Leading an iPad Initiative

We had an Apple Leadership training years ago that helped shape some of our approach. The trainer, a Superintendent at the time who was contracting with Apple, explained that at his district, if he tried to train the most innovating people, he found he was just getting in their way. Plus, people who were skeptical of technology looked at those people and said “of course they are successful integrating technology, they are comfortable with its use.”

It was when he began training that next tier of people, those who weren’t as big of risk takers but still were willing to take risks. When they had success, others began thinking, if they can do it, maybe I can too.

Because of this, I try to pull that group of people into trying something new when it comes to integrating technology.

I can say from my institution where 2-3 faculty wanted to do this, to an institution where I have over 100+ faculty now doing this - get the faculty involved and sharing.

Even with the growth we have, at a meeting on Wednesday I was sharing with a colleague who did not know about polleverywhere, or Miro, or other tools. Finding out what faculty want to do in their classroom and having creative individuals going 'have you tried this' makes such a difference. We've also found training faculty and students to be key in success. :)

Hope that's helpful

Robert's reply has some great advice. I agree that "working with the willing," but maybe not your earliest adopters, is a good way to spread excitement among faculty who may be nervous to try new pedagogical approaches that make great use of technology.

I also wonder if you've considered facilitating faculty partnerships where faculty choose a colleague, set a shared goal for innovating in their teaching, and then share their progress with other faculty. This is something we're trying at my institution, and I'm excited to see how it goes. Sometimes, it's helpful to just have another person on the learning journey alongside you, rather than to "train" you. Co-learning among faculty is a powerful tool that can further technology integration across an institution.

That’s a great idea Jessica, I might use the co-learning among faculty as we begin to reshape our evaluation process. We currently have a three-prong approach to our staff evaluations. One is a formal observation, another an action research project, but the third is peer collaboration. I’ve also introduced a fourth track that would focus on technology integration, but this could idea could also be joined with peer collaboration as you suggest. Thanks for the aha moment.

All thoughtful and helpful ideas so far. At some of our recent trainings, we have given staff choice for what they would like to focus on and what they are using - similar to what drhelen mentioned. We have found success when giving staff options and allowing a more personalized PD/training schedule.

One of our difficulties is getting staff buy-in for new initiatives, because often people seem overwhelmed and feel as if it is "just one more thing" added to their plates. Co-learning sounds like an awesome way to build community while encouraging safe accountability for staff. Perhaps that would be an approach at future learning opportunities.