Monday July 13

Today we had the opportunity to discuss leadership in IT with Mr. Gary Spence of the Wolf Creek School District. He brought many years of experience and he shared his insights on leadership and technology as it applies to his work as the Assistant Superintendant. I enjoyed speaking to Mr. Spence about the one-to-one laptop project that is currently going on in their school district. His perspective was that laptops for all students was not a sustainable initiative if Alberta Ed had to purchase all the laptops. His prediction was that school districts would eventually develop NAC (network access control). He described how school districts would allow students to bring their own devices and access school networks. His biggest fear regarding NAC is that teachers would become techs. They would have to provide technical support on many different machines. There are interesting arguments to support both points of view and I look forward to discovering them.

What continuity do you see between some of your readings, other presentations, and this presentation?

I saw continuity in Gary’s speech regarding one to one laptop initiatives. I thought their findings were very interesting. They have come to the conclusion that buying laptops may not be that effective. Gary told us that the initiative is not sustainable. Wolf Creek Public Schools is currently developing a NAC (Network Access Control) strategy to ensure students access to information. This will allow students to bring their own devices and connect to the school networks. Unfortunately this blows my IT proposal out of the water.

Salience (Why is IT in education important to this person?)

IT in education is important because we must prepare students for the 21st century. We do not really know what that means yet however IT is a way to reach those skills. Technology is changing everyday. Students must be taught ways to manage this information. They must be taught to critically treat information they come access. Technology is pervasive. No matter what you do it gets touched by technology. Therefore we have an obligation to teach responsible use of IT.


Outcomes (what are the specific IT in education outcomes sought through your organization)


Spences pyramid shows some of the outcomes.


Processes (what processes are used to achieve these outcomes)

Spence’s hierarchy of effective tech integration needs displays some of the processes. Everyone’s opinion counts because everyone has to have input in the decision making.

Gary mentioned that the organization cannot let a separation occur between techs and teachers and the learning. They pyramid must not be separated. If the stuff is not working it will not happen. The base of the model is the foundation.


Characteristics (What are some of the characteristics of IT leaders that make them effective in achieving their goals)

Visioning is a characteristic but it is also the ability to evaluate where your organization will be in the future. The ability to evaluate the strengths and challenges your organization faces. These things are all part of the visioning process and they are essential characteristics of effective IT leaders. Recognizing everyone’s opinions and input when it comes to decision making is also essential. For example if a teacher says that a certain piece of technology is not working the IT leader needs to take this into consideration when planning for the future.

Gary also gave his take on leadership qualities. Some of the things he talked about had not been explicitly mentioned and it was nice to hear his homegrown take on the subject.

Be committed
-to kids
-staff
-excellence
-integrity
-dignity

Be visionary
-Know where you are going and why
-Envision 5 years from now

Be Humble
-Recognize that your success is the result of many people.
-Nothing you do matters unless it benefits kids.
-You can’t possible know or do it all.
-Rely on your peers and confidents.
-Give others credit and recognition.

Technical savvy
-Gain some nuts and bolts experience.
-Know what you don’t know.
-Don’t allow yourself to be misled.

Pedagogy
-Stay up to date on research.
-Take a teacher eye view.

Other
-Be pragmatic
-Technology is neutral;
-Be transparent
-Collaborative – build relationships
-There are times when you need to make the call
-Strong negotiator
-Highly organized
-Good manager, budget planning, etc.