Tech for School Leaders

http://www.aasa.org The American Association of School Administrators, also known as AASA, provides a podcast where school administrators are interviewed by Dan Domenech. This is a long running podcast with countless interviews with great leaders in education. One of the most recent interviews was with the National Superintendent of the year for 2015, Dr. Philip D. Lanoue. He has led the Clarke County School District in Athens, Georgia since July 2009. 

Dr. Lanoue was asked to comment on a his goal, “To take kids to a place they never thought they could be.” He mentioned that there are several programs and initiatives in place to attain this goal. One of those programs is based around making children more healthy. The district is collaborating with several organizations that support the students in several aspects of their health and well-being. He mentioned that a student’s health is key to their learning and then he spoke on the research behind that. 

Standards are now used by most organizations and schools are certainly implementing them as well. Educators use standards as a tool to focus on what students are expected to learn. In this post we will focus on Standard 2: Digital Age Learning Culture of the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators - NETSA

Standard 2 states,“Educational Administrators create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students.”

Let us look at Standard 2 as we dive in to the culture of a school. Culture is a key component of any organization and a school’s culture is deeply rooted. In order to prepare students for a technology driven future we must foster a digital subculture. This means that we must have a digital presence running through the halls of our school. There are several resources for educators to learn and gain perspective on each standard.

DigitalCitizenship.net 

http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/LLDecArticle.pdf

This site is dedicated to helping teachers, leaders and parents understand what students need in order to be prepared for the vast and growing use of technology in the world. On this site they have posted an informative visual guide with every NETSA standard. 

“Teachers are no longer the sole providers of knowledge because information is easily accessible on the Internet. As a result, all those connected to learning and teaching must first renew their vision to establish digital learning environments.”

As educators, it is our responsibility to change the way we approach learning in our classrooms and schools. The environment as a whole must reflect the ever changing need of the students. The classroom should be a gateway into a world of information and technology should be a tool for that end. Computers and tablets are not the goal, but the use of all technology should be used to support the students in this digital world.

GLHS Principal’s Page

http://glhsprincipalspage.blogspot.com/2012/02/our-unquiet-library.html

GLHS Principal’s Page exist to provide news and information to a local high school. When looking into Standard 2: Digital Age Learning Culture this school stands out as a leader in transforming the library environment. This school library functions contrary to the traditional silent library. They foster collaboration and conversation in small groups by opening he floor and providing cafe style tables and chairs. However, they do provided silent spaces throughout the school for students and faculty that need a quiet space to work or read. 

The Opportunity

Schools in Kenya and similar countries are beginning to bring more and more technology in to the schools. However, there is still a huge opportunity sitting on the table. Kenya and several other countries in Africa could change the face of education in their schools by the use of technology. This can be observed after reading just a few articles and blog posts about the use of technology for education in Africa. This means that some of the largest technology companies in the world have a huge opportunity to make a lasting difference. 

The Challenge

This is obviously no easy task as there are several challenges that stand in the way. The largest issue at this time in the infrastructure. Even wiring the “wireless” is no easy task, not to meant the bandwidth needed verses what is available. Of course obtaining the devices themselves is no easy task but that is very possible. Another large challenge lies in the content itself. Most online and mobile platforms are geared towards the country that it was written in and therefore explaining fractions with a pizza can become very distracting for students. Not to mention the names of the characters in the problems. Even though the language can be translated, the overall content is still based in the country where it originated. This means there is a huge need for the writers of the content to work along side teachers and curriculum designers in Africa. This is of course the most difficult part of truly making the move to a more technology driven education system. 

The Benefits

Of course the countries of Africa are not the only ones in need of a more reliable and integrated use of technology for education. The benefits of this type of change could provide countless opportunities. These benefits would be similar to the ones in other countries but two would most likely be retention and completion.

All images in this post are from www.edmodo.com

Edmodo is a social education tool that can be used by everyone in a school community. The company claims to be, “The safest and easiest way for educators to connect and collaborate with students, parents, and each other.” This seems to be the case for several schools now as their website highlights several participants. In fact it is not only being used in the classroom, Edmodo is now being used for professional development by schools across the world. This platform allows schools to connect in ways that were not possible just a few years ago. Sure students and teachers can use multiple online tools and programs to connect but this company in particular is finding new ways for everyone in education to connect.

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) has a podcast that focuses on successful trends in education. They mainly interview successful superintendents and school officials. The most recent post on October the 6th, 2015 was about the top factors that determine success in education technology on a school system wide level. The host was Dan Domenech and he interviewed Terry Grier, the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District.

In this podcast Dr. Grier explained the key factors needed to effectively use technology in the nation’s seventh largest school system and how that applies to any district. When starting down the path of digital transformation it is very important to begin by giving teachers the support they needed. When looking around the county Dr. Grier found that Mark Edwards, superintendent of Mooresville Graded School District, was apparently doing something right. Edwards and the school district administrators explained that they were very purposeful in what they did and are continuing to do. After hear from Mooresville they realized that they needed to implement the digital transformation in specific intervals and certainly not all at once. Dr. Grier and his district also realized that they needed to focus on the schools where the administrators were already technologically driven. 

Finally, they found that teacher training is particularly important during this wholeistic approach to using technology in the school.

Dr. Grier said,“It is not about the machine at all…”

He went on to explained that it is about training the teacher to be an actual facilitator of learning in the classroom.

Below you will find the description of the podcast directly from the show notes on iTunes. You can also listen to the podcast by clicking here.

The Top 3 Factors that Determine Success or Failure with Education Technology ReleasedOct 06, 2015

The CITE Journal (Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education) is an online, peer-reviewed journal that is sponsored by five professional associations that have the responsibility of reviewing the articles in their designated disciplines. Readers are able to respond to articles, much like a blog or social media website, which is a unique characteristic to the website. 

One article, Examining Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Emerging Practices in Online Environments, evaluates professional development and how online learning is prevalent in the classroom. A study was done over a course of 4 weeks “to provide teachers with an opportunity to explore proportional reasoning for teaching” (pg. 388). The professional development took place with a blended model of face-to-face activities as well as using online components through Blackboard Vista. The overall goal was to create constructivist listening online as a critical element to constructivist teacher practice. In the end, the results of the study concluded that whether you are in a traditional classroom, using an online module to learn, or a combination of both, the learners’ need to feel important and that the teacher cares about what the learner has to say. Through the professional development, essential elements of the constructivist teaching practice were identified as caring relations and listening. 

Educational Leadership Blogs–Blue Skunk Blog

Educational Leadership Blogs–Blue Skunk Blog