A Case Study of Technology Leadership in Situ: A High School iPad Learning Initiative. Issue 2 (March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hughes, Joan E.; Boklage, Audrey; Ok, Min Wook
• Is Part Of: Journal of school leadership. Volume 26:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 283
• Page End: 313
• Publication Date: 2016-03
• Subjects: iPad -- Tablet -- Technology Leadership -- Technology Integration -- Distributed Leadership; School management and organization -- United States -- Periodicals; Administration scolaire -- États-Unis -- Périodiques; School management and organization; United States; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 371.2
• DOI: 10.1177/105268461602600204
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2631-9659

Abstract

This research examined how technology leadership functioned in the first year of a tablet computer (iPad) learning innovation in one U.S. high school and its district. This article presents a descriptive case study of leader interactions that contributed to setting direction, providing professional learning, and making the organization technologically ready. Qualitative data, collected through interviews and observations, revealed a "bottom-up" innovation with "top-down" support. Yet, the school's entrenched structural and cultural practices undermined attempts to enact the learning-focused vision. This study emphasizes the need for a truly distributed vision, in which all organizational structures, practices, policies, and expectations are reconsidered.