June 2005 — Features
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A Bridge to Success
Impact on institution. Ultimately, STLI students were able to impact their institutions. They indicated that STLI impacted their work with school planning, communication with parents and staff, and personal and professional uses of technology. Individual students expressed satisfaction that their projects generated interest and excitement in their institutions, and, in many cases, led to plans and policies that were apt to propel them deeper in the organizations. In addition, most course projects involved and impacted participants’ institutions. For example, in Data-driven Decision-making, STLI participants were required to teach data-driven decision-making Excel skills to another faculty or staff member. Several STLI participants taught their school secretaries a variety of Excel skills to prepare reports for the school board, and to prepare and present school budgets. Another participant taught members of the special-education staff Excel skills and developed a database of all special-education students. The school now uses the database to track evaluations and information about the students’ primary disabilities, case managers, and teachers.
STLI participants also report awareness and consideration of the future for their organizations. One student became aware that his district technology department is “disconnected from the true mission of school: student learning,” which led to collaborative work to plan a summer technology integration institute. Another participant explained, “If I can make one change in our district in the upcoming year, it is going to be to better educate our staff and our students about fair use and copyright.”
The STLI: Technology that transforms; leadership that inspires. Our 2003-2004 students consistently report that STLI coursework is timely, relevant, and rigorous, and that it is positively impacting their schools. STLI members expressed great satisfaction with the cohort experience, noting the value of networking and the realization they are not alone in trying to bridge the no man’s land between effective technology use in schools and effective leadership.
Said one cohort member: “I have learned so much from this group. Some of it is new knowledge, some are things that I already knew but just needed to hear other people say, too. The really excellent thing about this group is that we have common problems, common successes, and we speak the same language.”
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