What makes administrators effective technology leaders?
One of the questions that I ask right at the beginning of our students’ School Technology Leadership certificate program is whether administrators can be effective technology leaders in their school organizations without being at least somewhat technology-savvy themselves. Here are some example student responses:
- Yes. They just need to get the right people on board and empower them appropriately.
- No. How, for example, can a principal truly understand the power and potential of blogging without ever having blogged himself?
- Yes. There’s no way school administrators have the time to learn new technologies in addition to everything else for which they’re responsible. Principals need to focus on instructional and academic leadership. Of necessity, the answer has to be yes for most school leaders.
- No. “Do as I say and not as I do” doesn’t play very well with teaching staffs. If a principal is going to ask her teachers to use digital technologies, she better be using and learning technology too.
- Yes. It’s all about appropriate delegation and oversight. For example, a principal doesn’t have to be an accounting expert to effectively oversee her school business manager.
- No. There is at least some evidence to show that teachers are more likely to integrate technology into their instruction when administrators are modeling technology usage.
And so on…
What do you think? Can a school administrator be an effective leader in the area of technology but not be very tech-savvy himself / herself?
How you answer this question is critically important in terms of how you think about administrators’ professional development, job expectations, time allocation, etc. I look forward to hearing from you!
Comments
I'm in a position where the leaders are not technologically savvy, but they empower the Instructional Technologist to provide assistance. They also provide funding for the innovators to try something new, and, perhaps most importantly, they actually try new technologies themselves. Nothing too earth-shattering, to be sure, but the faculty see them reaching and are encouraged to reach themselves.
Posted by: Laura Little | May 10, 2007 1:56 PM
What if we asked, "Can an administrator be an effective leader in 'Literacy' if they are not very 'Literate'?"
Posted by: Scott Meech | May 10, 2007 2:51 PM
Hello Scott,
I only want to answer this affirmatively. My administrative team agreed upon several basic technology skills that all our staff need to demonstrate proficiency in. This is a major step on the road to using technology in a transformative way with students. Hm, I wonder if the administrators think this list will be etched in stone or do they realize that next spring we will modify and update the list of basic skills? I am forever going back to the beginning and learning something new. I am never proficient in everything!
Posted by: Cheryl Oakes | May 10, 2007 4:02 PM
I have to say that my principal is pretty technology minded. He has one of those all-in-one palm/phones that is like a 4th child to him. He gets grumpy if he goes to a meeting and there is no wireless hub for his laptop. He recently sent his small army of techie teachers on a mission to digitize the entire school curriculum guide. He even commented once on my student blog, although it was his first time and I had to help him figure out how to post it;) He models tech usage, he puts tech minded people in leadership roles, he even listens when we tell him to get more laptops for the library and forget about another computer lab because we'll get a higher level of inquiry and better results that way. I think he has set a clear tone in our building that we are going to do everything we can to catch up to our students in the area of technology. Now if we can just get him to reduce the size of his faculty meeting powerpoints, we'll all be happy:)
Posted by: amy vejraska | May 11, 2007 12:14 AM