So what's new... we have for a very long time discussed the fact that leadership should be people centred and collaborative. However, here's the thing... we now have a very powerful tool to enable this to happen. Leadership ought to be concerned about creating relationships and in the process creating technological structures to encourage meaningful collaboration where every person's uniqueness and contributions are valued. We are much more effective when we work, think, and reflect as a team... most importantly as a learning community.
We must remember that: With collaboration we create...
From a leadership perspective, collaboration can be further enhanced with the use of ICT through some of the following ways:
1. Communication... in an age where there is so much information to be shared and given out, technology can enable leaders to set up structures where important information and communications can be accessed anywhere, anytime by all staff members. Communication should also be encouraged amongst staff and enabled, so that staff have access to computers and can use technology to communicate whether it be through email, wikis or blogs. The important thing is that staff are given opportunities, experience and training to use these mediums to enable collaboration. Less time is spent on admin meetings where basics can be emailed and discussed online... where evaluations of a certain task can be collated and shared. Meetings then take on a new dimension, meetings enable informed, effective change, synthesising current practice, and introducing new ones. Now we are working in a much more sophisticated manner.
2. Utilising Information/DATA to Network... the latest research, teaching techniques, student performances and resources are becoming more readily available. Not only do teachers need to have access to the technology but also have access to ways of filtering and finding the important "stuff". How do we do we achieve this? And how do we act upon information/data in an effective manner? Information is no longer centralised through the one person. Technology works through a decentralised model where everyone has access. For example, we sometimes have parents from our school who will bring certain pieces of information to our attention, whether it be based on international research or news items, and to them we are grateful, as that is one of the many ways that information can empower people and organisations as a learning community. But it raises some of the following questions: What effective means are there available to access and filter important information? for example are RSS feeds assisting teachers in the collection of relevant materials? How do we best network?
3. Keeping up to date... There is no running away from technology.. it's here to stay, it will constantly change and continue to evolve, and it needs to be accessed regularly. Not to utilise technology compromises our professionalism and students' learning. A great example of this can be seen through the use of an iphone... where you can access internet, email, contacts, schedule, music, movies, photos, podcasts, various applications, games, etc... centralising all your data so that it can be accessed and modified from any of an allocated number of computers (it is in fact a computer in your pocket). One of my passions is listening to the French language, whether it be to French radio programmes, interviews, conversations or songs. I now have the ability to download various podcasts on my iphone, listen to it when I go for a walk, or even link it to my car radio speakers so that I can have access there as well... all for free. So my French language is improving for my next overseas trip one day (hopefully). This example can apply for students and teachers in most given areas... what a powerful tool... Imagine the possibilities...
4. Creating Knowledge.. once people are given information, they are also given opportunities to create new information based on shared already found material and data, self reflection and experience. We call this knowledge, and knowledge is evolving all the times as long as people can access it, be able to contribute towards it and create something unique. A good example of this was seen through the Jason project which I ran with the gifted students over a period of two terms. I set up a blog in which they had to continuously share their answers, reflections, questions and ideas. My questioning skills needed to immediately change. I needed to formulate a range of questions that would not simply have one answer provided as the end product. I needed to create questions that included higher order thinking skills. Conversely students needed to be taught how to question one another in a constructive manner, and to pose further questions: "what if...?" . The result of this blog saw the students requesting that the blog be left open even though the Jason Project was coming to a conclusion. Without realising, these students had established a wonderful learning community, one in which they had created friendships and gained such substantial learning that sometimes, I was left to revise my year 9 and year 10 science. These students are currently creating podcasts to share with their peers about the Resilient Environment, which they have become very passionate about... What was that famous quote posed by Hellen Penguelly... "Freedom to think, Structure to learn." Students were given the technological and learning structures to think to allow them the freedom to learn.
5. Education or Professional Development... The funny thing about learning how to use technology is that a linear approach will not work... there is no A to Z approach to learning how technology works, and no sooner have you learned something new like a piece of hardware or software then it has evolved into something else. For example,look at the use of the mobile phone, which has and will continue to evolve as your personal computer.
Therefore as a staff, we ought to firstly decide what we want to be able to achieve; being at the same time very critical of what is available. Have you ever noticed that this is how students think of technology? They firstly decide what they would like to achieve and then seek technological ways of achieving it... where as most adults will go about it the opposite way, in that they will discuss of the little technoogy they have, doubt their own expertise and therefore find it too difficult to do anything with it. Therefore we need to change our perspective around the use of ICT in our core business.
Different people bring in various expertise, and students are wonderful examples in this area. We have had year 6 students demonstrating how to edit movies, create podcasts and even blogs. Each one of these technologies are collaborative tools. Students want to collaborate, want to share their work, build on each others' ideas, congratulate each other, and best of all they love to CREATE. if we do not enable students to use these tools in an educational context, we run the chance of letting them use these technologies in perhaps a somewhat less than friendly environments. We ought to educate students in ways of working in collaboration with one another, and this will prove to be difficult if we ourselves are struggling with it.
6. Shared wisdom using web 2 technologies... Most of these tools are free and enable collaboration. We need to use them as part of our everyday practice, and encourage educational systems to filter through these web 2 technologies. Educational systems ought to either make recommendations to schools about the type of web 2 technologies to be utilised, or devise a web 2 system specific for its organisation and work towards establishing best practice. However, it is up to each and everyone of us to take responsibility in keeping up to date, and continually find ways to renew our understanding and enthusiasm. I am of the belief that best change occurs from a "bottom up" approach in which effective classroom practices are sought and given priority.
7. Time to learn and play... If we value collaboration and the creation of authentic Communities, then we ought to be concerned about the many exciting ways in which this can take place. Students learn by playing, trying new things, making mistakes, creating new ideas and sharing these with one another... we must take time to do the same. No matter what generation we come from (X, Y or Z) we have to build bridges, we have to find and utilise ways in which we can best connect with others. We need to bring the world to our school, and conversely take our school to the world.
If we attempt to achieve the above then we should hopefully notice a greater sense of creativity amongst our school communities, a greater sense of empowerment through an ongoing evolving process which ultimately brings about continual informed change and transformation. It is both exciting and challenging.
I look forward to your comments and our collaborative discussions.
Frank W.
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