Defining Education Technology LeadershipWhen I started working as a tech coach with this new organization, I had an “Aha” moment. I was so enthusiastic about sharing my idea, I wanted to revolutionize the world of education and pitched my idea. However, I was met by something along the lines of “That’s a great idea! Let me see with your leader and I will get back to you!” I was profoundly perplexed about that statement and I even forgot my amazing idea. But I am a leader! Am I not a leader? What I did not know then, is in this organization the people in charge, my bosses or principals, had the title of leader. This was and is still a bit confusing to me, since I see myself as a leader and always have. But as a great mentor of mine, Marius Bourgeoys assured me, “Leadership is not a position, it is a disposition.” Slowly, I got my fire back and now I am ready to lead. I do not want to wait to get a title, I want to lead now, and that is what I plan to do. As Fullan says “lead from the middle” I want to get involve, collaborate and play an active role in the success of my students, my school and my board. Moreover, I want to inspire others to do so as well, because we need all players to improve our education system by bringing new ideas, solutions and innovation. But what does it mean to be an education technology leader? There are many ways to define and observe leadership, but when we add education and technology, the definition gets blurred. Too often in my experience, technology leaders are undervalued either as customer support, tool pushers or not taken seriously. Yet, they are powerful change agents that can help grasp how our world is changing, help us ease change, and think about learning differently. Fullan describes this as the unbeatable triad, by combining technology, pedagogy and change knowledge, we attain what he calls the Stratosphere. This is an invisible synergy created by combining these three big ideas into something that can be experienced, but not seen. Which is what we need to foster if we want to create deep and lasting impact. Education technology leaders wanted! Effective leadership has a huge impact on learning. In fact, according to the Review of research How leadership influence student learning, the impact of leadership is second only to teaching. Personally, I am greatly influenced by outstanding leaders that inspire me to be the change I want to see in the world. This year, I had the opportunity to collaborate with some of them. This made me realize that the school cannot be led to success only by the administrators. We all have an active role to play, let’s hit the field as a team and win this together. References:
Fullan, M. (2015). Leading from the middle. Canadian Education Association, 55(4), 22-26. Retrieved from http://michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/LeadershipfromtheMiddle_EdCan_v55no4.pdf Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy, and change knowledge – Chapter 1 – The Journey. Don Mills, ON: Pearson. Leithwood, K., Seashore, S., Anderson, S. & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). Review of research: How leadership influences student learning, Executive Summary (pp. 2-15). Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/key-research/documents/how-leadership-influences-student-learning.pdf The Learning Exchange (2017). Michael Fullan – Leading from the middle. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://thelearningexchange.ca/videos/michael-fullan-leading-from-the-middle/
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