Change - Assignment #2

“What started out as a personal use of technology has become systemic to every facet of leadership. Digital leadership can thus be defined as establishing direction, influencing others, and initiating sustainable change through the access of information, and establishing relationships in order to anticipate changes pivotal to school success in the future.” Pillars of Digital Leadership, Eric Sheninger

The quote above, from Pillars of Digital Leadership by Eric Sheninger, really defines how technology has influenced both schools and leadership within schools over the years. I feel that if you, as a leader, are ignoring the influences of technology on your leadership then you are not being a forward thinking leader. Immediately, as a leader, your most important job is to ensure that innovations involving technology are open, available and encouraged. In the video on the Secrets of Change, the three main qualities of leadership are defined as hope, a selfless attitude, and a love for learning. That last quality is what separates innovative leaders from status quo leaders. In today’s world, life long learning is realized through exploring new technology and new ways to engage students.

Standard four encourages leadership through the effective use of technology resources. A huge part of this is money management and being able to effectively and efficiently spend your budget. This is the largest caution in the change process that needs to be realized because if you make an investment that ends up not being utilized by staff, then you have not created a sustainable change. This can be avoided through a lot of piloting, grant writing, committee work and following a strict cycle of analysis that takes teacher opinions and student data into high consideration.

The most immediate step that a leader can take is to become knowledgeable and comfortable with types of technology that you think will benefit the school or technology that staff has shown an interest in. Knowing what is available in terms of funds and resources is vital for a leader to be able to answer questions about what is possible. The specific details of what types of technology you would explore depends heavily on the environment of your school, what resources are available and what comfort level your staff has with technology. If you find a resource that you think would really benefit the staff and the school, then you need to model its use to your staff in some type of form.

Part D of standard four talks about developing strategic partnerships to support systematic improvement. This is another step that is vital to the success of technology implications within your school. Good partnerships with businesses or staff members who are knowledgeable and interested in technology are invaluable as you move forward into digital leadership. Having contacts within the school, district and community that can support you in your digital leadership will help you to create sustainable programs that will have far reaching benefits for your students.