I have to be honest and say that as I read the Picciano text and the Hall text, nothing really stood out to me as a new or unique idea during the first few chapters. Most of what was said was overview type information covered or read in previous educational technology courses. If I have to grab on to an idea, it's that the entire process of leadership as it relates to educational technology really goes back to the position a leader takes regarding his or her philosophy of education. Until that is understood little else can be accomplished. This idea dictates the types of technology a leader may be willing to implement and henceforth how they will be planned for.
I suppose this does not mean that an instructor/technologist need only search for employment in a place that shares his or her philosophy of education, but it could reduce the friction involved in the planning process. On page 11 of the Picciano text he states that allowing others to participate in the administrative process will increase buy in and investment by those who must implement the plan. This process would be much more efficient if there was a shared educational philosophy amongst the administration and the instructors/technologists. This can only be the case if each person's philosophy logically extends to his or her practices. Too often this is not the case and a disruptive inconsistency is created. This rift would make planing for technology exceptionally difficult and collaboration nearly impossible.
All of this is to say that in planning or leading one must look back to what they believe philosophically, even in the realm or technology. It is a commonly agreed upon fact supported by Picciano that technology for technology's sake is ineffective. The instructors/technologists must carefully examine how each implementation contributes to they way he or she believes knowledge and learning is constructed.
I appreciated you point that a shared vision reduces friction in the workplace. I have worked with wonderful leaders who effectively shared their vision for our school. I found the environment a great place to work, because I shared the vision of our school leaders. However, others who did not agree with our school leaders' vision struggled.
ReplyDeleteAs I have shared in other posts, I, too, agree that teachers need to choose instructional activities wisely. As you said, "technology for technology's sake is ineffective." Class time is valuable, and we should use the time wisely
I have worked at a place outside of the education world where there was definitely not a shared vision as it pertained to technology. The government agency I worked for had two people near the top and one of them wanted to implement new technology as soon as possible and the other one preferred things stay as low tech as possible because he thought that way was simpler. Once we were mandated by the state to upgrade our system we had one leader pushing us to update as much as possible and the other fighting for reasoning on every update. Fortunately for all of us, both of them were reassigned as the update was not going as planned and when one person was put in charge of the upgrade for the system, everything went much smoother and followed his cohesive vision. We implemented the technology that was necessary to keep us with the times but did not waste money on technology just for the sake of technology.
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