective!
Scott,
It is great to see how this initiative is growing each year. I look forward to reading some great ideas and posting too for #leadershipday10
@Darcy1968
I am a school board member and have just rotated out of the presidency after five years in that role. Last year at this time, I started a blog – I wanted to model to our administration and faculty how easy and rewarding it is and encourage more blogs from everyone. A year and 60+ posts later? No comments, no readership, and no other blogs. A bit frustrating. Our superintendent is wonderful and she definitely gets technology. It seems to be the community and the budget difficulties this year – people seem to think technology means spending money. I am keeping up the blog, though, and enjoy yours very much.
Cute photo, but administrators as tortoises? I think that’s selling them a bit short! Perhaps they are not as much behind as they are justifiably skeptical of the potential for technology to improve teaching and learning as compared with other kinds of supports and tools.
Richard, when I selected the picture, I was thinking more of schools rather than individual leaders…
If you’re skeptical of “the potential for technology to improve teaching and learning,” I do hope that you’ll participate in Leadership Day 2010 and share your perspectives. In your write-up, will you address why technology seems to be reshaping our ability to learn informally in powerful ways but somehow is not appropriate in more formal learning institutions?
Scott, I believe that teachers may use technology effectively well, or empower their students to use it well, within formal educational environments. I have been regularly impressed with the thoughtfulness and insight of teachers who integrate technology within overall superbly designed curricula and lessons.
I also believe that most school administrators understand opportunities and constraints within their school environments and generally give technology the appropriate emphasis. Painting school administrators as out of touch or unaware of how to integrate technology well within schools is both inaccurate and not likely to win a lot of administrators as partners for the cause.
I would like to see more technology leaders blog about good teaching and learning rather than just technology out of context. Let us recognize that teaching and learning goals come first, and that people often use computers, the Internet, handhelds, social media, etc. really well to help reach these goals. That might encourage more school administrators to work with technology leaders as partners.
I find it so interesting that most of the NETS standards for students (creativity, communication, research, critical thinking) apply to all learning. They hardly mention technology. Then the NETS teacher and administrator standards focus on specific technology competencies and supports. Why the difference?
I will be on vacation on July 30, running a relay race in central Oregon.
I agree Richard, we should have technology leaders blog about great teaching in their schools or schools they have worked with.
I am guilty of blogging about the greater picture and thinking conceptually about technology being computers, and not the tools teachers use to tech.
I find that your post is inspiring, and through out the year I will try to incorporate you ideas!
Stay tuned to my blog over the next few months and I will try to post what you ask for I have 3 unpublished posts to remind me so there is no turning back!
With all this being said…Let’s go Leadership Day! We are going to break 300!
Glad I found out about this in time! Count me in!
My post for the 30th July
Scott,
I like that this continues to grow each year. I will definitely be taking part.
I’m a new blogger (less than a year) and hadn’t heard of this initiative before. Will need to read last year’s posts first!
Here’s mine http://bit.ly/9m4MBr
It’s Friday 30th in Australia already!
Proud to be a 3-year participant! Here’s my contribution for this year: What does leadership looks like http://bit.ly/90aeeS
And thank you Scott for doing these kinds of events – I think they galvanize a community to all be participating in something together. You always make it interesting and easy to participate!
Scott,
Blogs are exploding in Burlington, MA. I am also working to help create a weekly chat for superintendents in Massachusetts, #MASSchat, moderated by our state superintendent’s group (MASS). I hope you can join us. Thank you for your efforts.
If ed leaders are to truly recognize and promote the power of technology in schools, they need to embrace it themselves!! And I believe it is one of your core beliefs, Scott, that the commitment to technology has to be shared by all (NOT just the techies or a handful of cheerleaders)…ideally, led wholeheartedly by Central Office.
And in order for someone to truly understand the power and implications of technology for how we “do” education, I believe they need to embrace it themselves…to see how it impacts how THEY communicate/collaborate/learn.
Here is our post for Leadership Day 2010. Thanks for organizing this Scott!
http://goo.gl/W15Q
Pattie Thomas
I jumped aboard and wrote a post entitled, ” This Blog Belongs to YOU! Check it out: rlyoung.blogspot.com July 30th posting.
Thanks for this Scott. Here is my post http://burlingtonhigh.blogspot.com/2010/07/leadership-day-2010-two-of-my-goals-for.html
Sad to say, this was not even on my radar screen until this year. Glad it is now!
Scott,
Thanks for doing this. Glad to see the growth, shared knowledge, diversity of posts and the archived data. Look forward to next year’s challenge.
Yeah Scott, glad to see this initiative is still hammering away! Working on my post right now.
Cheryl Oakes
Scott,
Here’s mine. I’ve been reading through some of the others and am so inspired and impressed by the different perspectives.
Great initiative–thanks for the inspiration!
http://futura.edublogs.org/2010/07/30/stepping-out-of-the-bubble/
Carolyn
Scott:
I was traveling Friday and forgot to post what I had drafted the day before. It’s up now: http://info.tnanytime.org/sbe/?p=511.
Rich
Scott– Thanks for your work on Leadership Day, and for including the data on past years’ numbers. I’ll get a post sent, though late.
Cheryl R.