Study On Technology Leadership Of School Principal

It is well-accepted that basic education today should make use of modern technology to educate students who will not only pass on our heritages, but also will have been prepared for the future. The principals, who have executive authority for the schools, will be the most important group to care about both the advantages and disadvantages of the widespread technology in their schools, and to plan properly for schools' tomorrow. Although most principals are not expected to be technology experts with their jobs, they are required to understand the strategic application of technology in teaching, learning, and management, and to lead the school in using it effectively. The purpose of this study was to examine principals' roles as technology leaders, establish a principal technology leadership framework, and identify what principals can do for their professional development in technology leadership.We can obviously see that the school internal and external learning and teaching environment has already changed a lot in the information society. It is the principal's responsibility to lead the people to meet all the challenges pushed by the technology development. The most critical tasks that the principals have to undertaken today are technology related decision-making, management, service and evaluation, which constructs the working framework of principal technology leadership and lays foundation for school technology integration.Decision-making is one of the most critical tasks that the principal must perform. The principal who understand the instructional environment in the information society will analyze the school's present conditions of technology using, and find out in what areas that the utilization of technology should be improved, what technology equipments or facilities should be well applied or changed, what kind of training that the teachers need, and so on. The decision making is a process that aims at making use of reliable data to take measures to ensure school technology planning and management, hardware infrastructures, software resources and services, professional development, and ICT-supported educational practices. The outcome of decision making is to lead school members to develop school technology plan, which will demonstrate the vision, the conditions, the process, and the efforts of advancing technology to be used properly and effectively by well planning and well prepared in school level.The current huge investments of improving school learning and teaching environment have made it important for principals to lead school members making using of technology efficiently and effectively. It is the principal's duty to establish proper institutions of technology management and model the effective using of technology in a management process. It is also important for principals to empower school staff to participate in the technology and instruction management process by distributed leadership, which may motivate them to work more actively and duteous in dealing with the technology related affairs. As technology supported school management system is concerned, the principals may not only use the data provided by the system to assist personal work, but also be familiar with its functions of supporting teaching and learning, and bring forward ameliorating suggestions when necessary. There is a growing recognition that the principal is not only the top leader of the school, but also a servant of the people. So what he dose in supporting technology using in teaching and learning will be focused on meeting teachers and students' technology needs, providing warrant initiatives for effectively technology using, and solving problems caused by technology using. Even it's not so easy for principals to be committed to providing his people with the highest level of service, they need to work with service awareness, which will remind them to be more patient, more thoughtful, and more helpful in dealing with any technology related issues.Technology is expected to create positive impact on school education. As the identification of technology efficiency and effectiveness becomes an important objective of school evaluation, evaluation should be developed to reflect and measure the outcomes of technology. For the principals, it is important to understand that school technology environment, ICT supported management, ICT supported teaching and learning, students' development, and school development are the most important fields should be checked regularly, and the performance indicators may be identified within these areas. As educational technology is integrated into the curriculum across all disciplines, technology should also be employed in assessment. With the support of technology, it's easier for principals to access various data and make use of reliable assessment results. It is also important for principals to realize that assessment should become an ongoing part of instruction to inform and enhance teaching and learning and to promote student achievement. So adopting continuous improvement in assessment itself is a critical issue to be paid attention to.In order to promote technology leadership, it is necessary for principals to spend time and energy, and take action on their professional development for technology competency, which may be composed of three elements: basic technology knowledge and skills, general technology application abilities, and technology-supported management capabilities.The results of the study shows that decision-making, management, service and evaluation are crucial for principals to exhibit their technology leadership in the digital age What makes e-learning campus possible is that principals have a comprehensive understanding of technology's best practices and effectiveness.