'Leading a Digital School' - a useful book for ICT leaders

Leading a digital school , edited by Mal Lee and Michael Gaffney, published by ACER 2008 is a very useful collection of essays on the full range of issues related to this much discussed topic. Naturally, among the fifteen chapters there are some I really liked and some that I had doubts about. I apply a personal ruler to new material about the use of ICT in schools, based on an article I read a while ago and return to regularly by Aviram and Talmi. In short, they suggest there are two main groups involved in the use of ICT in education: the largest group they call Technocrats, who are fascinated by the technology and see great benefit in its use and see it as relatively unproblematic. The Technocrats tend to do the same old teaching using fancy new tools. The other main group, Reformists are somewhat romantic and see ICT as a tool that will almost inevitably bring education to a constructivist paradise. My view is more aligned with the Reformists but recognising that there is nothing inevitable about a change in learning styles. ICT can help achieve more open learning but the technology itself will not make it happen. That makes me a Realistic Reformist I guess.

So, like Goldilocks, I found Roger Hayward's case study of his school St Leonard's College just right, and almost reason enough alone to get this book. St Leonards is a very affluent school and Dr Hayward is very committed to the us of computers in education. But he offers very salutary observations. "...our efforts to use ICT well are , in my opinion, disappointing" and "...I cannot shake off a feeling akin to driving around in an Aston Martin in first gear with the handbrake on...". He is critical of initiatives to use laptops as a Trojan horse to force a more constructivist learning methodolgy and says, "Schools change pedagogy by changing pedagogy, not by changing technology." But he is not a pessimist, and has a lot of positive ideas on how to apply technology to support good learning.

I liked David O'Brien's case study of his pioneering work in us of IWBs and interestingly talks a lot about the successful use of video games to point to how they have employed good learning principles. Greg Whitby's excellent essay on staffing the digital school barely mentions technology and is all about creating a good learning environment for staff so they will use the technology, and all their other resources, to achieve good learning by students.  David Ingvarson and Michael Gaffney provide a detailed overview of the confusing world of learning management systems and online environments including the burgeoning Web 2.0 world.

My Reformist alarms went off in some of the essays. Mal Lee and Michael Gaffney's introduction recognises that changing methodologies are needed but contrasted a Paper-Based Schooling with Digitally Based Schooling. The implication is that the dominance of paper causes one style of teaching and learning while digital technology causes a more open and progressive approach. There is a lot of evidence from digitally enhanced schools that the latter is not necessarily so. I don't think they intended this implication and the selection of essays in the book suggests the view that pedagogy is the main issue and technology provides powerful tools.

A valuable and timely book for school leaders.

Tags: staff developmen school developm leadership
Posted at 12:59PM Sep 11, 2008 by John Travers  |