School Leaders: Take the Next Step with Technology #IPDX16

Our school's faculty completed a building-wide technology implementation survey last year. It was based on Dr. Ruben Puentedura's SAMR framework for determining how well technology was embedded in and had changed instruction. The results: Digital tools were most commonly used at the substitution level, with limited modification of instruction.

Image Credit: Silvia Tolisano via Flickr

This was a surprise for me. Were we doing something wrong? I don't think so. Referencing the image above, students have experiences in a variety of activities, such as keeping artifacts within a digital portfolio. But this was apparently not enough.

Maybe it should not be a matter of what is wrong or right. Rather, we have found that when we focus on those next steps, from using digital tools to capture student learning within portfolios, to using best practice with the help of digital tools to share and to deepen student learning, that we find the most growth as a school. It's about the process more than the product.

If this has been an arduous journey in our school, I imagine other building leadership teams have had similar experiences. Join me in three weeks at AcceleratED in Portland, Oregon on February 24, 2016 to discuss how technology can enhance student assessment, professional learning communities, and your own personal learning network. Let's learn from and with each other! Below are the sessions I am leading at this premier event.