Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not "making friends and influencing people"—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

-Peter F. Drucker

Topic of the Day:

• Technology and Student Achievement

Readings:

 

Chapter Five: Knowledge Building

Petrides, L. A, & Nodine, T. R. (2003). Knowledge management in education: Defining the landscape. The Half Moon Bay, CA: Institute of Knowledge Management in Education. Retrieved October 20, 2003, from http://www.iskme.org/kmeducation.pdf [Note: This is a 1.3MB Adobe Reader Document] [Supplement to Fullan, Chapter 5].

 

Thoughts, ramblings and critical questions:

Comments

This week it is my intent that you have time to digest the work that you've done to date. I suggest that you begin looking at the discussion assignment. The discussions are MUCH better if they are not done at the end. I haven't seen much discussion on there to date. Please make a habit of checking the discussion board at least a couple times a week. Feel free to use that area to ask questions of your peers or to simply throw out material for discussion.

A possible topic for discussion is from this week's topic:

Student acheivement:

(from The Impact of Technology on Student Achievement
A Summary of Research Findings on Technology’s Impact in the Classroom http://www.apple.com/education/research/pdf/EduResearchFSv2.pdf)

A review of the literature resulting from these studies supports the following conclusions:

• Students, especially those with few advantages in life, learn basic skills—reading, writing, and arithmetic—better and faster if they have a chance to practice those skills using technology.
• Technology engages students, and as a result they spend more time on basic learning tasks than students who use a more traditional approach.
• Technology offers educators a way to individualize curriculum and customize it to the needs of individual students so all children can achieve their potential.
• Students who have the opportunity to use technology to acquire and organize information show a higher level of comprehension and a greater likelihood of using what they learn later in their lives.
• By giving students access to a broader range of resources and technologies, students can use a variety of communication media to express their ideas more clearly and powerfully.
• Technology can decrease absenteeism, lower dropout rates, and motivate more students to continue on to college.
• Students who regularly use technology take more pride in their work, have greater confidence in their abilities, and develop higher levels of self-esteem

What are your thoughts?

Email Activity 6 **This is the email activity for module 7**. I'm outling it today so that you have time ot prepare your response.

Using your reading of Chaps. 5-7 from Fullan and from Petrides' & Nodine's monograph, think how you could begin implementing ed tech-oriented knowledge sharing on an informal basis in your institution tomorrow. What problem(s) would you tackle? Why? How can you develop a community of practice? What are the steps you would take? And so on.

In doing this, make explicit what you have learned from these readings. Pay particularly close attention to internal instructional consulting services, learning in context (both from Fullan) and knowledge management approaches (from Petrides & Nodine).

Due date: November 16, 2005
Turn in: Send your responses in the body of an e-mail. NOT AS AN ATTACHMENT!...in the body of an e-mail, to the class discussion list

 

Online Knowledge Management Bibliography Student Acheivement and Technology (bibliography) Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management

Module Activities: (things you must do for this module :-)