Digital Leadership in Education

1. Digital Leadership
HIED 5364
Dave Klocko Module 8 3/27/16
“Pervasive Leadership and Intrapreneurship causes leaders
to view everything as a resource”.

2. “Technology as Brush, Paint
and Artist”
Love and Estanek (2004) in Rethinking Student Affairs
Practice highlight the influence of technology in student
affairs and higher education. They advise the technology
should not just be left to the “techies” anymore. Leaders
need to embrace a technology mindset. To “engage,
perceive, adapt, assess and apply technology to student
affairs.”(p.153)
“ But technology and I don’t get along very well…” D.
Klocko, circa 2001.

3. Technology as Brush
“Technology is a tool to help us with our work.”
“With out a technology mindset, leaders disenfranchise from
one of the very most important tools to move an organization
into the future.”
“Complexity and chaos in leadership can’t be controlled, but it
can be influenced. It is critical that leaders engage with
technology experts, learn about the technology and discuss
with students the potential benefits.” Quotes from Love and
Estanek (2004)

4. Technology as Paint
“A medium shaped by professionals to complete work.”
Discussions are constant among many professionals that
technology can help, but also hinder the process of doing
work.
Love and Estanek in their book refer to the dualisms that
exist in leadership…..technology is not an “either-or” but a
“both-and” situation......next slide please 

5. Technology as Paint
A “both-and” dualism is explained by technology both
helping and hurting at the same time. For example, email
can help communication tremendously, because it is
instantaneous. But it can be misinterpreted if not written
carefully.
Reflection: “Technology can be painful sometimes. When
a clinic or hospital institutes a new electronic medical
record system, there is a negative effect on patient care.
Due to a large learning curve that slows down all of the
providers giving care and trying to learn new technology.”

6. Resources
 Love and Estanek discuss the necessity for leaders to
“Rethink Resources”
 Among the key concepts for leaders to become aware
of are:
 Resource Awareness
 Resource Enhancement
 Resource Attraction

7. Resource Awareness
Resources include: Money, time, people, space equipment,
supplies, physical plant and educational technology.
But leaders should also think of the intangibles as resources
also….......
Resources also include: Creativity, energy, commitment,
relationships, information, expertise, experience and interests
outside of work.

8. Resource Awareness
Reflection: “Thinking about the big picture is required of a
leadership view. The intangibles are almost as important
as the brick and mortar of an organization. I agree that
energy, initiative, creativity and interpersonal skills all are
very important resources in an organization.”

9. Resource Enhancement
Love and Estanek define resource enhancement as,
“Renewing, growing and converting existing resources.”
Examples include: trading convertible resources like
materials, information and expertise with other
departments for exchange of more sustainable resources.

10. Resource Enhancement
Reflection: “In many situations as educators when we
may have to do more, with less. Enhancing resources
can augment what you have to parlay into needed
resources to help with a particular task or project.
Example, in our program we purchase supplies for
another department that loans us IV training arms to
teach students how to start IV’s. This emphasizes Love
and Estanek’s position that growing intrapersonal
relationships is an important resource.”

11. Resource Attraction
Love and Estanek define this as bringing new and needed
resources into a program. In recent decades in higher
education, departments of institutional development and
advancement have become paramount for continued
success of institutions.
Resource attraction include: Fundraising, grant writing
and partnerships (inter-departmental, inter- institutional
and intra-institutional, and corporate partnerships)

12. Resources
“Resources and the lifeblood of any organization. They
make work, innovation and outcomes possible. It is
important for leaders consider that “everything is a
resource” to help increase motivation, creativity, morale
and innovation in an organization.” Love and Estanek
(2004).

13. Resource Attraction
Reflection: “Educational grants are incredibly hard to get
funded these days. I personally only have written a few
very small grants that weren’t funded. I am thankful my
salary or employment doesn’t rely on grant funding! I do
respect the importance and scholarship that goes into
grant writing and the role that grants play in leadership.
Without funding and philanthropy, we could not exist as
and institution.”

14. A Quotefest from Erik Qualman about
Technology
We don’t have a choice on whether we do social and mobile
technology, it’s how well we do it………..
The average person only has a 7 second attention span……a
goldfish has an 8 second attention span…..
More people own a mobile device than own a tooth
brush…. Really !!
Grandparents are the fastest growing demographic on
Twitter #Seniors Rock

15. Reflection: “This takes me back
to my first assignment in this
course, “Paradigms of Leadership”.
I used a quote from former Chrysler
Chairman, Lee Iacocca, ‘Lead,
follow or get out of the way’. Again,
my view of things regarding
technology is being reformed. Erik
Qualman has some important
messages regarding Social Media
in his You Tube video, “Social
Media Revolution”

16. Eric Sheninger…..
“As schools change, leadership must as well…….”
Eric Sheninger is a teacher……that advocates embracing
technology…..It can’t be said any better than this….
“…It is incumbent upon leaders to harness the power of digital technologies in order to
create school cultures that are transparent, relevant, meaningful, engaging, and
inspiring.”(2014)

17. Eric Sheninger…..
Sheninger states that we can no longer accept the “head
in the sand” mentality….as technology is changing every
facet of society.
“Leading the way with the status quo, standardization,
outdated practices and misconceptions related to technology
not only does a disservice to our students, but renders our
schools and professions irrelevant”

18. Eric Sheninger…..
“Digital leaders must give up control and trust
students and teachers to use real-world tools to
unleash creativity and a passion for learning.”
The following is a summary of Eric’s “7 Pillars of Digital
Leadership”

19. 7 Pillars of Digital Leadership
“These are all embedded areas in our lives and can be
improved with the use of technology…..especially social
media.”
1. Communication- Engaging all parties in real-time 2-way
communication.
Reflection: Since I purchased an i-Phone, I now text on a
regular basis with my colleagues. Texting is very helpful in
solving problems quickly.

20. 7 Pillars of Digital Leadership
2. Public Relations- using social media can embed a
positive PR campaign in the face of a continuously
negative image that education receives, especially
primary and secondary education.
Reflection: Since I have joined Facebook, I do see the
possibilities of using this platform to learn about
restaurants, companies, services and for professional
organizations. I’m still working on integrating and
engaging Facebook….....

21. 7 Pillars of Digital
Leadership
3. Branding- In education, social media can push the
efforts to positive branding of school culture and pride.
This can help to attract families to send their children
to schools.
Reflection: I can see this being an important part when
students are looking for universities to attend. This
generation makes many of their decisions on information
they learn using social media.

22. 7 Pillars of Digital Leadership
4. Student Engagement and Learning- Social media enables
students to engage in learning, collaboration, develop
creativity, become globally connected and learn problem
solving skills. These skills are necessary for success in the
21st century.
Reflection: After listening and reading Sheninger’s perspectives
on technology and social media, I can see how my own
students are engaged in learning through this medium. I plan
to increase my use of more technology and social media in the
future. I can see that students are more efficient when they
integrate their own personal devices when completing
assignments.

23. 7 Pillars of Digital Leadership
5. Professional Growth and Development: Higher
education professionals can develop their networks,
skills and support systems through social media.
Schools don’t have to be an “isolated island”.
Educators have a world of electronic resources at their
finger tips to support their own development, learning
and teaching.
Reflection: This is an understatement. The delivery of
bedside health care and continuing medical education has
been revolutionized by social media, apps and the
internet. Everything is now at our fingertips on our
handheld devices !!

24. 7 Pillars of Digital
Leadership
6. Re-envisioning Learning Spaces- The traditional
classroom is not the only way for students to learn.
Educational leaders must learn how to integrate
technology in creative use of space to break the
monotony of traditional lectures. Blended learning,
flipped classroom, games and virtual leaning are all
techniques that engage today’s students.
Reflection: Our university removed an entire floor of the
library “stacks” and created a 225 unit team based
learning space that is fully digital and HD.

25. 7 Pillars of Digital
Leadership
7. Opportunities-Digital leaders look for opportunities to
improve on old methods of teaching, methods of meeting
and collaborating.
Reflection: Since I began this course, I have instituted
the use of Screen-cast-O-Matic for quick podcasts that
replace in-class lectures or supplement required material.
The students are responding well to this improvement !!
Thanks, Dr. Peaton !

26. Added Resource: Eric Sheninger, TED Talk: Schools
That Work for Kids
This is a powerful talk directed at old school educators.
The key elements that I learned are as leaders we must
embrace technology personally and accept this is the way
students engage and learn.
As educators we must “give up control” and embrace
technology and social media. It is a way to empower
students to learn in a way that is congruent with society
and corporate America.
It is not about the adult educators, it should be about the
students !

27. Added Resource: Eric Sheninger, TED Talk:
Schools That Work for Kids
Sheninger describes how his school created learning
spaces, “maker spaces”…..similar to woodshop when I
was in school, where students become interested in
learning. They can create artificts of learning in many
more ways than the traditional pedagogy has taught us.
Examples that I can think of are....concept maps,
schematics, one minute essays, electronic Jeopardy and
Wiki’s.
We must take the lead and make this happen to give the
students “real tools to do real work” just like in “real life”.

28. Added Resource: Eric Sheninger, TED Talk:
Schools That Work for Kids
Key points from this TED talk:
Student shouldn’t be punished for bringing their electronic
devices to school. This is how they learn the best.
Educators should stop making excuses to change with the
times, because they are making themselves irrelevant by
doing so.
Educators must create learning environments that
embrace technology to prepare students to be competitive
in the “real world”.

29. Reflections:
I am humbled by this presentation, as I “transform” as a
leader. It really shouldn’t be about “us” educators, but
about how the students enjoy and succeed at learning.
An example, we began allowing our students to bring their
laptops to class to do their medical progress note writing
after our case based sessions. The argument for this
came from the students themselves stating, “We will be
using a computer to write our notes in the electronic
medical record (EMR), why not in class?”
This change has worked very well !!

30. My Digital Leadership Advice
to Everyone
Don’t Text and Drive !!!!!!!!!!
It can wait, your life may depend
on it !!!

31. References
Love, P.G.,Estanek, S.M. (2004) Rethinking Student
Affairs Practice (1st ed.). SanFrancisco: Josey Bass.
Sheninger, E. (2014). Leadership in education: Pillars of
digital leadership. International Center for Leadership in
Education.
Eric Sheninger: Schools that work for kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwrLVvORugw
Erik Qualman: Social media revolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jottDMuLesU