This week marks the ‘closing phase’ of my nine-week course on “Leading change in digital learning.” The last assignment is submitted, a proposed plan towards the creation of a policy on the use of educational technology. The hope for this plan is to advocate at the institution to initiate a change, that is necessary if the institution wants to stay competitive in a rapidly changing world of learning and technology.
Policies don’t need to be restrictive, with broad-mindedness we will be able to create a policy that will “[enable] and [resource] the integration of learning technologies [and build] capacity for innovative and research-informed approaches to integrating, developing, and assessing technology-enhanced learning” (University of Calgary,
2014, pp. 2-3). It will take some forward thinking by all stakeholders to create a policy that will serve as “a vision for the effective use of technology” (Sheninger, 2014, p. 2). Huggins, Klar, Hammonds and Buskey (2017) describe leaders as receptive and tolerant towards risks. As stated in a previous post “ I appreciate leaders who see the potential for innovation by allowing risk to take place” (Fahrenbruch, 2019, para. 2). This policy on educational use of technology will need to entertain some risk, if it does not the educational system will stay paralyzed by its fear of a violation of British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). This disregard of fear does not mean advocating to break any laws, but it does entertain to advocate for safe risk-taking, and with innovative thinking this is possible.
I am an educator, and educating young children is my passion. Allowing young children to take risks increases their ability to navigate their physical world with greater safety because they have learned to trust themselves. As a leader in digital learning, I would like to create an environment in which learners are allowed to take educated risks, so they learn to navigate the digital world with greater confidence. A policy on the use of educational technology does not need to be restrictive. Instead, it could “create a culture where the effective use of technology is assessed, valued, and recognized”University of Calgary, 2014,p. 2).
I started in this course believing that broad-mindedness, forward-thinking and risk-taking were essential qualities of leadership. I am ending this course with much the same view, although I now have a better understanding of what these qualities can accomplish and create within a system that has not been able to keep pace with the changes technology has brought to education.
References
Fahrenbruch, A. (February 4, 2019). My thoughts on ranking leadership qualities [Discussion post]. Retrieved from https://moodle.royalroads.ca/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=537378
Huggins, S., K., Klar, H., W., Hammonds, H., L., & Buskey, F., C. (2017). Developing Leadership Capacity in Others: An Examination of High School Principals’ Personal Capacities for Fostering Leadership. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 12(1). Retrieved from http://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/670/169
Pixabay (2019).The Way Forward. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/illustrations/traffic-sign-road-sign-shield-108779/
Sheninger, E. (2014). Pillars of digital leadership. International Centre for Leadership in Education. Retrieved from http://www.leadered.com/pdf/LeadingintheDigitalAge_11.14.pdf
University of Calgary, Learning Technologies Task Force. (2014). Strategic framework for Learning Technologies. Retrieved from https://www.ucalgary.ca/provost/files/provost/final_lttf_report_gfc_june_2014.pdf
