My experience with Sheninger’s six elements that drive
change is a continuous linear event that I have experienced past, present, and
future.
Sheninger says that connectedness matters (Sheninger, 2014)
as his first point. This is the point
that I most readily identify with as something recently learned and that I am
still learning. I had used Twitter and Facebook for personal gain in years
previous, but I had never realized their full potential. I still don’t.
In this course, I have really come to appreciate Twitter
more than any other social media site because of the worlds it has helped me
connect to. I went from completely
ignorant of EdTech resources, methods, and applications to someone who has
already written a real proposal to my school to enhance and support learning
next year in my classroom! The
connectedness matters greatly.
I think this is in contention for the most important element
that Sheninger mentions. The Bible says
“where there is no vision, the people will perish” (Proverbs 29:18). The same can be said about
any program or organization. As leaders,
we have to cast vision and do so constantly so that our peers remain aligned as
we work towards a common vision.
I see the elements of value and embracement as being very
closely linked. The frontiersman had to
understand the value of the wagon for moving his family across such a vast
country in order to embrace its use. I’m
sure there was some degree of selling; but there is a point, like Sheninger
says, where it becomes less about the selling points and more about the true
value of the idea. That’s when embracement happens. School leaders strive to invite staff into a
place of embracement with EdTech.
Once EdTech has been embraced, there has to be a significant
amount of user support and professional development. We can’t expect to hand someone Adobe
Photoshop and expect them to turn out professional flyers the same day! We have to take the time and money to invest in
making sure those who are going to use the technology know how to do so well.
My District is very small.
As I said, I have already written a proposal at least for my Spanish
class for next year. I am meeting with
my principal and instructional coach soon to discuss it. I am hoping to inform
them in a way that begins to move them towards embracing EdTech. I don’t think they even have it on their
RADARS yet! This is step one in the six
elements for me.
I think data would support my claim that EdTech will improve
student learning. My plan is to keep
data on the same quizzes and tests and compare those score to my kids this year
that didn’t have EdTech. Doing so would
be a very basic form of data collection that would support the continued use of
EdTech in class.
Reference
God, F.; God, S.; and God, H.S. (Before the Foundations of the Earth) The Holy Bible .
Sheninger, Eric. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
I have also only used Facebook and Twitter for personal use and honestly, had stopped using Twitter until this class. I felt like with new “things” like Instagram, it was becoming outdated. But I have found Twitter to be useful in posting academic information that I can share with others in my field. I also have a coworker that recently joined Twitter and we discuss the various postings that we have done or other information that we have learned. It has proven to be a great tool for us to connect face to face as well as online.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that value and embracement do go hand in hand. We cannot embrace anything that we do not value. The time needs to be taken to show educators the value of something instead of assuming that since we are being shown how to use a program that is it valuable to students. We need to be shown all that programs can do from the tiniest piece to the largest in order for us to see the value so that we can embrace it. This embracement might take time, as we will have to become familiar with it and try it multiple times with our students. This is where professional development comes in as well. Without the support of the district and time to learn, educators will not value or embrace the new program. Just as our students need time to learn and practice a skill, so do we. I like how you mentioned that we should not be shown Photoshop in one day and expected to make beautiful flyers. We do not expect that of our students, so why should that be expected of educators? Professional development is needed in order to learn how to navigate and teach our students.
Great post, Andrew. You made some strong points in regards to Sheninger’s six elements that drive change. Like you and several others, prior to enrollment in this course, I never saw the significance in joining Twitter to increase my professional growth and development through my connectedness with other professionals, since I was ignorant of the several opportunities that could be gained by joining such professional network. As a result of this opportunity presented throughout this course, I am currently conducting “Twitter training” with some of my colleagues in my district to share my new experience and to form a professional learning network with them as we grow and learn together with each other’s support. Our connectedness to others better allow us to examine our strengths and weaknesses and how to build on those strengths and improve on areas of our weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I admire you for taking the lead to propose an educational technology plan to your school administrators and supervisors. When school leaders see the value of tools and resources, especially when properly presented by their staff members, they will most likely embrace those tools and resources, and implement them as part of the school’s plan.
Sheninger (2014) advised that school leaders must “support early adopters and risk takers” (p. 43), and that “the principal must provide appropriate professional development time and resources to support effective classroom implementation of technology” (p. 42). By this, dynamic educational leaders should be very supportive and encouraging to all persons they influence in order to build successful school communities, especially when those persons present a plan of their vision for the school’s growth, as in your case. In addition, these school leaders should be role models as they display their willingness to conform to positive changes to obtain successful results in their schools’ overall student academic achievement and performance.
Sheninger, E. C. (2014). Digital leadership: changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Hi Andrew!
ReplyDeleteI must say that I thoroughly enjoyed your blog. I love how you presented Sheninger’s six elements that drive change. I agree with you that connectedness matters greatly. I knew there was “another world” that exists entirely of technology, but I had no idea of its vastness. Without becoming more connected, one cannot completely appreciate what it has to offer. Guess we can say the same for Christians and non-believers. We know there is a God, but without truly being connected and having a relationship with Him, how can we truly appreciate Him?
Vision is a crucial element that drives change (Sheninger, 2014). I liked the bible verse you referenced and how it equates no vision with perishing. Education is all about the continuity of learning-it never ends; hence, the importance of casting a vision constantly for an alignment toward a common goal. Additionally, Picciano (2011) states “However, when integrated into an educator’s vision of what children and young adults need to learn about the world and themselves, then technology can be an effective tool in achieving that vision” (p. 4).
As for your proposal-good luck! I have not had to write a proposal of any sort, but I feel it may be in my near future. I briefly discussed utilizing Twitter to my colleagues in my department last week. Well, they quickly expounded on one of Sheninger’s roadblocks: don’t have time! Yep, I had to shake my head and laugh. They commented that they did not have the time to do one more thing, especially since they were inundated with emails. I quickly showed them how Twitter could be used to benefit them as well as our students. The verdict is still out…wish me luck!
Like you said, I know that EdTech is not on their radar either. What is intriguing to me is that they do not dismiss the integration of technology, but they have not been connected to understand the value. Therefore, with me taking these technology classes, I hope to become as comfortable as you and move our department toward embracement!
References
Picciano, A. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
I encourage you to check out https://getkahoot.com/ as you move forward with your study of the effects of ed tech, Andrew. It's engaging and fun--for students and teachers alike! After reading your reply to Marquis, I'm also excited that you are thinking about the possibilities of using collaborative tools such as Google Docs so students can work together while online. What projects could you develop with other teachers to support literacy and language acquisition in Spanish?
ReplyDelete