Arian M.

Edullantes March 10, 2019

PhD Educational Administration and Supervision

Dr. Reynaldo E. Manuel, Jr.

Educational Leadership in a Digital Age

Learning in the Digital Age

The seminar of the European Network of Education Councils, Athens last 5-6 May 2014 tackles
about on how learners learn in this fast-improving digital environment. With the advancement of
technology in our society, especially in the field of education imparted a big impact to the educational
system.
With all the devices, technologies and innovations of our society, learners also evolved in terms
of learning ability and attitude. With these technological advancements, the learners now are used to it
and can easily adapted the change, they are called digital natives. These learners can easily maneuver and
be familiar with todays technologies because they are used to it every day. They use technology in almost
every aspect of their life. They can easily access information and can easily communicate with everyone.
They need not be told on how to use devices for they can do it themselves.
Most educators, on the other hand, are the opposite. Since technological advancement is new to
them, they find time in coping up with it. They need to double time and need to exert more effort to be
familiar with all the innovations and devices. Most of these educations are identified as digital migrants.
They need more time to adjust and adapt to these technological advancements. This advancement
includes changes in the educational system.
In this educational advancement, teachers are more of the learners not educators. They need to
study and be familiar of the changes in the system. They need to study on how various devices and other
technologies in education works so that they can use it properly and use it in the classroom properly and
effectively. Aside from that, it is also a challenge to the educators since some of those techniques and
strategies they know may not be applicable in the digital classroom.
Another issue, aside from the adjustment to the devices and their techniques, educators also need
to adjust and change the curriculum. Since information is almost available with the help of the Internet,
educators must be conscious with the lessons they present to the learners. Because of the vast
information in the Internet, learners can easily verify the lesson given by the educators if it is true. Once
learners find out that lessons of the educator are different from the information in the Internet, they will
not listen and trust their teacher anymore, instead, they will just browse the Internet for their lessons.
Aside from the content of the lessons, it is important also that educational curriculum must be changed
and updated to cope up with the digital age. That is why, we need educational leaders that are
technologically inclined and/or digital natives.
We need educational leaders that possesses technological skills and can merge educational
pedagogy and technological advancement for us to produce learners that are educationally literate and
technologically equipped. An educational leader that possesses the technology leadership skill. A leader
that is visionary and can incorporate technological advancement in the educational curriculum. A leader
that knows how to prepare learners to be a good, productive and ethical digital citizen. A leader that can
see opportunities in the advancement of technology.
We cannot deny the fact that because of technological advancement, many companies and other
institutions have programs to help the educational sectors equipped learners to be able to produce a
technology ready graduate. To be able to achieve this, these companies and institutions make partner
with the educational sector to give trainings and other programs to contribute to the technical skills of
the learners. Educational sectors must partner with various companies to, not just ask sponsorship with
them but also, make sure that they can still maintain the workers in the job market. Educational sector
and various companies must partner so that educational sector will offer courses that companies needed.
Although learning classrooms were being prepared by the government to suit the educational
needs and adapt in the advancement of technology, another educational avenue is now being
implemented, the online classrooms. Online classrooms or open universities are classroom over the
Internet where students from across the world, together with the professor, need and conduct classes
online. This kind of system is what we call the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). With MMOC,
learners can learn various lessons or even complete his/her education over the Internet. They conduct
lessons, submit assignment and project online without physically seeing their classmates and even
professor. Various universities locally and internationally already have their own MOOC. This is now
becoming a trend because of the busyness of the learners.
Many countries are already coping with the advancement of technology. Many have used and
maximized technology in all their fields and areas, including in education. It is now a challenge to the
government’s educational system on how to prepare the educational sector on the improvement and
adaptation of technology in the currently traditional practices in teaching and education. There is no other
way but to move forward. As one of the many developing countries in the world, it is a challenge to us on
how to effectively incorporate technological advancement in the system.
Arian M. Edullantes March 3, 2019
PhD Educational Administration and Supervision

Dr. Reynaldo E. Manuel, Jr.

Educational Leadership in a Digital Age

Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology

The Digital Revolution and the Schools

According to Collins and Halverson (2009) the world’s educational system is currently undergoing
a massive transformation because of the digital revolution. The reality of the digital age is finally triggering
the changes in formal education settings that research has demanded for at least a decade. The advent
of digital media in the classroom has necessitated new teaching practices. What’s more important and
exciting is the far-reaching consequences of these changes that are ushering in new pedagogies in
international classrooms.
Because of the evolution of technology and its adaption to the field of education, roles in the field
also needs to adjust to adapt the changing impact of technology to education. learners and educators
have changing roles and needs, because of digital technology becoming widespread. However, these
changes are not necessarily directly connected to using technology, but they require new forms of
pedagogy and support all around:

• In traditional models, teachers had content knowledge and pedagogical capacity as well as direct
access to technology (e.g. operating overhead projectors).
• In the new paradigm, the teacher is more likely to need technical assistance provided by the
school, or often the students, since students are already very comfortable using digital
technology.
• To this extent, the educational process has become a more equal one, where teacher and learner
discover and master content together, to a different deep learning outcome.

Rather than assuming that all educators, or all students have access to the same digital content
and services, Ilse Mariën, a Belgian researcher, presented her research on digital inclusion. Mariën
outlined indicators of digital exclusion, as well as the outcomes particular groups/individuals being denied
access due to unequal systems or their own personal decision-making. Not everyone engages in digital
activities in the same way; there is a huge spectrum of users, from self-imposed digital refusers, to digital
‘all-stars’. Consequently, Mariën is developing a self-assessment tool to be used by individuals for self-
reflection, and by municipalities for digital inclusion policy.
The challenge now is how schools and its leaders are on how to integrate technology in the field
particularly in the classroom. But the more pressing issue is how ready the educational field to adapt
technology in the classroom.
Below are the identified issues and incompatibilities of school and technology:
 • Uniform learning vs. Customization. Deeply ingrained in the structure of schooling is a mass-
production notion of uniform learning.
• Teacher as expert vs. Diverse knowledge sources. Schooling is built on the notion that the teacher
is an expert, whose job is to pass on their expertise to students.
• Standardized assessment vs. Specialization. The assessment technology employed in evaluating
students uses multiple-choice and short answer items, in order to provide objective scoring.
• Knowledge in the head vs. Reliance on outside resources. There is a deep belief among teachers
and parents that to truly learn something, it is critical to internalize it without any reliance on
outside resources.
• Coverage vs. The knowledge explosion. School pursues the goal of covering all the important
knowledge people might need in the rest of their life
• Learning by acquisition vs. Learning by doing. Deeply embedded in the culture of schooling is the
notion that students should learn a large body of facts, concepts, procedures, theories, and works
of art and science that have accumulated over time.

Education is flux and where it ends up depends on the decisions society makes. So, this is a time
of opportunity to determine the future direction of education in ways that we have not faced in 200 years.
To be effective in this changing environment requires that the builders of the new education system
understand the imperatives of the technologies driving the changes in education.
Technology is changing what is important to learn in a variety of ways. There are new literacies
that are becoming important, such as creating videos, animations, and web sites. Computers can carry
out all the algorithms taught through graduate school, and yet mathematical reasoning is more important
than ever. Hence, we should spend time teaching students to solve sophisticated problems using
computers rather than executing algorithms that computers do well. Memorizing information is becoming
less important with the web available, but people do need to learn how to find information, recognize
when they need more information, and evaluate what they find.
Arian M. Edullantes March 3, 2019
PhD Educational Administration and Supervision

Dr. Reynaldo E. Manuel, Jr.

Educational Leadership in a Digital Age

Leading better learning: School leadership and quality in the Education 2030 agenda

Why a focus should be put on school leadership in the 2030 education agenda?
It is important that school officials and administrators should be focus in the 2030 educational
agenda because they will be the front liner in the implementation of these changes, in relation to
technological advancements, in the school and classroom. As school leaders, it is important that they can
implement these advancements in their area effectively, efficiently and in good quality. Even though the
policies are very effective and very promising, if the implementation is not properly done, then efforts for
improvement will be useless.

Policies of school leadership in various countries

• School systems are under the direct control of governing bodies and are held to account through
detailed monitoring and inspection.
• Democratic leadership is rare, with leaders often acting simply as administrators.
• School leadership positions are dominated by women in most primary schools, with men more
strongly represented at secondary-school level.
• A need for more focused efforts in cooperation and collaboration to accelerate the development
of a regional knowledge base, grounded in capacity building, making local knowledge accessible
to other countries in the region, as well as to international scholars, and cross-national
coordination of research through collaborative structures.
• Capacity-building strategies should include instrumental activities as well as those that can, over
time, shape more productive research cultures in universities.
• This has implications for faculty selection, evaluation and reward, course load assignments, inter-
institutional research collaboration, faculty mentoring, and the provision of advanced training to
faculty at all ranks.
• Some good models of dynamic leadership practice are available in the region, and, while they are
sporadic, where they exist they provide a strong base for the creation of contextualized school
leadership development models.
• National policies recognize the importance of school leadership and school-based governance.
• School leadership is, by and large, still guided by the norms of hierarchical social structures,
despite some positive interventions to develop more school-based management and has not
embraced the voices of the community members, including parents, to the extent envisaged in
policy.
• This has reinforced existing power relations and weakened stakeholders’ sense of ownership.
There is a cultural gap between the design of schooling and local and national cultural values,
 which constrains the development of more collaborative relationships between schools and their
stakeholders.
• This, in turn, negatively affects the quality of learning.
• Systemic problems concerning school leadership, such as inappropriate recruitment and
appointment processes, the lack of professional development opportunities, the excessive
workload of school leaders and accountability pressures, which may deter prospective school
leaders.
• New, contextualized policy initiatives need to be developed to make school reform meaningful.
• Adequate preparation prior to appointment would help principals overcome the shock of
transition and enable them to come to terms with their new role.
• Professional development should continue after appointment to support principals in tackling
diverse challenges at school.
• Possession of a teaching certificate is often seen as enough qualification for the role of principal.
• Changing the behavior of school leaders will require richer and more extensive training than is
currently available.
• The importance of quality training for school principals, both prior to appointment and on an
ongoing basis, is a recurrent theme in the literature.
• Improving school leadership remains one of the greatest challenges for Latin American and
Caribbean countries.
• Despite the diversity of contexts, it appears that most countries are at an early stage in the
development and implementation of policies on school leadership.
• The role of principal is framed in purely administrative and management terms, and the principal
is not expected to provide educational leadership.
• This leaves a significant gap as, while a principal is present in most schools, in many areas qualified
inspectors and supervisors are not.
• The leadership that could be provided by principals in improving teaching is an enormous
potential resource being wasted.

Synthesis of regional reviews

The six regional reviews highlight several urgent issues regarding policies and practices for
effective school leadership in different parts of the world. Despite important contextual differences
among the education systems of the countries studied, there is an emerging consensus concerning the
role effective school leadership can play in positively influencing school performance and students’
learning outcomes, particularly when principals are skilled and supported to act as instructional leaders.
Having analyzed the profiles of school leaders (age, gender, qualification, leadership styles, etc.),
the related institutional and policy frameworks, and education governance structures in the six regions,
the reviews suggest that the prevailing situation in most countries remains inconducive to yielding the
type of benefits expected from effective school leadership, in terms of enhanced school efficiency,
effectiveness, and students’ learning achievements.
Arian M. Edullantes March 17, 2019
PhD Educational Administration and Supervision

Dr. Reynaldo E. Manuel, Jr.

Educational Leadership in a Digital Age

INNOVATING EDUCATION AND EDUCATING FOR INNOVATION

Digital technologies have a profound impact on economies and societies and are changing the
way we work, communicate, engage in social activities and enjoy ourselves. They also drive innovation in
many different spheres of life. The innovative capacity of technology is very much conditioned by the level
of digital skills of the population. No wonder there is a very strong correlation between education and
skills and the uptake and use of digital technologies in various spheres of life. The role of education and
skills in promoting innovation is critical.
In this fast-moving pace of technology, innovations are sprouting. Many of these innovations
made a great impact to our society, more particularly in our economy. A lot of innovations, in terms or
technology, also emerges in the field of education. These innovations helped in the improvement of the
standards of education in all countries. Many ICT devices and platforms were applied nowadays in
education. Online and offline platforms are applied to aid learnings to students.
Problem now is on how to properly use these technologies and integrate it in the classroom
setting. Proper training for teachers on how to use these technologies in the classroom is needed to better
and effectively used these technologies in class. If these technologies are properly used and effectively
integrated in the classroom, then our learners will learn to their maximum potential.
With the integration of technology in the field of education, another challenge now is on how to
train the mind of the learners to think of solutions to societal problem. Teachers must change the mind
of the learners to not just a mere user of these innovations to the innovators in the future.
The education system must use these technologies to encourage learners to be critical thinker
and become innovators to solve societal problem and improve the economy. This will be more possible if
learners know the potential of these technologies in all aspect.
Another innovation in the educational system is to properly enhance the skills of the learners.
Plain discussion and board work are not effective anymore in today’s setting. Students now need to
explore and experience the lesson on their own. Learners now are more independent, and they do not
want to be limited by the module or by the teacher.
 Learners wanted to explore more by themselves. They learn more if they experience the lesson
by doing it. Leaners now have short attention span that is why lecture and discussion if not effective to
them. That is why, teacher must find ways to let the learners be involved in the lesson. Although they
wanted to be independent and to explore by themselves, teachers must only guild them and not limit
them. If learners were given a chance to be independent in the class, surely, they will learn more than the
usual teaching and learning process.
Arian M. Edullantes March 17, 2019
PhD Educational Administration and Supervision

Dr. Reynaldo E. Manuel, Jr.

Educational Leadership in a Digital Age

TECHNOLOGY, BROADBAND AND EDUCATION

Advancing the education for all agenda

Internet is one of the great innovations that happened in our society. Because of Internet, many
things are made possible and accessible. Communication, online shopping and other transactions done
physically are now that online. This include online education.
For UNESCO, broadband is a transformational technology, whose global roll-out carries vast
potential for sustainable development – by enhancing learning opportunities, facilitating the exchange of
information and increasing access to content that is linguistically and culturally diverse. In these ways,
broadband can be a powerful accelerator for progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and
the objectives of Education for All, and for furthering the outcomes of the World Summit on the
Information Society.
Distant learner is made possible because of Internet. The emerging of online universities and
massive open online courses (MOOC) allow many learners gain education even without going to the
physical school or classroom. Coursera, EDX and other websites provide online courses from basic reading
and writing to more complex courses like programming and cyber security.
A lot of innovations now are Internet based. Many ICT devices are more effective and efficient
with the use of Internet. These innovations are now also used in the field of education. Edmodo and google
classroom are examples of online classrooms employed and practice by various schools nowadays. In the
online classroom, blended classroom strategy was applied. Students interact online through chat and
forums, submit assignments and project, and even take assessments of the lesson online. These was made
possible because of Internet.
Although using the Internet in the classroom can help students, as well as the teachers, in their
lesson, a lot of problem also emerges in the field. Proper use of the devices, proper access of websites
and even data privacy and security. Yes, Internet is very effective in the field of education, but proper use
to maximize the Internet. But amidst these advantages comes the disadvantages like data security and
data privacy.
 The success of imploring Internet in education requires proper skills to properly use and maximize
the benefits of Internet in the field. Although we have the right resources, it is useless if teachers don’t
now how to effectively use and efficiently maximize these resources. Thus, proper training for teachers
on how to use these innovations is important to have an effective teaching-learning process with the use
of Internet.