Unit 1: Leadership and the Technology Coordinator (Printer Friendly Format)

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Unit 1: Leadership and the Technology Coordinator

The technology coordinator is a leader but almost always a leader of busy people whose primary commitment is to another role, and perhaps to another leader. To complicate matters even more, the technology coordinator leads a team of people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives along a path that is constantly changing, and one that is often perceived as expensive.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. That somebody is you. The series of activities in this unit will lead you through an exploration of the leadership role and will ask you to think of leadership as it applies to you, in communities in which you will use these skills. It is designed to help you be a more effective leader as you help move the schools you serve toward the effective use of technologies to support the learning process.

You will define leadership, think about effective leadership, think about leadership as it relates to the technology coordinator's role, learn about stages people go through as they consider adopting new practices, and think about how to lead people toward a shared goal.

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Define Leadership

Introduction

What is leadership? Is there a difference between leadership and management? To be an effective technology specialist you must be able to answer these and other questions related to leadership.

Your Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Your Task(s)

To complete this lesson, complete the following task(s):

  1. Go to the discussion forum titled Defining Leadership and respond to the short posting from the instructor.
  2. Be sure you have read and given some thought to Chapters 1 and 2, Pages 1-54 in the course text.
  3. Read the Definition of Leadership offered by the Leadership Development Center, University of Buffalo.
  4. Read "So You Want to Be a Leader" by Richard M. Ayres, being sure to come away with a clear understanding of the difference between leadership and management.
  5. Read the Fortune Magazine article, "How Tomorrow's Leaders Are Learning Their Stuff" to stimulate your thinking on how the definition of leadership in complex organizations is changing, and what they mean by the "soft stuff" of leadership. You can find the full text of this article online by entering the title into the search form for ABI/Inform, through Penn State Libraries "LIAS" Web site. (Want to learn more about how to find articles through LIAS? Check out the World Campus instructional module on "Searching for a Journal Article in LIAS."
  6. Explore the leadership resources offered in a University of Texas course, as they relate to our professional lives.
  7. Read the articles listed on technology leadership offered by the Southwest Education Development Lab.
  8. Read About Collaborative Leadership from the The University of Richmond's Pew Partnership. Great discussion of the term collaborative leadership.
  9. Consult any other resources you like about leadership. (You might want to consult some of the other resources listed at the bottom of this page.)
  10. Now, after reading and thinking about "leadership," go to the discussion forum titled Defining Leadership and Post your personal definition of leadership.
  11. In the discussion forum on Defining Leadership, React to the definitions posted by at least two other students. That is, read their posting and react to what they've said. This is the part of the course that replaces face to face discussion in a regular classroom. You get a chance to think and react. It's really quite interesting.

Lesson Wrap-up

Leadership is changing, especially in complex organizations like schools and school districts. Leadership is NOT the same thing as "management," and it is a cross between skill, science, and art. As you work to become an effective technology coordinator, reflect on your growing skill as an educational leader. It's a process you'll be engaged in throughout your career.

Related Resources

Here are some resources that you may wish to draw upon as you complete your tasks:

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Effective Leadership

Introduction

Have you ever worked with a person who was able to rally a group of people to accomplish an impressive goal? If you look at what makes people willingly contribute to a shared vision and invest time and energy, you will almost always find an effective leader as a key factor in the group's progress. But what makes a leader effective?

In the last lesson you read about leadership and should have developed some ideas on the subject. In this lesson, you will go into the field and capture the thoughts of an effective educational leader. You'll share what you learn with the other members of the class, benefitting as well from what they've learned. Please begin to notice the commonality in the lists from each other's interviews. Interesting and very true.

Your Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Your Task(s)

To complete this lesson, complete the following task(s):

  1. Think about what you've read about leadership and identify at least three people you believe are effective educational leaders.
  2. Select one of these leaders and conduct an interview with that person to answer the following questions:

    (Use these six items as a guide on your "Leadership Paper." I use these elements as the criteria in my scoring rubric for the paper in task 6 below.)

    • Define leadership (your definition of leadership).
    • Describe the difference between traditional views of leadership and more current views.
    • Identify and define leadership roles (hats worn as an educational leader).
    • Provide a rationale for the importance of the leadership roles identified (why are these roles important?).
    • Discuss the leadership skills necessary for the roles that you've identified.
    • Discuss the leadership that is expected of technology specialists in schools today.
  3. Post the results of your interview to the discussion forum titled Effective Leader Interviews, or create a Web page that contains the interview and post the URL for the page in the message board. Make sure that your posting or Web page contains the person's name, title, a brief statement on why you selected this person, and their answers to the questions listed above.
  4. Read the interviews posted by other students and respond to at least two postings.
  5. Consider consulting the resources below to "round out" your thinking on the characteristics of effective leaders.
  6. Please create and attach a copy of your "Leadership Paper" to an e-mail and send it to me via the course e-mail. Remember, use the 6 elements listed above as your guide.
  7. Post the "paper"  to the discussion forum titled Sharing Leadership Papers describing what you've learned. Remember that Angel, our course management system, includes a basic WYSIWYG editor that will allow you to include HTML formatting in your postings. E-mail me with questions.
  8. People always ask how long "the paper" should be (and rightfully so). My answer is always the same, "As long as it needs to be for you to successfully cover the six topics listed above. I've had very good papers of 2-3 pages and some equally as good that took more." You're professionals, it's your call.

Lesson Wrap-up

After completing this lesson you'll have gained insight into the characteristics shared by effective leaders. But knowing about leadership and being an effective leader are very different things. Here you might want to refer to your text Appendix B, page 320, to see where you'd like to be someday. As you progress through your career as a technology coordinator, remember to work toward the attainment of these characteristics. Who knows, perhaps someone will interview you to find out how you became such an effective leader. (Don't forget to mention this course!) (-;]

Related Resources

Here are some resources that you may wish to draw upon as you complete your tasks:

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Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM)

Introduction

Technologies have a lot to offer in today's classrooms, and yet many teachers have not made any attempts to use them. Why not? Others are using technologies, but they seem stuck—they make some progress but then just stay at that level. Why did they stop making progress? What will it take to get them going? Good questions! As the technology leader, "The Concerns-Based Adoption Model" (CBAM) is a way for you to begin to find the answers.

Your Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Your Task(s)

To demonstrate this competency, you need to complete the following tasks:

  1. Read the Web site, "The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A Model for Change in Individuals" to understand the CBAM Model.
  2. Read the Web site "The Stages of Concern" to learn how CBAM is used to diagnose and as a basis for developing effective programming. The second link will give you a more detailed description of the levels of concern. Your chart will probably resemble this one when finished.
  3. Read the case study "Using computers in education: a concerns–based approach to professional development for teachers" to get a good idea about how the CBAM model can be used.
  4. Have a look at "The CBAM: A Model of the People Development Process" to get a later update of the process. This page is copyrighted 2003 and its sponsor requires that credit be given if you use or distribute material.
  5. Develop a CBAM model of teachers in your district, placing them at the various stages of "change." Attach that model to an e-mail and submit it to your instructor via the course e-mail.
  6. Go to the CBAM discussion forum and create a posting that estimates where the faculty you work with are in the CBAM levels, and how you might move forward based on that information.
  7. Read the postings of several other students in the CBAM discussion forum, and respond to at least two. Choose to respond to postings that have only one or no responses so that everyone gets feedback.

Lesson Wrap-up

Now that you have completed this lesson, you should have a better understanding of why some teachers make rapid progress with technologies, while others make none. More importantly, you should be ready to develop plans and activities that move teachers from one level to the next, increasing their technology use in the process.

Related Resources

Here are some resources that you may wish to draw upon as you complete your tasks: