Frustration with administrative tech skills
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 05:54AM In response to my blog post "!2 Signs Your Tech Leadership is Obsolete," (Dec 19, 2011) a tech consultant in New York writes:
I'd have to take exception to some of the things contained here although they are a good start. I've worked as a consultant in 5 area schools in the last 12 years. I currently work at a school as the TD but the problems in most schools are the people at the top. My Superintendent, Business Official and Principals wouldn't know the difference from a wireless connection and a wired connection even if they were standing in the middle of a room using an iPad w/ no cables. I am appalled at the total lack of Technology skills with every Superintendent, Business Official and Principal I've met. Also, teachers still have their head in the sand regarding technology. This stuff has not just shown up in our schools!!! You want to fix the Educational system, fire all school administrators and replace them with young administrators w/ technology skills. The problem w/ most school administrators is that they were teachers that had no technology skills and didn't want to improve them. We have people at the top that make the true decisions regarding Technology. We can point at the TD's and kind of blame them but they have little to no control over the resources to expand Technology for K-12. I welcome anyone else to sway me from what I've seen in five different districts. Also, everyone that is a TD please tell me how much true control they have over their own budget? I do enjoy a lot of freedom in Technology but when PD money isn't funded properly, what can I do about how much Technology impacts the Education Process? Frustrated in New York
As President Clinton like to say, "I feel your pain." At one time or another, every tech director has probably marveled at the lack of an administrator's knowledge of and interest in the educational uses of technology.
There is a popular saying that goes something like, "Technology is dominated by two types of people - those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand."
But I would add a caution. While many of us technology folks might understand the difference between a wired and wireless connection (and know how to make one work), we may not be as knowledgeable about pedagogy, child development, and the political realities of school as we might think.
Might the little diatribe above be easily flipped to describe technologists and their appalling lack of knowledge about education?
A rant is good for the soul and I write them on a regular basis. But we also need to find constructive means of bridging the understanding gaps among all groups of educators. Here is a start: Resources for improving administrative technology understandings. Frustrated, please take some time to look it over.
Reader Comments (6)
I will bite....
I have been involved in an education system where preservation of the network was the goal of TD. No downloads, no social media, no filter changes. In that environment it was nearly impossible to encourage staff to use technology effectively because there were too many barriers to use it. Yes, the superintendent went along with TD because their understanding was informed by the TD. Slowly, but surely, the superintendent began to listen to arguments about opening the network for certain things, and lo and behold the network did not blow up. Yes, TD has to work harder to keep up with the demands of the staff using technology in "modern" ways, but the changes in the learning environments make that work invaluable because of the affect for students. Yes administration can be a barrier, but clearly uninformed administration is not the only barrier to using technology efficiently to create a modern learning environment.
Obviously this topic resonates with me. As I said recently:
"we continue to allocate few, if any, resources to school leaders' learning and support needs. This is true at both the inservice level for practicing administrators and at the preservice level for aspiring administrators.
If a principal or superintendent isn't receiving professional development, funding, or other leadership supports from the university that prepared her, her state and national leadership associations, her regional education service agency, her state department of education, the federal government, or a corporate or foundation initiative, where is she supposed to get the information and training that she needs to improve her technology leadership skills? From a book or a few web sites? When we underinvest in the people that control all of the resources that instigate and facilitate change - money, time, training, personnel allocation, structural (re)alignment, vision, etc. - we shouldn't be surprised when desired changes in our schools fail to materialize. We also shouldn't be surprised when school administrators make technology-related decisions because of fear, lack of knowledge, or community or political pressure rather than educational appropriateness.
When an administrator's mental light bulb turns on regarding technology, it's not just an individual or classroom that's affected, it's his entire building or district. As such, it's time for more attention to our principals and superintendents. For public relations purposes, they may not be as sympathetic a group as students or teachers, but they are absolutely critical investments if we are to create the technology-suffused, globally-interconnected learning environments that we need as a society."
In other words, we need to recognize that administrators are both a problem and solution, but yet we allocate very few resources to their learning needs. We're quick to jump on their lack of leadership, though...
If there was one idea that I could pass along, it would be that those of us who can, do. I learned a while ago that if I wait for the money, technology, committee meeting, or whatever, I will never get anything done. If at all possible we need to go ahead with our plans, make them as successful as possible, and then show our success to others. Even though it often seems like I am a very small fish in a very big pool, I know that there are many things I can do to make my teaching better (and easier) and hopefully empower students and other teachers to work better (and easier). I may not change the world, or the nation, or the state, or even my school, but I have my classes and my students - and they deserve the best I can give them.
Hi Dave,
I appreciate the encouraging story. I suspect that I am on the TD assassination list in many places, but my on going cry will mutual understanding and joint decision-making.
Thanks again for the comment,
Doug
Hi Scott,
Well and wisely said. Education is fortunate to have you working in this area (and I think getting results.)
I think you will be happy to know our "tech conference" in the region this summer will focus on using technology for classroom engagement. That's not remarkable, but we are requiring building teams to register and one team member must be an administrator.
I'm finding that in our district, principals are hungry for knowledge about how to determine if teachers are using technology effectively. A positive sign!
Thanks for the great comment,
Doug
Hi Kenn,
The power of the positive example is too often underestimated.
Doug
This post couldn't have come at a better time. I will admit, I am one of the lucky ones. My Supt has been wonderful for our district. But now, she is retiring this June. I am fortunate that I have landed a seat on the new Supt advisory committee - but am freaking out a little bit about ending up with "one of those". Bad tech leadership that sends our district backwards a few years. I would hope, after 16 years of edtech experience I can spot the good vs bad tech leadership skills but this is not a "committee of one". Any advise or resources would be appreciated!
Hi Jen,
Good luck choosing a new sup.
The most interesting question we tend to ask any new employee here is:
What is the latest technology application or hardware you learned, how did you learn it and why?
I think I'd ask questions about how the candidate personally uses technology and get a stated philosophy of tech use. At least this way you know they THINK about the stuff.
Doug