EdTech Leadership

I attended a great session at #educon lead by @Mrchase on Professional Learning. His session focused on the work he is doing at the USDOE on the Future Ready Schools: Professional Learning Toolkit  

It really got my wheels turning about exactly why we (as educational institutions) have so many plans and collect so much data (beyond the obvious answer of compliance) about Professional Learning. 

All of our plans and data that we collect around professional learning I think reflect our core values (not as people, but as organizations).  I would boil it down to three core values which I think you can view on a continuum from Efficiency to Effectiveness to Excellence.

Organizations collect data and make plans based on what their core value is in regard to Professional Learning;

Efficiency - Many Plans, very microscopic command/control structure, collect and aggregate certain specific data

Effectiveness - Less Plans, command/control, collect and aggregate data with the opportunity to disaggregate data

Excellence - Few Plans, local control, teacher autonomy, examine student work with students a part of the professional development process rather than just looking at student work.

Innovation is a complex topic.  ‘Disruptive Innovation’ is an even more complex topic.  it is easy to become a victim of paralysis by analysis when thinking; ‘How can I be innovative as a school leader?’.  Spending so much time studying the problems you have and the possible innovative solutions that you never actually change any of your practices in a meaningful way through innovation.  Here are 5 secrets to actually making innovation happen each day in your school or district.

1.  Allow for pockets of innovation

Empower staff, let them try things, no gotchas allowed.  People need to be able to try things; to feel like they can fail, without feeling like a failure.

2.  Review policies, rather than be driven by the current policies.

Everyone needs a social media policy, but does anyone really know the positives or negatives of allowing staff to use Pinterest or allowing students to post pictures on Instagram.  There are thousands of scenarios out there, if you try to govern each one, you will paralyze the people you want to empower; your teachers and students.  Create policies that give your school community latitude and then constantly revisit the policies and ask; does this make sense, does it foster learning without compromising student safety?

3.  Understand the soft costs of change, always outweigh the hard costs.

It’s easy to determine the cost of an app or a web service or a chromebook.  You can even factor in the price of a day of training.  What you fail to factor in is the soft cost to the teachers who have to use the new tool and be innovate.  The real cost of change is on the end user, not the leader in the office making the decision.  If the cost is too great, the teachers will reject the innovation.  If you fail completely to acknowledge the soft cost of change, you feel to acknowledge all the hard work teachers do.  

4.  If you solve one problem, you will create five more, embrace cycles of innovation anyway.

The minute you propose an innovative solution to one problem, someone will say; ‘but that will cause these other five problems” (and usually the debate ends and the innovation isn’t implemented).  To overcome this linear way of thinking, you have to make it clear that an innovation must be adopted, revised, and revisited to see it’s effect and to modify as needed.  There are no simple solutions to the complex problems of teaching and learning.  You have to adopt the Design Loop as a mental framework, there is no start or end to problem solving, it’s about constant iteration as you move closer to effectiveness and excellence.

5.  Great leaders solve problems, all managers do is manage problems.  

We are all surrounded by people who report to us, people who we report to, colleagues etc.  All these people come to you with their problems.  As leaders we need to move these people toward finding and embracing innovative solutions themselves, rather than waiting for you to impose the innovation.  Listen carefully as they talk; are they close to proposing any solutions to the problems they present?  If they aren’t, then you don’t have a innovation problem, you have a culture problem.  Step back and start to look for ways of exposing those around you to new ways of thinking that can slowly and steadily change their mindset from; from presenting problems to actually finding innovative solutions that embrace the growth mindset.  A little Seth Godin, applied in small doses, can change mindsets.  

A few years ago at EduCon I did a conversation with @budtheteacher called Dr. Remix; or how I learned to stop worrying and love citation .  I believe that the availability of digital knowledge has changed the way we use knowledge, cite knowledge, and has increased the complexities of citation (can you name everyone who influenced you today)?

Now every week I see some Superintendent or Principal being hit with a plagiarism charge somewhere in the country.  Why all of sudden are these so common?  I don’t remember as much of this going on 5 or 10 years ago.  Are our leaders just poorly trained in citation?  I don’t think so.

We all talk about connectedness and how much of a game changer it is.  Superintendents and Principals strive to not just manage day-to-day affairs, but inspire those around them and uplift them.  Honestly with the workload and stress in these positions, is it any wonder that these people may come up short on original ideas…not everyone is Chris Lehmann, but I think every Superintendent or Principal really wants to be this type of leader; who’s words inspire.  But not everyone has it in them and more over has the time to be creative.  So they borrow, embellish, and yes fail to cite.  

I think that if what we are is a connected group of learners, when such an occasion happens we have to help the person learn from it and be a better leader, rather than saying good leaders don’t plagiarize (not that they should or that it is right).  

So whether in K-12 or higher education, we all seem to feel at times stuck (for lack of a better word); basically we feel like there is a lot of cool stuff happening around innovation and technology, but well, it ain't happening in our formal educational structures, the ones we are apart of.

Then I read this story about how someone learned to code their app and I come to find out how basically when the guy sought help from formal educators he was told he was "tak(ing) shortcuts in life. Several suggested (he) major in computer programming instead of just starting an app right away."  So are formal educational organizations stuck OR are the people involved in formal education the ones that are really stuck?

"“The majority of districts getting started are looking at how to shift around existing resources,”...“You have to think about restructuring budgets to give teachers the tools they need, and students the learning experiences they need.”

"when did literacies become something that we practice, in the form of a skill, rather than something that we strive for?"

Great advice on creating disruptive innovation in schools from Michael Horn:

"schools should create an autonomous team that is separate from the rest of the organization, have them focus on a point of nonconsumption, and commit to supporting a fledgling project they create."

"You can get up and run around in the middle of a studying session if you are stuck on a problem or concept. In a normal classroom, you could only squirm and hope the teacher saw your hand."

After reading this quote,

"The most important thing that helps students succeed in an online course is interpersonal interaction and support," says Shanna Smith Jaggars

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303759604579093400834738972.html

I’m thinking; isn’t learning like cooking?  If you cook with gas or electric, a toaster oven, or a microwave oven, doesn’t the food still have to be seasoned properly and cooked through?  

So why is online learning so different than face-to-face (or blended learning) for that matter?  

A culture of innovation starts with you and it starts with making innovation a priority.  For something to be a priority, it has to move from your bucket list to your to-do list.  Here are 3 simple steps to help you get to innovating each week:

Step 1-Dive in Daily

Take a few minutes each day to reach out and find innovation; Commit to reading a few education blogs or follow some innovative thinkers on twitter, above all, reach out beyond your school, your district, your state, and find out what is really going on out there.   Make it a priority each day to locate new ideas and innovations.  Share the ideas you find through twitter or if your not ready to post things on twitter at least write it down digitally (in evernote or in a Google Doc), be sure you put it online (either publicly or privately), so you can reach your ideas from any device that you are on.  

Step 2 - Actually do Something

Each week on Friday, look at your list of ideas.  Pick one idea and start to run with it.  Which innovative idea strikes you as meaningful? Which one may actually work for your school? Which one may just be a little new twist on something you already do?  

Now here is the only hard part; figure out exactly what you can personally do to start using that innovation in your school or district by the next Friday.  What is the first step that you can take?   Don't worry about creating a project plan or having a meeting, be sure the next step is clear, measurable, and actionable by you.   For example, if you find a free web service that you think a particular class may find useful, go to that class yourself and show the teacher yourself the web service and take a few minutes to share it with the students.  This will get the innovation going, but also communicates that you are walking the talk of innovation as a leader by actually taking time out of your day to actually make innovation happen.

Step 3 - Assess, Learn, and Continue

After you take that first step in moving forward ask yourself how it went;  Do you think this is an innovation worth pursuing further?  What roadblocks did you encounter?  

  Now if you want to continue the innovation, create a second action step that involves at least 2 other people and start to spread the innovation.  Be sure that this next step allows the other people to take more ownership for the innovation.  

If the innovation didn’t go so well, go back and figure out exactly why the innovation didn’t take root;  Remember, you have only failed, if you fail to learn.   Often the school may not be ready for that particular innovation or you may not have chosen the right class or teacher to work with.   Determining that exact cause will give you valuable insight into your school’s culture and values.  However, do not dwell on it,  you learned a lesson, now it’s time to move on from that lesson.  If you feel comfortable, share that insight on twitter or a blog,  you will actually help others learn and create a support system for yourself.

I’m thinking these will be the best sessions at ISTE 2012 on Monday, June 25:

Cracking the ‘Native’ Information Experience [Concurrent Session : Spotlight] Monday, 6/25/2012, 8:30am–9:30am, SDCC 1  David Warlick, The Landmark Project 

Are videogames the only way to motivate millennials? Explore some fundamental qualities of their “native” experience and see how you can integrate them into your classroom

Role Clarity and Instructional Technology Facilitators: A Social Network Analysis [Research Paper : Roundtable] Monday, 6/25/2012, 2:30pm–3:30pm, SDCC 26B , Table: 7 Jonathan Becker, Virginia Commonwealth University with Ann Nash 

For this study, social network analysis of data from teachers yielded important conclusions about role clarity for instructional technology facilitators in a 1:1 school district.

Impactful Learning Outcomes for 1:1 Programs in Low SES Schools [Research Paper : Roundtable] Monday, 6/25/2012, 4:15pm–5:15pm, SDCC 26B , Table: 4 Matt Harris, German European School Singapore