Towards Strategic Leadership in Information Communication Technology

Introduction

Our thinking about Information Communication Technology (ICT) in schools has changed over the last fifteen to twenty years in line with the development of the technology. When computers were first introduced into schools the emphasis on their educational use was on teaching and learning" about ICT". The technology was new and relatively limited and it was felt important that students should understand how to use it and the concern was principally to prepare them for a future life in which computers would play an important part. This is still important but with the rapid development and the increasing complexity and range of uses of ICT (much broader than just computers of course) along with the development of their communication links through the internet they are now very powerful tools central to the educational process. Our emphasis is now changing to one of teaching and learning "with ICT". Furthermore ICT is a whole school strategic issue. It is crucial to recognize that ICT can change fundamentally how children learn and that this is the most important aspect of ICT in schools. The other main uses of ICT, for administration and for communication, are also considerations for school managers but the central focus must be on learning.

In October 2002 Becta[1] in the UK published nationwide statistics on the impact of Information Communications Technologies on Student Learning and Attainment. By investigating student attainment in comparison to usage of ICT it noted that good use of ICT can make a difference equivalent to an additional term’s progress at the primary stage or half a grade at the Secondary stage.

Finally, it is worth emphasizing that we have passed the point where ICT could be treated as a department within the school or where its oversight can be left in the hands of an ICT coordinator. It is now a whole-school issue which requires management by the leadership group/senior management team.

All schools are at different stages in this change of emphasis. Where in this line of development does your school lie?

What we hope to achieve in this workshop is to provide you with informed professional judgment to equip you with the knowledge, skills and understanding to facilitate the undeniable potential that technology has to enhance and extend learning.

This is not:
· An ICT skills course
· Technology-focused
· About managing applications
· To do with knowing the ins and outs or how boxes and wires fit together and what bandwidth is required.
It is about directors bringing their informed professional judgment to bear on the issues concerned with strategic management of ICT.


What you should be able to do after reading the blog ::

· be aware of current initiatives and trends in ICT development in schools
· understand the role and potential of ICT in teaching and learning
· understand the strategic decisions on staffing and resources which need to be taken
· be able to set the agenda for ICT development and question intelligently any ICT expert, member of staff, adviser or consultant whom you employ
· be aware how ICT can be used to analyze data to inform planning
· be aware of the use of ICT to assist the administration and management of the school
· be confident that your own vision of the school is taking full advantage of ICT
· know what steps need to be taken to move your own school towards that vision
· be able to apply your knowledge effectively to a range of situations and
· have a positive attitude to managing change.



UNIT- 1

Directors’ Resposibilities:

School directors are at the center of debate and into change of ideas .They should have :
· awareness of the myriad ways in which ICT can support classroom practice.
· identify the staff teachers that lead these developments.
· make and implement strategic plans in general and ICT in particular, underpinned by sound financial planning, which identifies priorities and targets for ensuring that students achieve high standards and make progress, increasing teachers’ effectiveness and securing school improvement.
· ensure that improvements in reading/writing, math and information and communications technology are priority targets for all students.
· manage, monitor and review the range, quality, quantity and use of all available resources in order to improve the quality of education, improve students achievements, ensure efficiency and secure value for money.

It is crucial for school directors to :

1- Use evidence
· apply good practice from other sectors and organizations.
· make decisions based upon analysis, interpretation and understanding of relevant data and information.
· Think imaginatively to anticipate and solve problems and identify opportunities.
· take responsibility for their own professional development.

2- Lead others
· initiate and manage change and improvement in pursuit of strategic objectives.
· realizes opportunities, challenges, and constraints.
· ensures time to implement what has been trained.
· has a commitment to change/ he has a central role in planning and implementation of reform.
· sets clear objectives related to needs.
· work for public private partnership and exchange visits.
· participates in setting an education strategy.
· enhances the environment to achieve quality education.
· enhances possibility of moving towards ICT confident school.
· has an ICT vision

3- Organize
· prioritize, plan and organize
· prioritize and manage their own time effectively


The following questions help you to improve your professional skills. Think about them in relation to your daily work and record any evidence which leads you to fresh insights.

1- What is the level of your personal use of ICT?
2- Are you taking full advantage of these technologies in your day to day work?
3- How effectively do your use the technology available to you in your management role in school?
4- Are you aware of all ways in which ICT can support the management and administration of schools?
5- Do you know which areas of the school are using ICT effectively to support teaching and learning?
6- Do you have the understanding to be able to judge what is effective use of ICT in the classroom?
7- Do you need any additional help/training with ICT to prepare you for your role?
8- What have you learned about online learning? What are its advantages? What are its drawbacks?
9- How effectively do you use ICT in your own school? What hinders you from using it even more effectively? Is there anything you could do to remove these barriers?



UNIT – II: What Makes a Vision?

Ten Elements of Vision
Following are the ten elements of vision described in The Handbook of the Indiana Principals Leadership Academy (IPLA), a staff development program of the Indiana department of education. Your schools vision statement may integrate many or all of the elements.
1. As, not as is. Set the vision as the new reality, as if all of the shared goals have been met.
2. Run a movie of the mind. Describe a mental visual or image of how the school will appear at its best.
3. Sensory perceptions. Sense the sights, smells, and feeling that define the new reality. Adding a metaphor works well.
4. Knowledge based. Understand the theories and ideas that when acquired will help reach the vision. Since the formal leader might have the strongest administrative knowledge base, she may become the connection between the theory and practice.
5. Future oriented. Focus the vision in the future; write the vision in present tense. The formal leader should assist the schools community of leadership to imagine the school once the shared goals have been reached.
6. Best you can imagine. Ask all participants to grow. The IPLA’s unofficial motto is “good as we are what it would take to make us even better?” Great shared goals and strategies to encourage or guarantee continuous improvement. Clinical supervision and peer coaching are two successful strategies; intense evolution is not.
7. Does not include barriers. Think about quality and excellence without considering barriers to success. However, vision statements must reflect reality and must be attainable. When goals are shared and become part of the schools commitment, previous barriers to success are less problematic. Consensus works.
8. Board in scope. Keep the vision general and expansive. Write and publish the vision so that every participant will understand the language and the ideas and believe them worthy.
9. If we fail. Measure the possibility of failure against of having tried. Is the school better for having tried and failed than not having tried at all? In constructivist theory we learn from our own errors. As adults, we have the same opportunity. Keep assessing, and implementing.
10. Needs to be achieved. Recognize that the values and beliefs that support the vision are important and worthy of our efforts. The vision should reflect a spiritual quality as if the community were “called”. Do not fear being emotional. Our sense of the visions moral dimension may be its most powerful connection to the community of leadership.



UNIT – III: A Management Plan

Kearsely (1990) describes the managerial perspective in technology planning. Management, is “doing things right.” Quality management is basic to good leadership. In a poorly managed school, schools do not thrive and students do not learn. Kearsely proposes a specific process for planning technology change and managing implementation.

1. Identifying Goals and Objectives
[Kearsely suggestes several general or global goals:]
· To better prepare students for jobs or college
· To improve the efficiency of administrative operations
· To deliver better quality education to all students
· To achieve more accurate budgets and controls of funds
· To give students and teachers more classroom options.

[Kearsely lists specific objectives that arise from general goals:]
· To increase reading and writing skills in second grade
· To reduce the costs/ time required for attendance tracking
· To get more minority students to take science and math
· To send out more detailed progress reports to parents
· To provide better vocational counseling graduates.

2. Acquiring hardware/ software

3. Implementation scheduling
[Kearsely presents a timeline for planning tasks:]
· Form a computer advisory committee.
· Develop a school computer plan specifying goals and objectives.
· Conduct pilot study
· Identify training needed
· Make facilities changes
· Field test hardware and software
· Evaluate first term/ year results
· Review/ revise computer plan.

[Kearsley suggests a schedule for implementation tasks:]
· Develop plan for computer use.
· Present plan of discussion/ review
· Establish computer advisory committee
· Develop budget and proposal for planned computer activities
· Obtain funding for computer plan
· Develop specifications for hardware/ software
· Acquire and install hardware/software
· Develop implementation plan and schedule
· Pilot and evaluate
· Proceed with full scale implementation


4. Evaluation
[Kearsley suggests appropriate evaluation criteria:]
· Achievement scores
· Grades
· Attendance
· Graduation
· Disciplinary action
· Student esteem
· Teacher/parent satisfaction

5. Establishing policies and procedures .
[Kkearsely suggests policies and procedure for hardware and software management:]
· Software piracy and privacy of data
· Scheduling
· Back-up of data
· Staff computer competencies
· Incentives and compensation
· Equal access to computers for all school students





UNIT – IV: Why a strategy?

As with developing and implementing any strategy, strategic management of ICT will involve a feedback process of :Vision –Review-Planning

Vision
Key to this ambition is the development and implementation of a vision. You will develop your vision with a clear view of the knowledge, skills and understanding required to implement an ICT strategy in a 21st century school.

The first step is an analysis of the following:
· Why ICT?
· When?
· In what way?
· What does ICT offer us?

Why ICT?
· To encourage children to learn with and from each other in a positive and proactive manner
· To recognize cultural richness and diversity
· To bring enjoyment to the learning process
· To share the richness of teachers experiences and to bring a breadth of expertise to all our children across the nations
· To ensure the together we achieve an even better education for future generations

When?
· Within the curriculum there are opportunities to share projects and to therefore share learning across the nations
· Extracurricular activities can also support school links. Examples of these are art clubs, news and media clubs (writing news reports for the whole school) Music and modern foreign language clubs.

In what way?
· Teachers start by communicating with each other and making the professional links
· Students start with introductions through letters, video clips, power points made by the children and then agree the way forward together
· Possible project ideas could be through:
a. Story telling
b. Music (share the children’s experiences of the modern or sharing the works of great composers from each nation)
c. Art-As above
d. Any project which is investigative- Science, Math’s etc allows children to share their findings and debate the result
Nothing is impossible; it is how you tackle it together that makes the project effective for all.

What does ICT offer us?
Ensuring a better work/life balance
· Personalized learning much closer
· Reduces bureaucracy through use of e mails and ICT driven timetables
· Students role in school improvement/ target setting clearer through use of ICT
· Shared parental responsibility
· Admin staffs now drive attendance, collection and recording of funding etc therefore better use of everyone’s time!


Knowledge
To be able to develop a realistic and attainable vision a director will need to:


Manage ICT
· School director as a strategic leader
· Release time for ICT coordinators to support others and to ensure appropriate usage of ICT and ensuring appropriate cross curricular use to give pace and challenge
· 3 years finance plan to keep resources appropriate

Assess its impact on staff
· Training brings greater confidence
· Brisk pace of lessons
· Children motivated and on task
· Greater variety of resources used through planned lessons
· In time… less time spent on planning and formation of lessons
· More sharing of resources and ideas
· Experts brought in to support areas where staff may be less confident (video conferencing)
· Fun in delivery and greater satisfaction in outcomes/ enjoyment evident
· Staff motivated and eager to grasp new opportunities
· Team approach to curriculum development with remote access for all
· Planning, record keeping reporting through ICT
· Assessment through ICT allows closer monitoring and appropriate intervention to occur
· Teachers trained to support through ICT
· Competent in Website or blog management
· E mails for all (the paperless community)
Assess its impact on students
· Greater motivation and concentration in class
· Students working together in harmony/ behavior modification support
· Confidence when working in partnership with parents
· Use of soft skills and ICT techniques through story board development and resulting film sequences created
· Crossing the cultural divide with students talking to students
· Pride in their own achievements an appropriate culture to drive standards
· Enjoyment is evident

Assess its impact on parents
· The beginning of parent partnership
· Working with the community to enhance skills
· Use of power point for all presentations and parent workshops
· Filmed sequences taken children shown on every board for parents’ meeting… celebrates work done!
· Web site or blogs share information and allows greatest communication
· Enjoyment evident

Focus for development
· Computers for students to access for usage
· Continued training for all staff/ new opportunities
· Paperless community of schools sharing ideas, policies, good practice through web-sites
· Digital management of learning
· E-learning opportunities at the end of the day
· Extended learning through Home/ School links

Consider possible Infrastructure
· Computer labs : suite with computers (ratio 2:1 student per pc)and Internet Access and LCD projector if possible
· Computers in purpose built library
· Every classroom has a technology toolkit
· Suite for Early Years
· Laptops- wireless technology- movable computers to share in the school.
· Interactive whiteboard
· Broadband and remote access for every learner
· Video conferencing/ Movie making facilities
· Visualizes, Scanners, Printers, Digital cameras, digital microscopes, voting systems
· Low cost or free internet connection for education.



Innovation with the use of ICT
· Interactive whiteboards give pace and challenge when used well. They allow teachers to extend and reinforce appropriately. Use of the correct methodology e.g. split screen techniques can support the child’s learning well. Hyperlinks into an internet site or the use of a film clip can excite learning still further. Children should take control of their learning.
· Visualizes allow instant feedback to students/ role modeling is simpler… and so much more…
· A microscope web cam can help to make science even more dynamic and will also allow web cam conferencing to take place in the classroom.
· Digital movie cameras used to extend a literacy focus by allowing children to make and animate their own stories
· Movie cameras supporting speaking and listening: children as presenters.
· Digital cameras used to strengthen home/ school links
· Voting system to support enjoyment in learning with the home environment sharing the learning (who wants to be millionaire?)
· Remote access (VLE) shares targets and learning with the home environment sharing the learning

Advantages of video conferencing
· Greater motivation and concentration in class
· Students working together in harmony/ behavior modification support
· Confidence when working in partnership with adults
· Speaking and listening enhanced through video conferencing
· Use of soft skills and ICT techniques enhanced through use of conferencing
· Crossing the cultural divide with students talking to students
· Enhancement of understanding across the nations through lessons shared
· Modern foreign languages development enhanced through dialogue across the nations
· Pride in their own achievements creating an appropriate culture to drive standards

Keep on thinking about the future
· Use of video conferencing growing for students and adults.
· Training for parents (lifelong learning)
· Better education/ business links/ networking opportunities with local business, services, community services, students referral units and local Authority(students services)
· Notebooks/ laptops/ PDAs/ instant communication for all learners
· Networks to allow active support system


Finally, when it comes to it comes to forming your vision , it is worthwhile to consider these questions:.
· What current research tells us about the impact of ICT on learning?
· What are the expectations of the Curriculum?
· How to interpret assessment and attainment levels?
· What is best practice in teaching and learning with ICT?
· How does effective use of ICT improve management and administration?
· What are the latest developments in new technologies?

Skills
You will need the skills to be able to:
· Develop and implement plans
· Conceptualize current practice, envision and plan for the future
· Share and gain ownership of the ICT strategy
· Develop and maintain staff skills
· Implement the strategy
· Monitor and evaluate effective ICT

Understanding
You will need to understand:
· How ICT can impact on management
· How to motivate and support staff to use ICT effectively
· How ICT supports teaching and learning across the curriculum
· The impact of ICT on staffing, budgets and future developments
· The potential impact of new technologies
· The impact of concurrent and prior learning*

* Attainment levels: knowledge, skills, understanding that students of different abilities are expected to have by the end of a grade or cycle.

*by current and prior learning we mean the ease with which ICT offers students the opportunity to take part in the learning process away from the classroom, both before and during a particular course of study. A student arriving in a lesson having anticipated what is about to be taught and studied it already could be construed as a problem. Teachers need to have the strategies in place to be able to turn to advantage something which is after all just what we want to encourage.

Review
An effective way to review ICT is through auditing, monitoring and evaluating ICT standards and provision. An effective strategy relies on a clear assessment of the present situation. An audit of what exists now based on the ability to monitor and evaluate the use of ICT in the school.

Planning
Essentially a strategy is a plan to effect change. In your planning the focus will be
· on making the changes: innovation
· ensuring that they are integrated into practice: embedded
· that they remain in place: sustained.

UNIT - V The SLICT model

When considering Strategic Leadership of ICT (SLICT) it is useful to have the following triangular diagram in mind. The diagram exemplifies an approach that school directors can make to the Strategic Leadership of ICT.
We can view the school as being composed of three elements:

· Organization, which incorporates Management and the Curriculum
· Resources, both Human and Physical
· Pedagogy, composed of Teaching and Learning


Strategic Leadership is about understanding and being in command of all of these elements.


Management
Curriculum
Human
Learning
Teaching
Curriculum
Physical
Organization
Resources
Pedagogy
Learning
SLICT



















Reviewing
The first step in developing confident strategic leadership in any area of the school is the process of reviewing. School directors need to know what is happening now. What is the present state of ICT in your school with regard to all these elements – Resources, Organization, and Pedagogy?





Review
Evaluate
Monitor
Audit















In order to plan for the future and to be aware how the school is developing heads must Audit, Monitor, and Evaluate:

· Audit: what have we asked people to do?
· Monitor: are they doing it?
· Evaluate: what is the impact?

At a simple level our audit might clarify that we expect all staff to ensure that students are confident in the basic functions of using a computer. These would include operations such as switching on the computer, copying from a disc, running a program, and printing. As we monitor we will determine whether staff are teaching these skills, and finally we would evaluate if the students have learnt to carry out these functions.


Secure Informed Professional Judgment
As this process is carried out it is important for school directors to be confident in making informed professional judgments about the use of ICT in the classroom. This entails recognizing the positive impact that effective use of ICT can make on students’ learning but also being aware of when ICT adds little or nothing to a lesson. School directors need to be able to


· Understand how ICT can improve teaching and learning
· Evaluate and reflect on the use and impact of ICT
· Observe and make judgments about the use of ICT in teaching and learning
· Assess students ICT capability
· Understand how ICT can help to improve student standards
How can school directors assess these?
One of the tools to realize whether you have formed secure informed professional judgment is through classroom observations , talking to students , and developing student ICT capability.
.

Acquiring Skills of Classroom Observation:

Observing ICT lessons
List of questions are to be considered when observing lessons using ICT. When observing a lesson you might use this:

• a prompt for yourself
• to help you understand why lessons are successful or not
• to draw up a target setting agenda when feeding back to the teacher

Which you would focus on in your own school?

· Does the teacher have good ICT subject knowledge and understanding?
· Is ICT planning effective and does it set clear objectives?
· Do teachers challenge and inspire students working with ICT?
· Do ICT teaching methods enable all students to learn effectively?
· Does the teacher make effective use of time and ICT resources?
· Is students’ ICT work assessed?
· Is ICT homework used effectively to reinforce and extend learning?
· Do students make effective ICT progress?
· Do students apply intellectual and innovative effort in their ICT work?
· Is there a breadth of ICT experience across the whole school?
· Do the lesson objectives build on previous teaching or learning in ICT?
· Does the teacher actively teach new ICT skills or knowledge?
· Is ICT activity purposeful and appropriate for the age/ability of the students?
· Does the teacher group students for using ICT effectively?
· Are students’ own ideas and experiences of ICT used by the teacher?
· Does questioning probe students’ knowledge and understanding of their ICT use?
· Does the lesson allow the teacher to interact with different groups of students using ICT?
· Do ICT activities and resources reflect the diverse cultures and backgrounds of students?
· Are students encouraged to evaluate what they have learnt, and improve their ICT work?
· Are students encouraged to talk with the teacher and other students about their ICT work?
· Are ICT skills used to support learning in other subject areas?


Talking to students
As in all areas of teaching it is important to talk to students in order to understand and evaluate their skills and understanding in more depth.
Some examples that would be appropriate with students are:


· What everyday items use a computer/microprocessor/ microchip? How do they improve our lives? Are there any concerns about such technology?
· Do you use email? How often? Is it for sending or receiving? When is email better than ordinary mail? When is ordinary mail better than email?
· What do you use a computer for? At school? At home? Do you discuss or use computers with others? Friends? Family? Other users? What do you discuss? Do you share ideas?
· When do you find a computer really useful? Are there times when computers are unhelpful ?

Developing Student ICT capability

One of our aims is to help students develop a level of ICT capability. The knowledge and skills empowers the student with a significant level of independence.

Knowledge
· About ICT hardware and software and how they work together
· The concepts behind the software
· The capability of the technology. What it is possible to achieve and, as important, what is not possible

Skills
· Generic skills
· Software or hardware specific skills

Ability
· To select the appropriate ICT tools for a specific task

Understanding
· About the impact of ICT on learning, work and leisure
· Implications for the use of ICT in the wider world


Students with high ICT capability can be identified as having developed a wide range of ICT knowledge, skills, and understanding and are able to display their ICT capability through high challenge tasks. They will be autonomous users of ICT able to select the appropriate ICT resources. The students themselves will be able to develop their capability with some degree of independence.


Using ICT to support student learning

Examples of the use of ICT

Skills developed in advance of the literacy work e.g. cut and paste

Simple word processing for story writing with ICT enabling neatness, spelling and editing

Support for early understanding of number and number skills

ICT to support learning in subject teaching may need to be based on students’ need rather than entitlement
Explore, describe and explain number patterns
Spreadsheets, calculators
Specific software
Practice and consolidate number skills
Selecting appropriate software
Matched to needs of students
Help students take their first steps in mathematical modelling by exploring, interpreting and explaining patterns in data
Pictograms and graphing software

Experiment with and discuss patterns in number and shape and space
Spreadsheets
Drawing software, animated films

Develop logical thinking and learning from immediate feedback
calculator

Develop mental imagery
Understand patterns in number, shape and data

Help prepare teaching materials
Planning
Internet resources, plan, activities
Record keeping and assessment


UNIT V1- The e-Confident School

As we face the interactive age , the school becomes the most powerful tool with which to prepare future generations.
An e-Confident school will have ICT embedded in all schemes of work and a clear understanding among teachers as to where and how ICT can enhance teaching and learning - a re-designed curriculum putting ICT at the heart of learning.
It is a useful exercise to consider the list above and how your school measures up against this ideal.

This is a list developed of ten features that would be found in such a school. This is put before you not as the description of an actual school but to help you set realistic and attainable goals and targets that you would hope to attain over the course of time.
This is not a prescriptive menu of changes that all schools have to follow but is an image to consider as part of the dialogue that needs to take place in the course of considering change.

The suggested key features of an e-Confident School10

1. High levels of staff confidence, competence and leadership
2. Effective application within organizational and management processes
3. Coherent personal learning development, support and access – for all leaders, teaching and non-teaching staff
4. Secure, informed professional judgment
5. Appropriate resource allocation to ensure sustainable development
6. Availability, access and technical support
7. Students with high ICT capability
8. School as the lead community learning and information hub

9. Re-engineered teaching, learning and assessment, integrating effective use
10. Leading and managing distributed and concurrent learning

The last two features are typical for schools with experienced ICT teachers and advanced ICT equipment. It is up to the trainer to choose whether to explain them or not .


Re-engineered teaching, learning and assessment, integrating effective use
By this we mean that the way in which we teach, in which students learn and are assessed will be changed by integrating ICT into our work. The school that has embraced the use of ICT will have looked at every facet of its work and have brought about the necessary changes to gain full benefit from what ICT has to offer.
ICT, because of its power and sophistication will, as we become familiar with its use, enable us to work in different more effective ways. We will “re-engineer” the way we work. A school might decide that much of the work that students produce for ‘marking’ is ‘handed in’ electronically. To facilitate this it would need to ensure that every student has access to a computer in school, and maybe out of school, that every student and teacher has an active email address, that the school intranet will effortlessly cope with the electronic traffic generated.

The advantages that ICT brings with it into a school context can only be truly realized if in response the school changes the way in which students and teachers engage in the process of learning and teaching. The following list is not exhaustive but covers many of these aspects needed for an e-Confident School:
Equal entitlement of ICT for all students
Use of a range of different technologies to support teaching
Knowing how and where ICT can enhance learning
Transparent transition between phases and ages
Students’ learning styles accommodated when using ICT
ICT used across the whole curriculum
A re-designed curriculum putting ICT at the heart of learning
ICT embedded in all schemes of work

ICT implementation has reflected on curricula design and what is expected from students aboard. It is worthwhile to consider the effect that word-processing has on our attitude to students’ presentation of work and neatness. Is it changing our expectations of what skills a student should have in handwriting and spelling? Are we now expecting more creativity in writing since when revising their work the student is freed from the burden of rewriting a ‘good copy’, and checking spellings in a dictionary.

In terms of curriculum development, the ease of sharing teaching materials by staff will enable much more flexibility in collaborative working in and between schools.

Leading and managing distributed and concurrent learning
Here we are describing the advantages that ICT brings in terms of student access to learning materials and the curriculum outside of the controlled environment of the classroom and in addition to the homework that the teacher might set. The student that arrives in a lesson and announces that he/she has accessed and worked through aspects of the curriculum that the teacher is about to teach might be problem unless we have adapted how we work to address this. In which case it now becomes a real advantage of ICT that enables teachers and students to become collaborators in the learning process. It is no easy matter to change our pedagogical approach and for many teachers it will be perceived as a threat, but with good leadership and support from the head and other staff, these changes can be seen as exciting opportunities.

The one thing that is certain we cannot ignore this aspect of ICT.
It means:
· Valuing learning taking place elsewhere
· Accommodating concurrent learning within teaching
· Valuing students’ knowledge and understanding which may be greater than the teachers
· Awareness of the impact of concurrent and distributed learning in their teaching
· Building on opportunities to learn out of school

Effective application within organizational and management processes
We need to ensure that we are gaining full advantage of ICT in all our administration and management processes. For instance:
· Re-designing management and administrative procedures around ICT
· A single entry for data shared across years and phases
· Use of management tools to analyze students’ attainments and progress
That is working smarter not harder.

Coherent personal learning development, for all leaders, teaching and non-teaching staff
All schools need a staff development strategy that addresses staff needs in terms of ICT. This will mean support and training for use of ICT in teaching and learning and to equip and involve staff for new approaches to teaching and learning using ICT.

Secure, informed professional judgment
This is a description of the ethos that should be developed within the staff of the school. Staff would be observing and making judgments about the use of ICT in teaching and learning, reflecting and evaluating.

School as the lead community learning and information hub
Some examples of what this could mean are that the school has a web-site which supports the local community and makes its ICT resources available to the wider community. The school uses ICT to communicate with parents, that students are able to access ICT resources out of school hours and can link their work between school and home.

The concept of e-Confidence is not one that can only be attached to schools, but in the e-Confident School what would we expect from:
· The e-Confident school director ?
· The e-Confident teacher?
· The e-Confident student?


UNIT VII- What kind of a leader are you?

Leadership Styles

When as a leader you wish to bring about any change, your own leadership style will be crucial both in terms of how you will approach the change but also as to how successful you will be.
You will have already come across the outline of Hay McBer leadership styles:

Coercive : “do as I tell you” works best in a crisis, but negative impact
Authoritative : “come with me” mobilizes people towards a vision; strong positive impact
afflictive : “people come first” creates harmony and heals rifts; positive impact
democratic : “what do you think?” forges consensus; positive impact
pacesetting : “do as I do” sets high standards; negative impact
coaching : “try this” develops others; positive impact


Tips to ICT leaders
· Lead by example
· Ensure training is motivational/ inspirational
· Challenge but be supportive
· Encourage distributed leadership it allows succession planning
· Give others credibility for success
· Build confidence, be aware of environment and keep morale high
· Encourage professional dialogue and maintain an open door policy
· Say “thank you” regularly and sincerely

UNIT VIII-Activity: An Action Plan

Consider an innovation for your school. You could imagine what it would mean if you attempted one of the changes given in the videos:
every teacher with a laptop and digital projector
introducing digital video throughout the school
a laptop for every student
• a whole school policy on using ICT in the classroom.
It would be best to choose something which would be an achievable step forward for your school.
Draw up briefly both an overall indication of the planning for the innovation outlining broadly its timescale, who in the school holds overall responsibility for the change and the success criteria for the innovation. Then, using the format below, break down the plan into a number of steps filling in a set of the boxes below for each step.


INNOVATION
TIMESCALE

STRATEGIC/TACTICAL/OPERATIONAL
WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY
SUCCESS CRITERIA
CPD IMPLICATIONS
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS



UNIT IX – Microsoft PowerPoint Foundation Training skills for Teachers


What to Train your Staff on?


Getting started with Word
Starting Word
Exploring the Word window
Using the menus
Entering text
Using click and type
Saving and opening a document
Inserting text


Editing a document
Using the formatting toolbar to format text
Aligning text in a document
Cutting and pasting text

Formatting text
Using the formatting toolbar to format text
Aligning text in documents
Cutting a pasting text
Previewing a document
Printing a document


Working with graphics
Inserting a picture from a file
Inserting a picture from a clip gallery
Resizing a picture
Creating a presentation
Staring Microsoft PowerPoint
Exploring the PowerPoint window
Moving around a presentation
Previewing slides in slide sorter view
Reversing an action
Saving a presentation


Working with a presentation
Creating a new presentation using a design template
Creating a new slide
Rearranging slides in slide sorter view
Viewing a slideshow

Adding and modifying text
Selecting and deselecting objects
Formatting text
Adding text to slides
Adjusting position of text objects

Using a color scheme
Adding a background

Inserting information into PowerPoint
Inserting a clip art image
Inserting and modifying a picture

Producing a slideshow
Setting slide transitions
Animating slide text

Creating a multimedia presentation
Inserting sounds in a presentation

Creating a presentation
Starting Microsoft PowerPoint
Exploring the Power Point window
Moving around a presentation
Previewing slides in slide sorter view
Reversing an action
Changing and adding text in the slide pane
Saving a presentation


Working with presentation
Creating a new presentation using a design template
Creating a new slide
Rearranging slides in slide sorter view
Inserting slides from other presentations
Customizing PowerPoint
Viewing a slideshow

Printing a presentation
Printing slides for note taking

Adding and modifying text
Selecting and deselecting objects
Adding text to slides
Formatting text
Adjusting position of text objects


Applying modifying templates
Understanding and applying templates
Using PowerPoint masters

Using a color scheme
Adding a background
Creating a textured background

Drawing and modifying objects
Drawing an object
Editing an object
Copying and moving an object
Changing the shape of an object

Inserting information into PowerPoint
Inserting a clip art image
Inserting and modifying a picture
Inserting and modifying word art


Producing a slideshow
Setting slide transitions
Animating slide text
Custom animation

Creating a multimedia presentation
Inserting sounds in a presentation
Setting slide timings




References

• Restructuring Schools With Technology, Linda Knapp and Allen Glenn
• Leadership in Instructional Technology, Mathew Maurer and George Davidson
• Strategic Leadership in ICT, Richard Pietrasik.
• Strategic Leadership in ICT complied by ICT Jordan Committee.



Definitions:

▪ Connectivity: how computers are connected to the internet and how fast the connection is. e.g. 1 mb / second
▪ Digital learning resources: are digital multi-modal resources where communication can be made both visually and auditory.
▪ e-confident school: is a school that uses ICT in teaching /learning administration and communication to full advantage.
▪ Broadband: high speed internet access typically contrasted with dial-up access over a modern.
▪ Reflective culture: is the disposition of a group where the individual ( in this case director) is always thinking about his/her practice in order to nurture improvement in the school.
▪ Informed professional judgment: developing effective professional learning that leads to sound judgments.

▪ Bloom’s taxonomy:
1. Knowledge: Recall data or information.
2. Comprehension: understand the meaning, translation, interpolation, and interpretation of instructions and problems. State a problem in one’s own words.
3. Application: Use a concept in a new situation or unprompted use of an abstraction. Applies what was learned in the classroom into novel situations in the work place.
4. Analysis: separate material or concept into component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Distinguishes between facts and inferences.
5. Synthesis: build a structure or pattern from diverse elements. Put parts together to form a whole, with emphasis on creating a new meaning or structure.
6. Evaluation: make judgments about the value of ideas or materials.

▪ Intranet: a network of computers based on (an internet) belonging to an organization accessible only by the organization’s members, or others with authorization.
▪ Management Information Systems(MIS): is the discipline covering the applications of people, technologies and procedures collectively called information system to solve school problems.
▪ Visual literacy: is the ability to interpret, negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image.
▪ Visual Learning Environment(VLE): is a software system designed to support teaching and learning in an educational setting. A VLE will normally work over the Internet and provide a collection of tools such as those for assessment (particularly of types that can be marked automatically, such as multiple choice), communication, uploading of contents, return of students work, peer assessment, administration of student groups, collecting and organizing student grades, questions, tracking tools, and the like. New features in these systems include wikis, blogs and RSS.

Becta, in the UK, have coined the term learning platform to cover VLE as used in the schools sector. The term ‘learning platform’ describes a broad range of ICT systems used to deliver and support learning. Through a learning platform, hardware, software and supporting services are brought together to enable more effective ways of working within and outside the classroom. At the heart of any learning platform is the concept of a personalized online learning space for the pupil. This space should offer teachers and pupils access to stored work, e-learning resources, communication and collaboration with peers, and the facility to track progress.


▪ Interactive whiteboard: is a large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. A projector projects the computer’s desktop onto the board’s surface, where users control the computer using a pen, finger or other device. The board is typically mounted to a wall or on a floor stand.
They are used in a variety of settings such as in classrooms at all levels of education, in corporate board rooms and work groups, in training rooms for professional sports coaching, broadcasting studios and more.
Uses for interactive whiteboards include:
1. Operating any software that is loaded onto the connected PC, including Internet browsers or proprietary software
2. Using software to capture notes written on a whiteboard or whiteboard-like surface
3. Controlling the PC (click and drag), mark-up (annotating a program or presentation) and translating cursive writing to text (not all whiteboards).
▪ Visualiser: sometimes called a digital presenter, is a digital device that has connections to both a computer and a projector.
It consists of a stage, some lights and a camera mounted on a stalk.
Items put on the stage can then be projected straight onto a large screen via a ceiling mounted projector, or the image can be captured by the computer and then annotated using interactive software tools. The visualiser has controls that enable you to zoom in on the image and display objects at very high magnification. The device automatically corrects the focus and the brightness, making it very easy to use. Teachers can show small objects to the whole class at the same time. Every book can become a big book, and a demonstration of some intricate skill or technique can be seen by everyone at once. Students show the rest of the class their work, or model an activity.
▪ Voting system: it allows you to measure real-time evolution of participants. This interactivity allows you to enhance your connection to return to the points remained unclear or address new issues.

▪ Graphics tablet (or digitizing tablet, graphics pad, drawing tablet) is a computer input device that allows one to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way one draws images with a pencil and paper.
A graphics tablet consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" an image using an attached stylus, a pen-like drawing apparatus. The image generally does not appear on the tablet itself but, rather, is displayed on the computer monitor.
▪ Tablet PC: is a notebook or slate-shaped mobile computer, by Microsoft. Its touchscreen or graphics tablet/screen hybrid technology allows the user to operate the computer with a stylus or digital pen, or a fingertip, instead of a keyboard or mouse.



▪ Student Portfolio: is a system that allows students to build a collection of multimedia documents to display on the World Wide Web. Students download templates onto their personal computers and modify the templates by inserting their own information and creativity into a sample portfolio. Each student decides what is in his or her portfolio, as well as which portions of their portfolio they wish to publish for viewing on the web.
▪ MIS: a Management Information System is a system used to enter, store, manipulate and retrieve information about the school staff and students.
▪ PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is a handheld computer, also known as small or palmtop computer. Newer PDA’s also have both color screens and audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones.

VOIP = VOICE over Internet Protocol (Phoning and video conferencing over the internet) e.g. Skype
LFL = Leadership for learning, or SLICT

SLT = Senior Leadership Team

SMT: Senior Management Team

VLE = Virtual Learning Environment

SLA = Service Level Agreement

CPD = Continual Professional Development

MIS = Management Information System

[1] Becta is an agency of the Department for children and families in the UK. It is the government’s partner in the strategic development and delivery of ICT and e-learning