SHAPING TECHNOLOGY NEEDS THROUGH TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Jessica EatonDena Kiouses

Transformational leaders

Inspire Develop the leadership capacity of others Help others develop and empower

others by responding to the needs of:IndividualsThe GroupThe Organization

(Callow, 2012)

School leaders School leaders may have formally

mandated technology leadership responsibilities this can be problematic since they often do not have the training or background to feel confident in dealing with technology”

(as cited in Afshari, Ghavefekr, Siraj, & Samad, 2012).

LearningEstablished learning theory states that for something to be defined as learning it must meet four criteria:

Occur in context Be active Be social, and Be reflective

(Francois, 2013). Think of technological staff development you have

attended, were the four criteria met?

Resistance Obstacles

One way to tackle the resistance and skepticism is communication. Identifying staff interests and needs, including scheduling allows for open dialogue and increases the comfort level with the potential change.

(Brand, 1997)

Time, Time, and Time When designing professional

development for technology use, adequate exposure to training lessons, instructional software, and hardware is necessary (Schrum, 1999).

According to Darling-Hammond, professional development needs to be at least 14 hours in order to be effective (2013).

Leaningforward.org

Learningforward.org Proposed amendments to the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act as reauthorized by No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, in regard to professional development.

Professional development in this context is aimed at increasing student achievement.

This definition includes specific language about sustained professional development that includes teachers and principals.

Besides using data to drive decisions, a community of educators approach is recommended that is on-going, and that at least some of the instruction should be “facilitated by well-prepared school principals”.

Staff Development with a Purpose

Technology should not be taught for technology’s sake (King, 2002).

Staff Development with a Purpose Specialized training needs to be “job

embedded professional development” leaders need to know what the need are how to be the development leaders

Effective school leaders create environments where professional learning is embedded in the school’s culture.

(Straughn, 2013) Learning Forward

Local Context A survey, using Surveymonkey was

extended to classmates 12 responded

Q6. If offered, would you attend a project-based professional development session in order to better utilize specific programs. *Project-based is defined as receiving training and creating a product as evidence of learning."

There were nine respondents. Seven chose the “Yes” option for a total of 87.5%, one chose the “No” option for a total of 12.5%, and one chose to skip the question.

How Were Classmates Trained?

I received PD from an expert

I was trained by an IT trainer

I was trained by my supervisor

I was trained by a coworker

I trained myself.

Challenging Assumptions

Some Examples of Involving Staff

Don’t Forget Availability

Then, share results

Differences in LeadershipFundamentally, leaders influence others

Transactional leaders manage; Transformational leaders invoke change What kind of leader do you want to be?