First and foremost, the principal must involve ALL stakeholders (teachers, parents, students, board members, business partners) in the dialogue and seek consensus on the true value of technology. No, it is not about boxes and wires. Ends (curricular goals and objectives) must guide the means (technology), not the other way around, as so often happens in today's schools. This dialogue takes time, but must involve everyone and preface any aggressive move toward further planning or implementation. Such forums for dialogue include faculty meetings, informal discussion with teachers, invitations to union representatives, addressing Lions and Rotary Clubs, boards of education, and others. Empowering people to understand information resources and technology is one of the major challenges confronting school principals. Whether a technology program succeeds is greatly influenced by the way teachers and others think about teaching, learning, and the role of technology.
Second, we discussed earlier the realization that each school or division has several teachers who have the potential to push technology implementation forward or can chose to stop it in its tracks. To increase the chance of keeping these teachers on board, focus your discussions on curriculum benefits rather than the technical aspects of technology. Emphasizing the technical "bells and whistles" is not only counterproductive, but also has the tendency to alienate certain segments of the faculty. Instead, focus on using technology with existing instructional strategies used by faculty. And emphasize the power of technology to help us with our agreed on goals and objectives regarding student learning.
Thirdly, (and certainly not lastly) extensive teacher education (vs. training) in the integration of technology into the curriculum is not only needed but required. As discussed earlier, though training in basic technological skills is necessary, major emphasis should be placed on a more important aspect of using technology in education: addressing beliefs and dispositions about how technology can improve teaching and learning.
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