The teachers in Gage Public Schools got new Apple Laptop computers and an iPod Touch. The students in grades 3 – 12 at Gage schools each got an iPod Touch as well. The initiative is part of Superintendent Doug Taylor’s vision to equip his students and teachers in rural Oklahoma with 21st Century tools. When asked about the initiative Taylor stated the following:

“this gives our kids in Gage, Oklahoma the same opportunity as any kid in the world. It’s a big thing for me.”
“This is just the next step to turn our classrooms into twenty-first century learning centers,”

In this post from Wesley Fryer on his Moving at the Speed of Creativity blog he says the following in relation to the Gage School iPod initiative:

Good leadership matters, and if the leaders at the top of the school organization don’t “get it,” meaningful changes which involve the uses of digital technologies to engage students are not going to happen at scale across a school campus or district. When school leaders DO “get it,” however, exciting things happen.

I think Wesley has hit on a key component of integrating technology into the school environment. It is good to have teachers who are early adopters and leading technology evangelists, but it is rare that they will cause systemic change within a school. In order for there to be widespread adoption of any new idea to improve instruction the administration has to believe in the concept and be willing to see it through to completion. This doesn’t mean that every administrator has to be a regular user of the latest tech gadget, it just means that they understand the rationale for technology integration and support it wholeheartedly. I do think if an administrator is a regular user of technology it strengthens his case as he pushes for change. Great post Wesley and good thoughts.