Leveraging Technology in Education

As I reflect on the ISTE Standards for Administrators, I feel that much of my ethos as a school leader is reflected throughout, including a couple standards I would already consider strengths. These include the Standards (1) Equity and Citizenship Advocate, (3) Empowering Leader and (5) Connected Learner. In my current role, I feel that myself and the Senior Management Team I am a part of, have a strong opinion and understanding about providing appropriate technology to all in students, in appropriate learning environments with qualified teachers. We look to develop responsible online behavior through our Computing curriculum, PSHE curriculum and school-wide awareness initiatives. I align with these beliefs and have helped in developing these practices in our school.   Personally, I believe I have strengths concerning the Empowering Leader standard. I always look to champion innovation within the school and recognize those members of staff who are motivated in bringing forth...

I believe it is impossible to have a realistic conversation about personalized and adaptive learning without acknowledging the link and relationship they dependently share. As a school leader, “personalized learning” has fallen into the traps of over generalized educational jargon, where teachers and school leaders alike, substitute the phrase for concepts like differentiated instruction, student welfare and individual student plans/learning. Howton (2017) defined personalized learning as a strategy “…which tailors instruction, expression of learning and assessment to each student’s unique needs and preferences.” This clear and concise definition details an outcome which educators have championed and sought for a number of years. Many theories, strategies and initiatives have attempted to accomplish these outcomes, or at least parts of them. It is only in recent years, where technology advancements have occurred, that these outcomes have a new and realistic chance of occurring. T...