Technology Issues in the
SBEC Standards & Skills for
Principalship

presented by
Wesley A. Fryer
wfryer@tenet.edu
www.wtvi.com/teks/integrate

1. Overview
2. Information Literacy
3. Challenges to Technology Integration (brainstorm)
4. Needed Leadership Qualities and Perspectives
5. How Can Principals Encourage Technology Integration?
6. Top 10 recommendations for integration

The Three Types of Administrators:
• Those that make it happen
• Those that sit back and watch it happen
• Those that look up and ask, "What happened?"
Today’s Learning Objectives
• Challenge several of your paradigms
• What does "education" mean at the close of the
millennium?
• What does "literacy" mean at the close of the
millennium?
• What leadership qualities are needed?
• Identify challenges to technology integration
• Identify successful integration strategies
There are NOT any experts
The children shall lead us...
Technology is a TOOL:
What is our bottom line? TAAS?
Overview of Information Literacy
• Information Age Effects
• Information Age Dysfunctions
• Information Literacy
• Presentation adapted from Ian Jukes’ "Born to
Be Wired: NetSavvy for an Information Age"
Age of disposable information
• looking at it in real terms
• words, terms, concepts created at exponential
rate
• 540,000 words in English language.…
• 5 X as many as in Shakespeare’s time
Living in a rational age
• focus on Science & Tech
• not philosophy, poetry, nor fictional writing

• amount of new info produced so large as to be
meaningless
• beyond ability to comprehend
How much information?
• 1.3 trillion new documents each year in US
alone
• 12 years reading calculated on 7 -14 hour days
weekly to cover only 1/10th of 1% of available
info in any given field of science or technology
• A raging torrent of information - more new info
produced in last 30 years than previous 5,000
How much information? (2)
• more than 1,000 books published daily
• weekly edition of New York Times contains
more info than someone in the 17th C was
likely to come across in a lifetime
How much information? (3)
• In one year a person will: read or complete
3,000 notices & forms, read 100 newspapers &
36 magazines, watch 2,463 hours of television,
listen to 730 hours of radio, talk on the
telephone 61 hours, read 3 books, increasingly
surf Internet, use Email, and spend most of life
exchanging info in some form
• spend more on food for thought than food for
body
How has this affected you? How many apply to you?
• major guilt over inability to "keep up"
• sense of "so much to do, so little time to do it"
• feeling of helplessness from relentless media
bombardment
• increasing info exhaustion from newspapers,

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TV, radio, Internet.....• mistake info access for ability to use it
Do you have.…• unable to get out of first gear
• sedimentary piles you never get to?Why is this happening?
• inability to find exactly what’s needed?• Literacy is a dynamic concept
• chronic case of tyranny of urgent, immediate • "Literacy is in an evolving state that ‘mirrors the
&unnecessary?expanding information needs of society’"
• reduced to making things up as you go?• At some stages of human history, being able to
If so then welcome to Info Dysfunction Disorderwrite your name constituted literacy
• official brain syndrome of info ageWhy is this happening?
• leads to stress, terminal overwhelm & info • We can’t just memorize & regurgitate
overload• Need a different skill set
• like drinking from fire hose• Need to access, analyze, synthesize, apply &
• and if it’s like this for us...what about our evaluate
children?• Many just don’t know how to do this, or teach
Which One Are You?students how
• The Informationally ObliviousResponse #1 - Abandon ship!!!
• The Informationally Paralyzed• continue to do things way they’ve always been
• The Informationally Dyslexicdone
1. The Informationally Oblivious• continue to be swamped by info oblivion,
• unconsciously unawareparalysis or dyslexia
• passive, accepting mentality• throw up hands & slowly sink into sunset
• bludgeoned & brainwashed into benign Response #2 - Deal with it!
acceptance• acknowledge things have fundamentally
• anesthetized by info overloadchanged
• view all sources & forms of info equally• a very different world
Oblivious:• get beyond TTWWADI
• Consumed by minutiae• let go of paradigm of teaching content before
• everyone’s an expert mindsetapplying it
• passively absorb trivial bits of info about • of having to be in control all of time
everything heard, read or seenAcknowledge that:
• Michael Jackson vs. national debt• there are new core skills needed by many, not
• deep down it’s superficial understandingfew
• don’t know... don’t really care...• we all need to learn them to swim & stay afloat
2. The Informationally Paralyzed• learn to ride wave of change by developing &
• consciously aware of personal info deficienciesusing constructivist teaching strategies
• know they don’t knowTaking a 6 A’s approach: (Star Trek)
• understand need to be better informed• understands that there’s a problem (Awareness)
• but overcome by sheer amount of info• asks questions of crew, computer, others
• or frozen by fear of new technologies...(Asking)
Paralyzed:• gathers as much info about problem as possible
• They don’t have the skills(Accessing)
• can’t use needed tools• puts collected info together so different
• can’t find needed infosolutions begin to take shape (Analyzing)
• unable to interpret info availableTaking a 6 A’s approach:
• don’t understand new ways of presenting info• resolves problem - identifies aliens, averts war,
• often dealing with obsolete info (over 3 months saves galaxy, finds parking spot (Application)
old)• finally, alone with Captain’s log, clarifies events
3. The Informationally Dyslexic& reflects upon what was learned (Assessment)
• consciously awareIt’s critical to understand
• know what they know & what they don’t know• he doesn’t access info unless there’s specific
• some info searching skills (haphazardly problem
applied)• without problem, info obtained is meaningless
• not refined or clearly delineated• process used to filter background noise
• not able to repeat successful searching• task provides relevance & context for use of
Dyslexic:info
• Spinning their tires...• what informational fluency is about
• can find raw dataThe starting point:
• confused as to how to view, process or apply it• declare war on old ways of doing things
• often sidetracked by technodrool/lust• reject pureed, predigested, homogenized,
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formatted materials filtered through someone
else’s eyes
• stop reinforcing a curriculum that’s a mile wide
& an inch deep
Reject a system:
• that primarily tests then turfs (disposable info)
• that rewards accumulation of vast amounts of
useless, theoretical, obsolete info (info overload)
• that continues to stress & reward memorization
(info bulimia)
• that collectively leads to intellectually starved
students (info anorexia)
Shift gears to:
• a critical thinking, problem solving focused
curriculum
• based on 6-stage process info fluency for
developing skills
• where process skills are embedded
• allowing relevant content & processes to be
internalized simultaneously
These are our Challenges:
• Not slowly sink into the sunset
• Not merely survive
• Learn effective ways to thrive
• Collaborate
• Create an environment for teachers where
students learn these skills

Needed Leadership Qualities and Perspectives
Accept the “No Experts” Perspective
• You cannot “know it all” in technology
• Must be willing to admit ignorance
• Avoid paralysis born of ignorance and fear
• Embrace challenges of information literacy
Avoid being intimidated byterms / jargon
• Seek more knowledge on technology issues
• Join TCEA and attend their conference
( www.tcea.org)
• Subscribe to an email listserv
( www.wtvi.com/teks)
• Sign up for staff development training
Avoid being intimidated byterms / jargon
• There are NOT any “dumb” questions!
• Never be afraid to ask!
• Those who treat you as “ignorant” need a new
perspective
Avoid being intimidated byterms / jargon
• Network = Computers connected together
with wires

Model Technology Use
• Email
• Productivity tasks
• Locating information on the internet
Plant in fertile ground
• Hire and empower “informationally literate”
teachers
• Encourage the “make it happen” attitude
• Accept role of “facilitator”
• Move away from “sage on the stage” paradigm
Delegate Responsibility Carefully
• Don’t stifle initiative with overcontrol
• Encourage a spirit of teamwork
Be acutely sensitive to overloading teachers
• Technology can be motivational and
inspirational
• It can also be threatening and scary
• What advocate do teachers have to say,
“Enough!?”
Be informed about the TEKS for Technology
• Chapter 126: Texas Essential Knowledge and
Skills for Technology Applications
• Four Primary Areas:
• Foundations
• Information Acquisition
• Problem Solving
• Communication
TEKS for Technology: Sample #1
“select appropriate strategies to navigate and access
information on local area networks (LANs) and wide
area networks (WANs), including the Internet and
intranet, for research and resource sharing.”
• from TEKS for grades 3-5

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