Technology+Facilitator+Standard+VIII+Reflection

Leadership and Vision

Standard VII and Standard VIII are similar, but while Standard VII is about management, Standard VIII is about leadership. In the absence of a strong vision for effective use, technologies will be underutilized (Williamson and Redish, 2009).

If Standard VII is the most important of the standards, Standard VIII may be the most difficult. It is made difficult because of the lack of a precedent - I have past experiences in reading and math and music that shape my vision of how to teach it effectiviely, have very little prior experience in technology as a learning tool in the classroom. Almost all my experience came through the Educational Technology Leadership program. With many stakeholders in the same position, the vision maybe hard to imagine or articulate. State and federal policies have forced us to move forward with technology plans, but it's time to go beyond rudimentary exercises of showing evidence of a plan, and develop a vision that includes a long range plan that focuses on student learning.

According to Jones and Crochet 2007), "The vision becomes critical for school improvement because it also includes the desired functional levels - providing the framework for action steps toward improvement." That means that the vision has to be more than a group of ideas; It must be a plan for improvement. My principal has ideas, and he hired me to help turn those into a vision. After reading the description of Standard VII, I realize how weak our vision is. We need more collaboration with stakeholders to ensure that our vision plan is achievable. We need more research to ensure that the plan is aligned to other strategic initiatives. And we need more imput from stakeholders to ensure widespread community support.

I think we are on the right track,but we can improve it with ongoing assessment and revision, addressing those areas that are weak.

References

Jones, L., & Crochet, F. (2007). The importance of visions for schools and school improvement. Connexions. Retrieved on May 4, 2013 from http://cnx.org/content/m15634/1.1/

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //ISTE’s technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.