RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in Educational Leadership
EDUC 5321: TECHNOLOGY FOR SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
Name: Aysun Coban

Date: October 23, 2014

Topic Selected:
The principal must provide appropriate professional development time and resources to
support effective classroom implementation of technology (Toy, n.d.).
1. Do you agree or disagree with this statement/topic? State your position.
Explain why the issue/topic is important. Go beyond just stating I agree with the
statement. (At least 1 paragraph)
Your Position/Introduction:
I agree with the statement. Usually principals want the teachers to implement technology
in the classroom; however some principals do not pay sufficient attention and give value
to improve teachers technology development. They usually expect and want teachers to
take all the responsibilities of learning technology tools by themselves. Therefore
expectation is important but also supporting and guiding teachers to use technology is
essential.
2. What does the literature/research say about this issue/topic? Conduct NAU
Library or Online Search.
(Give references to scholarly articles or web articles, properly cite them in APA
style and include the full article citation under the References) (At least 1
paragraph)

Brief Literature Review:

Technology use must be a clearly identified goal. Teachers must know
that the use of technology in instruction is an expectation.
Principals must work to remove roadblocks to technology use to assure
that teachers do not lose interest or become frustrated by technology
expectations.
Teachers cannot teach 21st century skills without any technological
sources and sites and they cannot practice to learn technology by
themselves.
There are still some principals who are thinking that there are a lot of
teachers who have been trained in very traditional methods of instructional
delivery. They are not comfortable with technology usage in the
classroom. That is way they may not have learn to use technology, and
they cannot understand new technology even if they have training.
Teachers are at various stages of technology use and readiness to learn
about technology. For some the implementation of technology will be swift
and painless. For others the process will be slow and incremental. These
differences require an approach to change and professional development

that acknowledges these differences.

Principals should provide support to teachers to develop their technology skills
and the approach to professional development should:
Identify the teachers skills and knowledge of technology.
Plan activities that match the skill and knowledge level of the teachers
Schedule and deliver the activities.
Plan to repeat activities until teachers have mastered the skills.
Allow teachers to practice the skills and demonstrate the use of the
technology.
Provide time for skill practice.
Feature teachers as the facilitators of the sessions to emphasize the
teacher-to-teacher-model of professional development.
Provide time and resources to allow sessions to be successful and to
demonstrate the value placed on the activities.
3. Provide at least one example regarding your topic from a school you are
familiar with. If you are not working in a school, how would you implement your
ideas on this issue to your career? Be specific with your examples. You can
mention software/hardware names and specific methods that you plan to use. (At
least 1 paragraph)
Examples:
I was working as IT manager last year and I may give some examples about that topic
from my previous experiences. For example last year I was working in a high school and
I remember that starting with first day of school some of our teachers were asking and
complaining about technology tools that they were required to use. Actually most of them
were required to use only a laptop, a smart board, and projector for their activities,
however even these basic tools were being challenging for some of them. For example
whenever they had difficulty and could not get technical support immediately they were
getting frustrated easily.
Another example was chromebooks. We had chromebooks for students and teachers
use, however there were some teachers who even cannot turn on their laptops, or do not
know how to use projector. They were thinking that it is not necessary to use
chromebooks in education; it was just useless even distractive device for both students
and teachers. Even some teachers were denying using their chromebooks and insisted
to return them. After that I understood better that it is very important task to guide and
train all teachers in advance about how to use technology in the classroom. Teachers
should have enough time and resources to be able to use technology tools and it should
be provided by their principals. If the principal thinks that somehow everybody will keep
up with technology over time, it is going to be a big mistake.
Therefore I believe that principals sometimes are not being an effective supporter for
teachers to develop their knowledge and skills on technology usage.
4. Cite your References in APA. You may use
http://www.citationmachine.net/apa/cite-a-journal for citing your sources in APA
style.

References:
Grady, M. (2011, November 27). The principals role as TECHNOLOGY LEADER.
Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.seenmagazine.us/articles/articledetail/articleid/1800/the-principals-role-as-technology-leader.aspx
The Principal as Technology Leader. (2001, January 1). Retrieved October 23, 2014,
from http://www.corwin.com/upmdata/41065_Grady_Leading_the_Technology_Powered_School___cH1.pdf
Toy, C. (n.d.). Leadership and Effectively Integrating Educational Technology: Ten
Lessons for Principals and Other Educational Leaders. Retrieved October 23, 2014.