Approximately at noon on January 20, 2009, the United States swore in a new president, Barack Obama. In keeping with the theme of his campaign, almost at the instant Obama was sworn in, http://www.whitehouse.gov/launched a redesign of its web site signalling a new era in government; change has come. The new site is interactive and promotes communication between the new administration and the public. This follows the tech-savvy approach that President Obama used to communicate and get his message out during his campaign. The site demonstrates Obama's awareness of the importance of Web 2.0 which emphasises communication and connections. This site should not be confused with the site of President George W. Bush and his administration which conveyed a more transitional and quiet persona. During the inauguration, millions of people came together to acknowledge "the time has come for change", they stood shoulder to shoulder, people of all races and backgrounds, making connections.Our country has embraced new leadership with the promise of change and while on President Obama's watch No Child Left Behind Act will come up for renewal. Educators will look for increased funding at federal level which will be difficult with our current financial crisis. Is it not surprising that the President proposes spending $500 million to upgrade school technology?
So what about school leadership? Our traditional views of school leadership have emphasized managerial or operational functions. Today, school administrators are still managing operations while focusing on student learning, standards, accountability tests and performance assessments. School leaders are extremely important in determining whether technology use will improve learning for all students. They need to collaborate with teachers, school personnel, school board members and community to create a vision for the future of our schools to adjust to our social and economic lives brought on by technology, thus School 2.0.
So the time has come...
..............School 2.0
Gretchen,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your thoughts on how our new President is immediately using technology, as he had embraced and used it during his campaign. i said in one of my blogs that I believe was one of the reasons he propelled himself to the forefront. His team was quite visionary in this respect. Thanks for the video!
I have enjoyed the video. You are right to question how the change at the national level will filter down to the local leaders in education. Some of them can't get past the "newest" technology EMAIL (yes, sarcasm). I am curious about how the focus on education will change, especially on the local level.
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