Leadership and PD: Critical Keys for 1:1 Success

Monday, June 1st 2009 by Wes FryercloseAuthor: Wes Fryer Name: Wes Fryer
Email: wes@isteconnects.org
Site: http://www.speedofcreativity.org
About: Wesley is an international learning consultant, author, digital storyteller, educator and catalyst for educational reform focused on blended learning, differentiated instruction, and creative engagement. His bio is available on www.wesfryer.com/bio and complete vitae on www.wesfryer.com/vitae.See Authors Posts (74)

Out of 535 school districts in the state of Oklahoma, only five are currently implementing 1 to 1 learning initiatives with student laptops. This morning I attended a meeting convened by our State Department of Education with the superintendents of those five districts, which include Crescent Public Schools, Frontier Public Schools, Stidham Public Schools, Lowrey Public Schools, and Howe Public Schools. Representatives of these districts gathered today to discuss best practices and share lessons-learned from their journeys moving to one-to-one computing.

Of the different components of a successful 1:1 program which were discussed, two stood out more than all the rest as being absolutely pivotal. These are leadership and professional development.

Without committed leadership, 1:1 laptop initiatives are doomed to failure. Jerry Vaughn, superintendent of Floydada Schools in West Texas, explains this with a bacon and egg breakfast analogy. The chicken was involved, but the pig was committed. As sure as the sun will come up tomorrow, we can be assured that schools will continue to face a variety of crises including funding shortfalls, disgruntled parents, challenging interactions with the media, and other situations. Leadership to support and sustain 1:1 learning initiatives for the long term is pivotal. A Google map of the 22 school districts who started four years ago in the Texas Immersion Pilot Project (TxTIP) would be quite visually illuminating in this regard. How many of these schools are still going strong, and how many have faltered? Strong leadership is one of the most important factors for 1:1 success which is sometimes overlooked as RFPs focus on hardware, software, infrastructure, and professional development.

Professional development was the second most frequently discussed element of 1:1 initiatives which is critical to emphasize. Just as learning needs to be differentiated for students, professional learning for educators also needs to meet individual needs and unique schedules. Several district leaders in our meeting today discussed how they regularly set aside time each week for in-house professional development. While some funds are available to bring in outside speakers and professional development “experts,” the vast majority of professional development sessions in these districts is conducted in-house.

To empower, energize, and equip educators within the school district to lead ongoing professional development training, several superintendents mentioned how valuable it has been to attend state as well as national educational technology conferences, and send teacher teams to those conferences. Some districts send all campus administrators as well as a team of teachers each year to the state educational technology conference. One district (Crescent Public Schools) sends ALL teachers to the state technology conference. After the conference, teachers are brought together to compare notes and share points of learning with each other. As one superintendent pointed out, however, this can be an expensive undertaking! Teachers come back from these conferences with “wish lists,” and it can be costly to fill all those orders which teachers want to place following a conference!

These types of experiences lead to important dialog between administrators and teachers, however, about what are “needs” and what are “wants” when it comes to learning inside and outside the classroom. Several administrators spoke to the critical need to LISTEN carefully and on an ongoing basis to teachers as their needs change and situations evolve with students and technology. It is impossible to predict with absolutely certainly which software programs, online website subscriptions, and hardware peripherals are going to be most valuable for students and teachers in five years. It is challenging to make those predictions even one year in advance. This brings the conversation back to LEADERSHIP, and how critical it is that school districts journeying down the 1:1 learning road be led by individuals who are responsive, good listeners.

It was a privilege to be able to listen to the conversations of many Oklahoma school leaders today who are leading their communities down the road of 1 to 1 learning. While I picked up on some new ideas, my prior understanding of how important leadership and professional development are to 1:1 learning success was certainly reinforced by today’s discussions.

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