As the semester comes to a close, this blog post is a platform for you to reflect on what you've learned - and what you still need to know - in order to use technology to lead evidence-based change, to improve teaching and learning for every student in your school. A daunting task? Absolutely. Impossible? Well you can't do it alone – and it has to start somewhere.

Reflecting on technologically innovative approaches that engage learners, and thinking now from a more informed vantage point about leadership that improves schools, please share your thoughts about the following questions:

·     Describe how visionary leaders challenge the status quo, what you (personally) need to know and be able to do to get there, and your plan to find such support.

·     As a principal, where would you begin to "disturb the status quo" (Theoharis, 2008), using data to re-frame ineffective practices in your school?

·     What leadership practices are non-negotiable for you now, that you hadn't considered before?

Leading Technology Integration - Changing What Happens in Classrooms

One of the most critical benefits of integrating instructional technology is that students who use it as a learning tool can - and will - navigate their own engaged learning. This process implies that teachers who incorporate instructional technology as a learning tool are willing to give up control in the classroom, as students learn to find material from which they construct meaning using Web 2.0 tools, as well as others.

As a technology leader (at the classroom/building/district level now), how do you facilitate a learning culture where students can investigate authentic problems?

Using Tech Tools in the Classroom

For the first blog post of the semester, please read the article, Integrating Technology with Integrated Resources*, located at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/free-tech-integration-resources. Describe in your blog post how you plan to use one of these strategies in your own classroom or learning context. 

If you are part of a 1:1 initiative, please read the article Four Free Assessment Apps for 1:1 Classrooms found at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/free-assessment-ipad-apps-monica-burns
Describe in your blog post how you plan to use one of these strategies to assess student learning in your classroom.


   *Please note the sources for grant funding at the section, "Funding Tech in Your Classroom".

Welcome to EAF 401 Administering Educational Technology
Spring 2013

We'll use this blog during our time together this semester to share ideas that you develop as we learn more about integrating instructional technology. I look forward to the opportunity to learn together, and hope that this blog will serve as a vehicle to communicate your original thinking.

If you have a Gmail account, it will make it easier for you to post with a Gmail address, since Blogger is also a Google product. For information on setting up a Gmail account, please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfO_iRv9Jro