Education Week - Sizing Up: Blended Learning - S15

Administrators Search for
Tools, Lead by Example
By Robin L. Flanigan
Many school leaders insist on the
need to promote a school culture
that embraces blended learning and
innovation through technology, but
they struggle to put in place what
they preach.
"We're constantly getting calls
from superintendents and principals who just have no idea where to
start," said Allison Powell, vice president for state and district services
at the International Association for
K-12 Online Learning, in Vienna, Va.
"And there's pretty much no support
available for them."
Now, a number of organizations
are trying to close that gap and give
superintendents and principals the
training they need to promote the
wise use of blended strategies.
A new partnership between Vinci
Education, a developer of tech-based
learning tools, and the National
Association of Elementary School
Principals, based in Alexandria,
Va., for instance, will develop professional-development modules for
principals on blended learning. The
association will also unveil blended
learning standards for school leaders at its annual conference later
this year.
Also this year, the National Association of Secondary School Principals
will co-host a conference to help administrators make forward-thinking
decisions about technology use.
Inacol has devised national standards for teachers that describe
high-quality online courses, and is
scheduled to release competencies
in blended teaching this summer.
The next logical step, said Ms.
Powell, is to craft national standards for school leaders.
"This is a huge priority we need
to have right now," said the inacol
official.

Clemson University's Danielle
Herro talks with students about
their preconceptions of video
games during the first day of the
Foundations of Digital Media and
Learning class, held in the school
of education's Digital Media and
Learning Lab. Most of the
students are education majors,
but the course also includes
business, English and computer
science majors, all of whom are
learning about the role of games,
social media and digital
storytelling in the classroom.

District Initiatives

VIDEO: Take a look inside the Digital Media and Learning Lab at Clemson University in Clemson,
S.C., where tomorrow's teachers are being challenged to use technology to meet students'
individual needs: www.edweek.org/go/learninglab

While education organizations are
working to turn tech-shy administrators into digitally savvy school
leaders, some districts have begun
acting on their own.
After a "canned, blended learning
pd program" for principals in 2012
yielded poor results, the 3,700-student Plymouth Community School
Corporation, in Indiana, has since
moved to a more personalized approach, said Assistant Superintendent Dan Funston.
Since 2010, the district has given
principal-candidates technology
competency tests to evaluate their
skills, and asks them to communicate their vision for how technology should be used in their schools.
The Plymouth system also assigns
coaches to work individually with

principals to improve their technology skills, and models uses of digital
tools in the central office.

Modeling Sound Practices
Jennie Snyder, superintendent
of the 1,480-student Piner-Olivet
Union district in Santa Rosa, Calif.,
started a blog in 2012 to, as she puts
it, "walk the walk" and share reflections on the ways that technology
has improved her skills.
Instead of attending workshops,
she has sought out experts independently through social media
and the Edcamp movement, which
brings together educators for
discussion-driven sessions about
teaching and learning. Since Edcamp's start in Philadelphia in
2010, more than 300 events have
been held worldwide, interest fueled partly by social media, according to Kristen Swanson, co-founder
of the informal professional-development program.
The movement's appeal for Ms.
Snyder, a two-time Edcamp presenter on the professional benefits
of Twitter, is that everyone has
something to contribute. That's why
she expects all her district's administrators, even those uncomfortable
with technology, to experiment with
it and share what they learn in the
process.
"We have to be learning and we
have to be modeling what we're
learning," she said. "Being an active
learner really defies any generational boundaries."
Some tech-savvy administrators
say they'd feel disingenuous if they
didn't produce their own multimedia presentations or use social
media in their districts.
"I don't know how to do these
things because someone sat me
down and showed me," said Lyn
Hilt, a former principal and current technology instructional coach
in the 3,200-student Eastern Lancaster County school district, in
New Holland, Pa. "I took risks and
challenged myself, because that's
what we want our kids to see us do."
Ms. Hilt blogs, and uses Twitter
and other social media sites to build
up her personal learning network.
Added Ms. Swanson: "We're starting to see a separation between
those who see themselves as true
learners and those who are still
waiting to be taught.
"The ones who sit back and wait
are going to get behind," she said.
"But if they're proactive and start
to figure out things for themselves
and follow their passions, that's
the only hope of doing our kids any
justice." n

EDUCATION WEEK: SIZING UP BLENDED LEARNING > www.edweek.org/go/blended-learning

JANUARY 29, 2014

S15

http://www.edweek.org/go/learninglab http://www.edweek.org/go/blended-learning

Education Week - Sizing Up: Blended Learning

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