Technology in Learning

“The Technology Specialist as Teacher Leader: Strategies to Ensure Successful Technology Integration and Student Learning in Schools”

By Patrick Ledesma, FCPS SBTS, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

Patrick Ledesma provides steps to getting the technology specialist’s vision as teacher leader across to your staff.  How do we move from the reality (fixing hardware and ambivalent staff) to the dream (enthusiastic teachers and supportive administration)? You can always find one teacher to implement the newest technologies in their classroom. The challenge is encouraging others to try something new and use the technologies.

To have an impact on teacher and student learning, Ledesma states that certain steps need to be taken.  The first step is to manage the hardware environment.  Have procedures in place for teachers to get assistance with hardware, software and network problems.  This will allow you to prioritize your work and to reduce the distractions keeping you from working with instructional technology with students.  He also suggests that you have a backup technology or routines for teachers so they can continue working when their equipment is out of commission for repair. Having the backup equipment is sometimes difficult based on the school’s budget but working with teachers on backup routines will give them the confidence to try the technology in their classroom.

The second step is administrative coordination, setting goals and expectations.  I would make this the fist step because upon this everything, including the hardware environment, balances. Ledesma says that the technology specialist’s role should be instructional leader most of the time, not repair person or teacher helper.  Coordinating with the administration, both school and central, assists the technology specialist in taking on a leadership role.  We need to work with administration to align technology with instructional needs making us an instructional resource, not just the repair person.

Third step is teacher professional development.  Ledesma says to sell the instruction not the technology.  He believes that teachers who have effective teaching practices in place tend to embrace the technology because they understand how it improves their practices.  Staff development designed around instruction, not the application, allows teachers to see how it can be used in their classroom and often can turn around and use it the next day.

Ledesma’s fourth step is teacher coordination.  As you work with your staff, you will learn the different personalities and skills they possess.  Ledesma says you need to define expectations clearly and find ways to make them successful.  He puts staff into three technology competencies:  the high flyer, the curious, and the ambivalent.  The high flyers are your staff members who embrace technology and can incorporate it into their classroom on their own with minimum support from the technology specialist.  He suggests you use their lessons as examples. However, I believe some teachers see that staff member as the technology geek and don’t relate to the lesson. The curious want to use the technology but are not quite sure where to start.  You will probably co-teach and work with them the most.  I believe that lessons developed by the curious are the ones you want to share.  Many staff members relate to this group and see themselves in the teacher with whom you collaborated.  If that teacher can do it, then so can they.  The ambivalent need to meet job expectations and you need to provide enough opportunities for them to meet expectations and to be successful.  Hopefully, they will become the curious, but some may never and that is an administration issue.

Last step is to promote school-wide student learning and achievement.  When the previous four steps are accomplished, Ledesma says technology integrations will be seamless and students will be using it as part of the learning process.  Technology is a means to accomplish instructional goals. This should be the focus for the instructional specialist when planning, coordinating, collaborating, teaching and managing.