The adoption of technology in education should be understood as a slow evolution of educational bureaucracy in building capacity for how software will be used in K-12 learning. Technology, and specifically software, is in a formative stage of adoption for constructing virtual organizational structures. From piecing together the evidence of how one school district is moving forward to address teaching and learning within a technology rich system:
- The software to structure and organize a hybrid digital/brick and mortar educational organization will accelerate the development of a different pedagogy for teaching and a different (more personalized?) form of learning;
- The slow rate of organizational change is a condition of bureaucracy. Technology adoption by school systems needs to be understood in context to the nature and condition of the educational bureaucracy as it adapts to changes in the external environment.
Christensen, Horn, and Johnson (2008) claim that by 2019—if one looks at the logarithmic growth of online delivery of the high school curriculum—“50 percent of high school courses will be delivered online. In other words, within a few years, after a long period of incubation, the world is likely to begin flipping rapidly to student-centric online technology” (p. 98). The significance of Christensen’s projection is based upon the accelerating acceptance and expansion of the virtual educational delivery system. This school district is evolving from the brick and mortar system of educational delivery to a blended system of virtual and bureaucratic delivery . . . and provides evidence that Christensen’s prediction is on track.
The knowledge required for leading and teaching during this transition is about organizing for learning in a way that better serves children and society. The adults of the present day educational system will need to re-conceptualize the present day school system and recast it for a more student-centered form of learning in the twenty-first century. This case study indicates that one district is moving in a more deliberate way to change how it organizes for teaching and learning in an age of technology.
References
- Berry, J. E.,&Staub, N. (2010). Technology pedagogy: Software tools for teaching and learning.
Journal of Scholarship&Practice, 8 (1), 24-33. Retrieved from http://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/Journals/AASA_Journal_of_Scholarship_and_Practice/JSP_Spring2011.FINAL.pdf
- Callahan, R. E. (1962).
Education and the cult of efficiency . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B.,&Johnson, C. W. (2008).
Disrupting class . New York: McGraw Hill.
- Council of Chief State School Officers Interstate School Leaders Consortium (CCSSO). (2008).
Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC 2008. Retrieved From http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2008/Educational_Leadership_Policy_Standards_2008.pdf
- ELCC Standards. (2011).
Building level standards . Retrieved from http://www.ncate.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=hfIHby8rXMU%3D&tabid=741
- Johnson, B. (2001). Toward a new classification of nonexperimental research.
Educational Researcher, 30 (1), 3-13.
- Lawless, K.&Pellegrino, J. (December, 2007) Professional Development in Integrating Technology Into Teaching and Learning: Knowns, Unknowns, and Ways to Pursue Better Questions and Answers.
Review of Educational Research, 77 (4), 575-614.
- Mishra, P.,&Koehler, M. J. (2006, June). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge.
Teachers College Record, 108 (6), 1017–1054.
- Pink, D. H. (2007).
A whole new mind . New York: Riverhead Books.
- Rogers, E.M. (2003).
Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.). New York: Free Press.
- Schein, E. H. (1985).
Organizational culture and leadership . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- Scott, W. R. (1998).
Organizations rational, natural and open systems (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Thompson, V. A. (1961).
Modern organization . New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Tyack, D. B. (1974).
The one best system . Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
- Weber, M., In Gerth, H. H.,&In Mills, C. W. (1958).
From Max Weber: Essays in sociology . New York: Oxford University Press.
