Assignment 2

The Nature of Effective IT Leaders: Characteristics and Outcomes

Our division’s Moodle coordinator, J.C., is a SMART Board specialist, podcast expert and general technology consultant. She encourages reluctant teachers, who started their careers struggling with reel-to-reel film projectors, to use innovative technology in their classrooms and facilitate eager teachers comfortable with technology to advance their skill set. Her ability to communicate effectively, an important leadership quality according to David Carey (2005), is her greatest leadership characteristic.

Effective communication assists in building relationships and relationships are an underlying element to successful leadership (Leithwood & Duke, 1999; Fullan, 2001). In J’s position it is vital to be able to communicate with teachers and with technical staff. Hollingsworth reports that superintendants identified the ability to “[communicate] with both educators and the technical community” as an important quality (2008, pp 59). The relationships that J builds are with the educators as well as the technicians.

J connects with teachers by understanding their situations; she is a teacher herself. Experienced teachers have watched fads come and go and J recognizes that forcing them to learn a new way of doing things can bring about resistance and resentment. J simply demonstrates how the new technology can save them time. She speaks their language; teachers trust J. They become willing to take risks with technology in their classrooms.

J also recognizes the importance of meaningful professional development. She delivers sessions in the classrooms where the teachers will be using the technology. She uses a mix of affiliative, democratic and coaching leadership styles to educate the educators about technology (Fullan, 2001). These more affable styles empower teachers to choose for themselves the extent of which they will use the technology. J understands that “reculturing” (Fullan, 2001, pp 44) is a process. She is there to suggest how technology can be used to increase differential instruction, not demand how it must be used. J speaks the language of a teacher, but she is also a technologist, and able to communicate with information technologists.

Speaking the jargon is an essential skill when interacting with IT staff. J can facilitate understanding between IT and teachers. She is a technology translator of sorts, increasing the functionality of the IT team. The technologists appreciate the alleviated stress provided by J. They trust her and they listen to her suggestions regarding technology in the schools. However strong the relationships are between J and the teachers or J and the IT staff, the students are the beneficiaries.

These relationships help J to reach her ultimate goal: the enhanced education of students. She knows technology is a means to differentiated instruction which increases student understanding. Installing technology in schools does not guarantee its use. Teachers need to embrace technology as a means to engage students and J has used her dual knowledge of technology and students to inspire teachers. She has become a trusted mentor to the teachers. She has modeled how their instruction, therefore their students, can benefit from the technology available in their schools. J has led the way toward improved educational practices and that is a solid first step.



References

Carey, D. (2005) Some Reflections on Leadership. CIO Canada. November 13(11) p. 6.

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Wiley & Sons. p. 35 & 51-76.

Hollingsworth, M. (2008). Excellence in IT/ICT Leadership: Building Blocks to the Future. An Alberta Education funded research project. pp. 59. Retrieved June 21, 2009 from http://people.uleth.ca/~m.hollingsworth/itl/excellence/itlexcellence.pdf

Leithwood, K. & Duke, D. (1999). Chapter 3: A Century’s Quest to Understand School Leadership. In Murphy, J. & Louis, K (Eds). Handbook of Research on Educational Administration. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA. pp. 65-67.