Trends in Digital Learning: The New Learning Leader

Trends in Digital Learning: The New Learning Leader

A new cohort of school principals is emerging across the country, according to a report released today by Blackboard and Project Tomorrow. These school leaders, “New Learning Leaders,” are rethinking instructional practices, providing a bold vision for the future of their schools, leading by example and supporting their teachers through this transition.

More than 400,000 teachers, parents of school-aged children, K-12 administrators and students across the nation shared their views on these issues as part of the Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning. The new report from Blackboard and Project Tomorrow on the findings, Trends in Digital Learning: The New Learning Leader - the emerging role of the agile school principal as digital evangelist and instructional leader, was released at ISTE 2018.

Key findings from this year’s Digital Learning Trends Report:

1. District leaders are increasingly placing a high value on the leadership skills of their school site administrators.

2. A new type of school principal, the New Learning Leader, is emerging who is both a digital evangelist at his/her school supporting new classroom models and an instructional coach providing modeling about effective technology use for professional tasks.

3. The New Learning Leader is more likely than other principals to have implemented blended, competency-based or flipped learning environments at their school.

4. Two-thirds (68%) of New Learning Leaders say that their most significant challenge in the effective use of digital resources at their school is providing effective teacher training.

5. The New Learning Leaders are using data to inform their leadership tasks including providing feedback to their teachers on how to improve classroom practices (89), setting schoolwide goals (85%) and sharing information with parents (74%).

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