“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
– Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society

A blogger I follow, http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/, annually calls for digital leaders to share thoughts, reflections, ideas, concerns about digital leadership and trans-formative/innovative education. From his post about Digital Leadership Day:

“Over the past 7 years, we’ve had nearly 500 Leadership Day posts. That’s awesome because, to paraphrase what I said seven years ago, many of our school leaders (principals, superintendents, central office administrators) need help when it comes to digital technologies. A lot of help, to be honest. As I’ve noted again and again on this blog, most school administrators are still struggling with what it means to prepare students for the digital, global world in which we now live; how to recognize, evaluate, and facilitate effective technology usage by students and teachers; what appropriate technology support structures (e.g., budget, staffing, infrastructure, training) look like or how to implement them; how to utilize modern technologies to facilitate communication with internal and external stakeholders; the ways in which learning technologies can improve student learning outcomes; how to utilize technology systems to make their organizations more efficient and effective; and so on…”

I am proud to participate in this national digital leadership blogging day! On Twitter, if you would like to read other posts from folks around the world, please visit Twitter and use the the official hashtag #leadershipday14

The purpose of this blogging challenge/call to action is part of the overall call to action for educators and educational leaders around the country and world to support the future of our country, world and lives of our students.

I’m posting as I participate in a three District joint Technology Camp day of workshops with leaders from my district, the neighboring district as well as the high school district to which we matriculate our chilren. As a proud public school administrator I support connected educators. I support connected education, and I support leading in a culture of connectivity.

In this post I am responding to some prompts from Scott McLeod the blog author:

Do administrators have to be technology-savvy themselves in order to be effective technology leaders in their organizations?

This is a great question! I think it helps greatly if the administrator is technology literate – savvy helps but it is not required. Though if the administrator truly understands the functionality of connectivity he/she is more likely to learn with the other teachers and leaders in the organization. If the administrator is not aware, he/she may thwart the efforts of innovative teachers. For example, a friend of mine is a teacher and he received great push-back from his principal when he wanted to use Twitter in support of his instruction. Two years later, under a new administration, this same teacher taught a summer school math class completely online – and via Twitter! So I can only imagine how much growth and opportunity this teacher and his students would have had if his earlier administrator was technology savvy/literate – or supportive of a connected culture. Clear this teacher is a digital leader; clearly this teacher is inspiring his students and empowering them to connect with the world of mathematics (his subject area) through their world of communication (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Google Apps for Education, etc.).

What are some tangible, concrete, realistic steps that administrators can take to move their school organizations forward?

Administrators should reach out to their own professional associations as well as local in-person groups of administrators to move their local organization forward. For example, the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) both support, promote, model, and encourage digital literacy. Visit their websites, both have modern up to date interfaces with Twitter feeds and blog feeds from other leaders around the country and the world. Administrators can join Twitter and attend an “ed chat” and view how other leaders are interacting with the world digitally.

It also helps to find a friend or colleague who is technologically savvy who can support their individual growth and progress. Administrators should also be sure to read professional journals and stay current with practitioner published blogs and publisher books so they can stay up to date and current with what forward thinking organizations do. Start a blog, for examples visit: http://www.aasaconnect.com/List-Of-Blogs