What makes administrators effective technology leaders?

[cross-posted at the TechLearning blog]

One of the questions that I ask right at the beginning of our students’ School Technology Leadership

certificate program is whether administrators can be effective

technology leaders in their school organizations without being at least

somewhat technology-savvy themselves. Here are some example student

responses:

• Yes. They just need to get the right people on board and empower them appropriately.

new technologies in addition to everything else for which they’re

responsible. Principals need to focus on instructional and academic

leadership. Of necessity, the answer has to be yes for most school

leaders.

teaching staffs. If a principal is going to ask her teachers to use

digital technologies, she better be using and learning technology too.

example, a principal doesn’t have to be an accounting expert to

effectively oversee her school business manager.

likely to integrate technology into their instruction when

administrators are modeling technology usage.

And so on…

What do you think? Can a school administrator be an effective leader

in the area of technology but not be very tech-savvy himself / herself?

How you answer this question is critically important in terms of how

you think about administrators’ professional development, job

expectations, time allocation, etc. I look forward to hearing from you!