Leading by Following |
“Although we know that technology leadership is vital in K-12 schools, researchers are not doing a good job investigating these situations.” ( p 99)
The authors are quick to point out the challenges associated with digital leadership while emphasizing the importance of utilizing technology for personal and professional learning. I found the connection between wikis and blogs and the transparency they provide in the field of education. What is revealed is a tendency to speak from one’s own professional stance and perhaps the authors, although it may be unintended, reveal how the wikis and blogs tend to be one directional highlighting a single perspective, usually personal. According to the authors, this leads to the examination of Twitter as an online tool supporting connectivity. Utilizing the communities of practice framework, the researchers asked if leaders' behaviours while engaging on Twitter aligned with the core elements of a community of practice, secondly, what are the foci of the conversations that are being tweeted? Their sample was selected from two hundred thirty million active Twitter users. Identifying school leaders that had more than 2000 followers and a K-12 school title as part of their profile narrowed their search. These criteria speak to this project in that there is a segment of school leaders that are unaccounted for in the study, the leaders that are new to social media.
Sauers, N. J., & Richardson, J. W. (2015). Leading by Following An Analysis of How K-12 School Leaders Use Twitter. NASSP Bulletin, 0192636515583869.