Reaction

When I first chose to read this book, I thought a large focus of it would be about the types

of technology that were being implemented into certain situations and discussing the pros and

cons of how they were implemented. However, it became clear rather quickly that this book was

more about the leadership styles and decision-making strategies that support the implementation

of technology initiatives rather than just what the initiatives themselves were. Ultimately, this is

a book about how strong leadership can foster buy-in to a plan and lead to its overall success no

matter what obstacles seem to be standing in the way.

There are several things about this book that left an impression on me. First, even though

this book was published in 2012, the questions that it poses and its main takeaways are still

extremely relevant 10 years later! It has been my professional experience that leadership styles

and conversations about the elements of technology implementation are just as relevant today as

they were when this book was published. “With all the energy, effort, and spending on

educational technology, why don’t we see the potential truly realized in the teaching and learning

process?” (Levin & Schrum, 2012, p. 5) is a question stated early in the book by the authors and

I believe it to be one still asked my many schools and districts today (and is the basis for many of

our Ed.S. program assignments!). Further, I believe the lack of strong leadership qualities

discussed in this book by current school leaders is a major reason why we are still dealing with

unrealized technology initiatives and a lack of desired impacts on learning. There is a tendency

to focus on just the technology piece instead of stepping back to see the leadership issue as well.

To that end, it makes the curated list of leadership qualities highlighted in the last chapter take on

an even greater significance for those of us working in the educational technology field. As the
book constantly exemplifies for us, it is the balance of leadership skills with technology that

ultimately makes for a successful technology implementation endeavor!

Another impression the book left on me is one that would be felt by any reader of this

book. While leadership can take many forms, there is some commonality in traits of leaders of

schools/districts that have a successful record of technology integration. Having a clear vision,

constant planning and evaluation of that plan, and collaboration/communication with

stakeholders are some of the specific traits that hit home with me, since they are vitally important

to the success of the technology initiative and are intertwined to each other. I also felt the authors

discussion of distributed leadership was an important one. As they noted, “leadership is best

when distributed over multiple people” (Levin & Schrum, 2012, p. 7). In relating this concept to

my school of nearly 240 faculty and staff and over 2,500 students, there are a lot of “leaders”

needed for us to function efficiently and from what I can tell, we do a good job at that. Our

leadership team divides main school tasks and many of those tasks get divided and delegated

further to leaders who are overseeing items like department and PLC meetings. While an

important concept, it was maybe the only idea presented in the book that perhaps did show its

age just a little, as it’s been my professional experience that many schools have incorporated this

style of leadership into their buildings. Maybe this book was one of the driving factors behind

that!

A final impression this book left on me is the critical role of providing ongoing, high-

quality professional development to any staff that is undergoing a new technology

implementation plan. As this is a major part of my current job, I was very happy to see the

authors highlight this as one of the main things that make technology implementation plans

successful. “Without the PD piece of the puzzle, any change in teaching practices will be very
slow, or potentially non-existent. Ongoing PD, not just one-shot overviews, has to be a priority”

(Levin & Schrum, 2012, p. 191) they emphasize at the end of the book. They also highlight the

use of in-house PD, when done correctly, being a highly efficient practice. This is the style we

implement often at my school.

While not a specific takeaway, there was one concept that the authors mentioned that I

really loved and plan on using in my own job when presented with the right context to use it.

While discussing technology being a catalyst for change in educational settings, they mention

that “unfortunately, it has been said that our students ‘power down’ to come into the classroom,

and when they do this, ‘students also power down in the way they access information and think’”

(Levin & Schrum, 2012, p. 3). I thought this quote was amazing since to this day you still hear

the term “power down” being used in many classrooms. Granted, a lot of the time it is

referencing potential discipline problems, such as cell phones in the classroom. But just the

phrasing on it I believe still has negative connotations and still gives the impression to students

that using technology in the classroom remains a fine line between accepted and not accepted.

Students today have grown up on technology. It shapes nearly every aspect about their

viewpoints on their world, including how they learn. Technology stakeholders in educational

settings need to utilize this as an advantage! The book mentions how technology can be used to

rewrite aging curriculums and move away from school being the old, teacher-led style of

instruction to putting students in control of their learning. As the authors state, “the result of

doing these things is that school becomes more relevant for students (and young teachers) who

are digital natives who do not want to power down when they come to school” (Levin & Schrum,

2012, p. 191).
 Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book! Within the eight case studies presented, most

anyone can find a scenario like their current situation and be encouraged at the successes the

schools/districts found in their technology implementation plans. The book is a must read for

leadership ideas and examples in the worlds of both education and educational technology.

References

Levin, B. B., & Schrum, L. (2012). Leading technology-rich schools: Award-winning models for
Success. Teachers College Press.