Week 2 - Digital Leadership

 

As I consider developing a technology integration plan for the school where I teach, the stakeholders I would want to reach out to first are the teachers. They are the ones designing the instruction and deciding when and how students can use their computers in the classroom. I would want to know how they currently use the technology, what barriers they are facing, and what training they may need. At some point, I would need to reach out to administrators to put aside time or get resources for any training necessary, and address barriers. It could also be useful to get input from students about what works for them. It may also be good to get some input from their parents, the district office, and possibly the community at large, particularly for the larger questions of a graduate profile.

The district already has a graduate profile, but it does not specifically address technology. This could either be updated to include technology, or the high school could use it as a guide to add technology goals to address parts of the existing profile. The school is currently trying to find ways to align and focus instruction within subject departments, engage students, and improve academic outcomes. Technology could be more of an explicit part of those discussions. 

The school has an Instructional Leadership Team comprised of Administrators and Department Chairs. This seems like a good place to have a discussion about shared goals, and how each department could work on advancing the ways that they use technology and sharing expertise within the departments. It could also be a place to find out what additional assistance and resources departments may need to implement the plan.

Outcomes could include student engagement (as measured by teacher observation and student feedback), assessment of key technology skills identified for a graduate profile, records of training provided to teachers, and how it has changed their practice (from surveys or observation).

The Triple E Framework (Kolb 2020) seems to be a good model for designing lessons that implement technology in an effective and engaging way. The "Es" are Engage, Enhance, and Extend. It invites teachers to decide whether the technology used in a lesson motivates students to begin the activity, holds their attention, and encourages them to be active rather than passive learners (that is the Engage). The second E (enhance) considers whether the technology enhances the lesson by allowing students to do things they couldn't do without it, whether it provides scaffolds to assist with access to learning, or helps them to gain a more sophisticated understanding of the topic. The third E is whether the technology use allows students to extend their learning outside of school by giving them skills they can apply in their lives or creating a bridge between school and real-life activities. For example, if students are using technology to fill out online worksheets it could provide some scaffolds such as spell checking, and students will likely have to fill in online forms or questionnaires somewhat in their lives outside of school, but it would not rate very high in the Triple E framework. On the other hand, using software like Desmos, which can allow students to interact with the equation of a circle and see what happens if the radius and center of the circle change, will have much more power to engage, enhance, and extend learning for students beyond what could be done on paper. If students create a digital portfolio of the skills they practice in the Digital Photography class, that is also a creative application that is more likely to engage them, enhance their learning, and extend it to their lives outside of school. This would be a good framework for teachers at my school to use to guide their use of technology.

RESOURCES

Kolb, L. (2020). About the Triple E Framework. Retrieved from: https://www.tripleeframework.com/about.html

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