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Leadership |
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Strong leaders will be the most effective force in
the evolution of educational technology. In a time when schools are
faced with incredible pressures from state and federal government
to be accountable for student achievement, it is easy for administrators
to focus on the latest trends in school improvement and take for granted
other important educational issues that will, ultimately, be the keys
to success in a student's future. One example of this is the large
amounts of resources poured into Reading reform today. Reading is
very important, of that there is no doubt; however, school leaders
(Usually through the encouragement of government agencies.) are channeling
great deals of funds into traditional Reading curricula—Phonemic
awareness, leveled libraries, QAR, R3 , etc…and are seeming
to ignore that other useful Reading tools are available. |
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| Unfortunately, technology and its uses within education
seems to be one of those items that school leaders are taking for
granted. School districts within this very state are cutting technology
budgets, reducing technology support staff, and limiting the amount
of technology professional development that instructional staff members
are required to attend. These leaders are either unaware of, or choose
to ignore, the great advantages technology can bring to the entire
educational process. For example, students now days will obtain a
majority of their information from Internet research. Students should
be taught to not only find these resources, but also to read directly
from the computer screen. Along with this need for being able to physically
adapt to the new reading media, students will also have to acquire
Internet and application literacy skills: Navigation bars, site indices,
banner recognition and discernment, and more. Further, much of the
information and material used to teach Reading is becoming more and
more computer based. Tiene and Ingram support this fact in their book,
Exploring
Current Issues in Educational Technology,
when they state, “Many publishing companies, including textbook
publishers, are coming to see that they are in the business of selling
information, not books. They are already beginning to market this
information more extensively in new media formats (2001).” Why
then are school budgets being denuded of their technology monies?
Why, then, are more districts not increasing the number of technology
savvy staff members? Why is professional development continually steering
away from technology use and integration? |
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| The MSET program has as one of its objectives to develop
strong leaders in the area of instructional technology. These leaders
will, hopefully, be able to make school administrators, school boards,
instructional staff, and community members aware of the power technology
has where education of students, adult or K12, is concerned. The MSET
goals in this endeavor are: |
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use systematic
problem-solving and research-based human/computer interaction
practices in the development of computer-assisted instructional
programs. |
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understand the capabilities
of the computer, its impact on education, business,
industry and government; and will be able to adapt to, understand,
evaluate and make use of new and emerging innovations in computer
and information technology. |
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develop the skills
needed to maintain computer programs, computer systems and networks. |
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be proficient in
finding, evaluating, and using current educational research
to support continuous improvement in their profession. |
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demonstrate proficiency
in teaching and assessing others in the use of computers and
related technologies in a variety of educational settings. |
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| Below are some of the products that this student created,
either directly through course work during his MSET experience or
in his professional capacity via the influence of his learnings in
the MSET program (Click on red text for documents). |
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Problem
solving Strategies
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Program
Evaluation |
Program
Development and Improvement |
| Strategies to deal with change within
the educational workplace are important tools one must acquire
in order to be an effective technology leader. CET 765: Leadership
in Technology Change is a course that exposes students to Total
Quality Management (TQM) techniques designed specifically to
help in program modification and/or development. One of the
most useful exercises for this student was the
paper clip activity (MS Word file). I demonstrated the value
of organization, teamwork, and member ownership in the group
decision making process. |
Program evaluation is
a very important function of any leader. Is the program working
efficiently? Are the goals of the program being met? Is the
desired product or level of quality resulting from the program?
Such questions must be answered objectively and accurately with
a definite regard for stakeholder needs and desires. CET 720:
Evaluating Technology Outcomes helps future educational leaders
do exactly that. This document is a team effort at evaluating
a school technology plan (Shannon
County Tech Plan Evaluation MS Word file). Instructor comments
and final grade are included. |
Every organization must
face change from time to time. If organizations refuse to accommodate
this change or effect inefficient change, the outcomes of any
organizational work may suffer. CET 765: Leadership in Technology
Change teaches future leaders to handle change in productive
and systemic ways. This document
(PDF format) is a representation of how teamwork and Total Quality
Management principals, as established by Dr. W. Edwards Deming,
can work in solving issues accompanying programmatic change.
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| Understanding
Educational Activity Systems |
Project
Work Planning |
Major
project Activity Design |
| Educational organizations are systems
and should, therefore, be lead with a clear view of systemic
needs in mind. CET 740: Systems Theory of Distance Education
is a course designed to focus the student’s perspective
on system change and system design. The interaction of seemingly
separate organizations, identification of stakeholders, the
rippling affects of change on systems, and many other issues
are explored. This exploration of system design, specifically
Educational Activity System (EAS) design, is best represented
by the Activities
Journal (PDF format) each student is required to complete.
This journal is a very effective tool for the student since
it forces the individual to compare the information and theory
obtained from the course with the individual’s experiences. |
In my work, I am responsible
for helping a consortium of schools develop and implement a
work plan for the use of distance education within their districts.
This is a daunting project at times; one that I may not have
been able to complete if it were not for my participation in
the MSET program. What follows is a consortium
work plan (MS Word file) as it was developed by a team of
school representatives and me. I utilized the principles of
TQM, self-gathered evaluation data, and my knowledge of Education
Activity Systems to guide the process used in the plan’s
creation. |
Another duty my work
requires me to perform is the creation and implementation of
major project activities. This is usually an individual assignment
and requires that one be fully familiar with issues that may
affect many different stakeholders. Schools, students, teachers,
principal investigators of grant projects, and partnering organizations
are just a few examples. This project required the organizing
of elementary teachers to create, implement, and evaluate curriculum
for technology use in community businesses. Many of the techniques
for systemic design, problem solving, and project evaluation—skills
an information acquired through the MSET project-- were used
to implement the tasks and activities found in this project
summary (MS Word file). |
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