Collaborative leadership development with ICT: experiences from three exemplary schools

Abstract

This study utilized a tool-oriented perspective on the uptake and use of digital technology in three exemplary upper secondary schools, to determine how the school leaders viewed leadership in the development of information and communication technology (ICT)-enriched environments for teaching and learning, and how they utilized technology in their daily leadership practices. The data were obtained from interviews with the school leaders and analyses of school documents and websites. In all three schools, leadership was extended and distributed beyond the work of the principal, taking into account the shared and professional expertise in the leader group and across the staff, and relying on reliable technologies and systemic activities developed over time. The findings confirm previous research underlining the importance of supportive school leadership for the successful implementation of ICT in education. In addition, the study shows that in schools oriented towards Web 2.0 or open collaborative technology practices, the leadership functions as a team-based and distributed activity, relying on educational and technological expertise at multiple levels. The findings across the three schools suggest that tool-mediated activities may become routinized over time, transforming into unspoken institutional infrastructures.

Digital competences and long-term ICT integration in school culture: The perspective of elementary school leaders

“…At this point, the majority of the school staff realizes the benefits of the innovation to their organization in general and to their professional development in particular. As a result, the integration of technological tools and appropriate pedagogical methods become an integral part of the school culture, and new teachers who join the school perceive them as being a natural way of teaching and learning (Hauge and Norenes 2014;Shamir-Inbal and Kali 2009). According to Peled et al (2011), the remaining type of teachers -the Antagonist, which corresponds to Laggard in Rogers (2003) model, will resist the integration of a new technology in instructional process even after the entire organization has adopted it.…”

“…Technologies facilitate collaborative learning activities, mediate access to shared content, and can assist the construction of personal and group knowledge in digital environments (Hauge and Norenes 2014). For example, cloud service platforms enable sharing of digital content and provide easy access to shared documents and various apps, thus facilitating work of virtual teams.…”

Co-generation of societally impactful knowledge in Change Laboratories

“…The methodology of formative interventions is built on two epistemological principles, namely, the principle of double stimulation (Vygotsky, 1997) and the principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete (Davydov, 1990;Ilyenkov, 1982). These principles are also referred to in several studies of organizational settings (for double stimulation, see Haapasaari and Kerosuo, 2015;Higgins and Mirza, 2010;Peleckis, 2011; for ascending from the abstract to the concrete, see Blackler, 2011;Hauge and Norenes, 2014;Virkkunen and Ristimäki, 2012). Both principles put the formation of volitional action and transformative agency in the center of the intervention.…”

Digital media adoption in schools: Bottom-up, top-down, complementary or optional?

“…These measures include: the expansion of technical hardware and software in conformance to needs; appropriate technical and pedagogical support; organized individual and collective professional development; a network for information exchange between teachers; support from the school administration and from additional stakeholders, including parents and political or administrative offices. In addition, the success of innovation, as established by research into school development, depends not only on comprehensive planning and implementation, but also on the way changes are managed, especially the balance between leadership and joint participation in the innovation process (Bryderup & Kowalski, 2002;Dexter, 2008;Hauge & Norenes, 2014;McCharen, Song, & Martens, 2011). A summary of the EUN's STEPS study, which examined options for adopting ICT in European primary schools, describes the challengeas follows:…”