YOYO - staff development for administrators
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 06:57AM The issue of the use of technology is 5 percent bits and bytes (a spiffy e-mail system that spans continents), 95 percent psychology and sociology (an organization that dotes on sharing information rather than hoarding it). Tom Peters
All administrators can learn. The Blue Skunk
Learning that a Google Teacher Academy for Administrators* will be held in San Antonio in March, got me thinking a little about our district's approach to helping administrators learn about any new(ish) technology. I believe our approach can neatly be summed up by the acronym YOYO - You're On Your Own.
Well, perhaps not quite. Our library and technology department just takes a less head-on approach. These strategies consciously developed by our department work for most our administrators:
- Setting examples of good communication, planning and record keeping using technology.
- Inviting administrators to all technology staff development activities.
- Providing technical support and individualized training.
- Providing clear teacher and student information literacy and technology competency lists.
- Serving on building leadership teams.
- Serving on district staff development teams.
- Placing administrators on the district library and technology advisory committee.
- Providing reports and updates on technology initiatives and budgets at administrative meetings.
- Helping administrators understand what they need to know.**
There are a number of reasons, I've found, that make "teaching" administrators*** about technology challenging:
- Administrators have people. Having ready access to secretaries, librarians, and technicians, it's pretty easy to pass technology-enabled tasks to one's minions. (I do it myself.) Having the librarian develop the PowerPoint, the secretary access the finance system, or the technician do any software upgrades is a routine occurrence. One can reasonably argue about how much time we taxpayers want our administrators spending on secretarial or techie tasks anyway.
- What is commonly taught has little relevance to administrators' daily work. Our staff development efforts tend to focus on teachers and classrooms. Knowing how to use interactive white boards, the online grade book, or clever Web 2.0 tools to make reports sing and dance will not impact the daily work of your average principal. As "instructional leaders," administrators should know of these tools, but do they need to master them?
- Administrators have other priorities and other tasks than classroom teachers. Administrative work is just plain different from classroom teacher work. Work drives tech use, not the other way around.
- Technology as tool for student problem-solving, communication and creativity may not be in alignment with administrators' personal educational philosophy. Or individual leadership styles for that matter. If the administrator is evaluated base on test scores, the most powerful uses of student technology use - creating problem-solvers, communicators and divergent thinkers may not resonate with an administrator. But they may happily glom on to reading or math integrated learning programs or data mining apps. My experience shows that anyone happily adopts technology when it increases the chance of his/her personal goals - people are not resistant to technology, per se, but applications of technology that do not conform with their idea of schooling.
- Most administrators are middle management, taking directions and priorities from a supervisor themselves. As powerful as some administrators may seem, they take their marching orders from someone else as well - including superintendents who answer to elected school boards who answer to the public. So they have a limited degree of autonomy to set their own goals, practice their own educational philosophies, etc.
As we roll out Google Apps for Education here, I am hoping that, by example, many of our administrators will be leading the implementation charge, not trailing along behind. One reason that I felt good about making the change to GoogleApps is that GoogleDocs collaborative/sharing ease has already been met with enthusiasm by our Support Services folks.
As much as I hope the Google Academy for School Administrators is wildly successful, I'll not push it here. (Out of state travel being banned in our district makes the decision easier to make.) And were I betting man, I'd say such workshops have far less impact than on-going, less direct means of building administrative "technology" understandings.
*Interesting commentary by David Jakes and Kevin Jarrett about this event. Thanks for the head's up, Miguel and Mr. Byrne.
**I've been thinking/writing about technology skills for administrators for over ten years. A former superintendent, Eric Bartleson, and I published Technology Literacy for Administrators in School Administrator, Apr 1999 and I updated my Rubrics fo Leadership in 2002. (I am feeling another round of revision coming on.) Using one of our own principals a a model, I wrote Improving Administrative Technology Skills, for May 2005's School Administrator.
*** Whether we'd like to acknowledge it or not, all the administrators I know have advanced degrees, an above average intelligence, decent interpersonal skills and leadership capacity. I believe, even if we are not always in agreeement, that our administrators act in the best interest of their students.
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Reader Comments (8)
I agree with all 5 of your reasons; thanks for the insight. Also (apologies in advance for the snarky comment) but you might want to edit your acronym: YOU'RE On Your Own.
Thank you, Martha. I am a terrible proof reader of my own writing and have grown far too dependent on the spell check! (And I really do know the difference between your and you're!)
All the best,
Doug
My tech coordinator and I are doing admin staff development with Flip Video later this month. We're going to have them create videos that model good behavior to get them used to it. Looking forward to seeing how it all goes.
Good luck, Nathan.
Good behavior by students or teachers???
Doug
@ Doug,
An intriguing post. I'd say you've nailed it head on. I've heard time and time before that is the principal doesn't support it it most likely won't happen. Administration buy in is essential for school change.
Hi Charlie,
I'd agree. And I think our challenge is that too many admins have not experienced the power of technology first hand - only in theory. Maybe the next generation???
Doug
As a new principal (2 yrs) I have seen that I am on my own for tech-related prof. development... and I agree with all of your reasons listed here, however in a smaller district such as ours, I do have the chance to serve as the elem. tech integrator and work with curriculum, serve on the tech steering committee, and work with central admin to make decisions about tech purchases and infusion into the classrooms. I am lucky! I couldn't learn as much as I do without my PLN... there's just not enough time in the day to "keep up", esp. in face to face venues. I enjoy your blog!
Hi Lyn,
Luck has a lot to do with one's attitude toward any given situation. I am very happy you find yours satisfying. Sounds like a great job.
Good luck and thanks for the kind words,
Doug