Closing the Gap: Administrators and Ed Tech
I attended an interesting panel on the lack of knowledge most administrators have about education technology.
A few statistics from the panel:
- More than 70% of ed tech PD programs have no courses for administration
- There are about 8 ed tech leadership courses for administrators out of 500 ed tech leadership programs
- Administrators are thought to be 2-7 years behind in technology literacy
An important point made was that middle and late adopters are the ones who shift the system, not the early adopters. Ron Canuel, a Canadian superintendent who brought up this point, also recommended a “pressure and support” strategy: hold their hand but pull them forward.
Administrators have to lead if systemic change is going to happen, Jason Hancock said. Administrators listen to vendors, he noted, which does not lend itself to systemic change.
Scott McLeod said the administrators need to be exposed to all the aspects of integrating technology: funding, implementation, how administrators can use these tools in their work, etc. He also spoke to postsecondary in particular, noting that technology is not part of the reward structure for college faculty. Legislators, accrediting agencies and other external forces must apply pressure before change occurs at the postsecondary level.
There were some answers, pretty vague:
- Develop more courses for administrators,
- Stop separating education technology from education in general
- Tell administrators success stories to get their buy-in
- Piloting
- Creative funding
- Let them know results may not be immediate
- Tell them what is in it for them
Scott McLeod, in answer to a great audience question I can’t really rephrase, said that the big item, the big change, the big point to be made is that technology facilitates individualized education and that is the future.
One woman in the audience pointed out that it’s unrealistic for a superintendent to be hands-on with technology; the superintendent should have a chief technology officer that they listen to and farm the details out to. The administrator needs to have a technology vision, though.
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