What is a Visionary Leader?

After reading the article, "Leadership in the 21st Century: The New Visionary Administrator" published through Blackboard, I was struck that not more administrators share the view that technology will be a central ingredient in preparing kids for the 21st century.

Yes, the article does state that 93% of their "visionary administrators" believe technology will lead to student achievement, but what about the others? What administrator out there doesn't believe we need to use the ever-increasing technology available to us in order to prepare kids for the world in which they will be living? How can such an education professional still exist?

To me it seems obvious that we need to use the tools that students will be using as they enter institutions of higher learning and the work force. If they don't gain experience using these tools in middle and high school, they will be severely handicapped later. It also seems obvious that students today, the 'digital natives', are much better prepared to begin to utilize technology as instruments for better understanding. However, the key to using technology in schools is not simply throwing the newest and techi-est products on the market into the students' hands.

I believe the true visionary adminstrator is one l ike Kevin West, principal of Canyon Ridge School of Surprise, AS, who was quoted in the above article as saying, "We're focused on thinking skills that kids need to develop. We want them to be creative, innovative problem solvers. We want them to be collaborative. We're not just teaching the standards, we teach for deep understanding so they can take this content and make connections across disciplines. We promote leadership and personal responsibility skills." ( 5)

Notice how he does not say that the purpose of technology in a classroom is to learn how to use technology. It is a means to an end: to a better understanding of content, and to better reasoning and problem solving students.

Too many times I've seen administrators tell their professional staff that they "must" use a certain type of technology as part of their instruction, when in fact that particular technology cannot be effectively applied to the content of the course. This use of technology actually interferes with instruction.

From the article, I like the comparison that the use of technology in a classroom should be as "seamless" as a teacher picking up a piece of chalk. (3) A visionary administrator will recognize which staff, in which content areas, will be able to utilize which technology in such a seamless manner. In this case, the administrator doesn't simply need to be a visionary, s/he will need to exercise an incredible awareness, of all aspects of the school, the students, the community, and of the available technology.

One mark of the visionary administrator is the ability to pair a teacher who might be slow on the 'digital immigration' movement with his or her very own "killer app", and application of technology. If a teacher sees a use of technology that will actually make his or her instruction easier, then that teacher will actually use it. There is a reason we are not still attempting to scrape words onto slate tablets.

The catch is, that teacher needs to be exposed to the technolgy, needs to have time to become comfortable with it, and needs to be absolutely convinced that it will make things easier and be more effective. The visionary administrator can make all of this happen, but not so much through 'vision', but through diplomacy, politicking, allocation of resources, and good old PR and persuasion. In this sense, "visionary" doesn't mean being able to see what is ahead of us, but in being able to see how to best manipulate all of the pieces of the puzzle currently involved with that particular educational system.