NETS+for+Administrators

I recently attended the International Society for Technology in Education where I participated in and listened to some sessions related to the need for administrative vision around the role of technology in education. During one of the sessions (i.e. What It Means to Be a Digital Leader?), Steven Anderson and Kyle Pace made the following points which I will share here:

Visionary leaders: - need to be familiar with NETS-A (@http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-administrators.aspx). ISTE's NETS for Administrators (NETS•A) are the standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge school administrators and leaders need to support digital age learning, implement technology, and transform the education landscape. - make funding for technology and integration a priority. - plan for technology and are involved in the planning process. - important to have both information technologists and instructional technologists collaborating together. - hire instructional technologists in addition to information technologists. - need to use and encourage PLNs through tools like Twitter. Should feel like a digital district. There should be responsible use policies and social media policies that guide in what can be done instead of just saying no. - understand the importance of having access to social networks and a fully accessible Internet. - are considered "networked leaders." They see and model the instructional value in the technologies. - need to be using and modeling this in daily practice. - need to stop saying things like, "You are a 21st century teacher" (because as a teacher you clicked the space bar on a Prezi). - Administrators need to stop check off "technology" on teacher eval. checklists just because they used an interactive whiteboards.

Other points: - Visionary leadership isn't about the cool tech toys/stuff. It isunderstanding the digital age culture and teaching goals. - We need to bring our Superintendents to ISTE. There is an administrative strand that is very informative around technology.