Blog Post 4 - Technology rich learning environment. Is it important?

Support is so crucial in education and same goes with technology in education.  I read over the ISTE Standards for Administrators which include;

1. Visionary leadership
2. Digital age learning culture
3. Excellence in professional practice
4. Systemic improvement
5. Digital citizenship

Each of these standards plays an important role for leaders when supporting effective technology and integration.  In an article by Scott McLeod & Jayson W. Richardson, they state, “There are 14 essential conditions described by ISTE as necessary for effective technology integration and implementation in schools. Principals and superintendents arguably are primarily responsible for the climate, culture, and other environmental characteristics that define students’ and teachers’ work.” I appreciate what The Journal says about 7 Habits of Highly Effective Tech-leading Principals.  I really liked the #6 - Take Risks!  We encourage our students to do it.  As the leader of our school, they must be willing to take risks and share that message with the staff. When we are not afraid to fail, that is where real growth will occur.

To get better, we could improve on all 14 of these conditions, every school could. I want to focus on two essential conditions that I feel my school does a fantastic job with and one that I would really like to see take off.

1. Ongoing Professional Learning -  KIS is providing over 20 hours of PD every week.  This provides a culture of digital learning that can be put into professional practice allowing our teachers to be visionary leaders in their subject matter.  
2. Skilled Personnel - Having five full time Education Technology Specialists gives our school confidence in the ability to show systemic improvement in technology and provide teachers and administrators with the knowledge and skills so they are leading the way in digital age learning culture.  Our admin can go to them with an idea and the EdTech team with their expertise and knowledge can help guide and implement that change.
3. Assessment and Evaluation - “Summative outcome measures and progress monitoring benchmarks can be identified for all technology deployments.” When we are using certain technologies, how effective is it? Are we collecting data that is recorded and used to make future decisions?  That is where I would see this going moving forward.