Reflection 1

After reading the article, Leadership in the 21st Century: The New Visionary Administrator, I was able to form a definition of a visionary administrator as an administrator who used technology skills to better communicate and collaborate with staff, students, and parents. This visionary administrator is able to react proactively and become goal orientated with the help of technology. They encourage the use of technology to keep students engaged in the classroom and have more in common with students who are now considered to be ‘digital natives’. They look at technology as a way to increase student achievement.

Visionary administrators believe that classrooms should have students creating multimedia projects, using interactive white boards, using online databases for research, and they value the use of web 2.0 tools. They look at technology as a way to expand the classroom.

According to the article, visionary administrators face many challenges when encouraging the use of technology. Funds for new technology as well as updates for existing technology are constant struggles for administrators. Professional development will be needed to train staff on new technology, update staff as technology updates, and to train new staff that enters a building.

A visionary administrator looks towards the future and sees new ways in which technology can help achievement. The see technology as bridging the home-school divide and helping in preparing students for college &/or careers. They see opportunities for students to connect to the world, for math and science teachers to use real-world problem solving applications, and for opportunities for technology and leadership integration.