Exemplary Practices of Principals in F2F to Virtual Learning During COVID-19

Framework

We will utilize a multiple case study design that seeks to understand the roles of administrators who have provided exemplary technology leadership during the pivot to virtual learning. Findings of this study will help provide information about effective practices and potential pitfalls for other administrators. Our goal is to include exemplary administrators across the nation who have been identified as such through recommendations from superintendents, local education agencies, and recent ISTE award winners. We will use a multiple case study design in order to effectively analyze the roles, actions, and practices of administrators, teacher focus groups, and Area Education Agency technology consultants regarding technology integration during Covid-19 (Patton, 2002). All interviews and focus groups will be conducted via teleconferencing tools, recorded, and written notes will be kept. Other data sources include newspaper articles, technology support from education technology organizations, and technology team documentation collected from school, community, and county resources.

Methods

Research question: What are administrators’ experiences and perceptions regarding technology integration in K-12 education?
Sub questions:
Roles: What are administrators’ roles in technology integration in K-12 education?
Practice: What do administrators value about technology in K-12 education?
Actions: What actions do administrators take that lead to successful technology integration in K-12 education?
Design
We will utilize a multiple case study design that seeks to understand the roles of administrators who have provided exemplary technology leadership during the pivot to virtual learning. Findings of this study will help provide information about effective practices and potential pitfalls for other administrators. Our goal is to include exemplary administrators across the nation who have been identified as such through recommendations from superintendents, local education agencies, and recent ISTE award winners. We will use a multiple case study design in order to effectively analyze the roles, actions, and practices of administrators, teacher focus groups, and Area Education Agency technology consultants regarding technology integration during Covid-19 (Patton, 2002). All interviews and focus groups will be conducted via teleconferencing tools, recorded, and written notes will be kept. Other data sources include newspaper articles, technology support from education technology organizations, and technology team documentation collected from school, community, and county resources.

Due to the current impact that the Covid-19 virus could have on researchers and participants, all interviews and focus groups will be conducted via teleconferencing tools, recorded, and written notes will be kept. Other data sources include newspaper articles, technology support from education technology organizations, and technology team documentation collected from school, community, and county resources.

Participant information
The study will take place online using a password protected Zoom meeting room through which recorded interviews and focus groups will take place. A call for participation will be disseminated through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Teacher Educator Network. The invitation will be housed within the ISTE Commons, ISTE Facebook page, and ISTE Twitter account. Recent ISTE Leadership award winners will be contacted by the research team members and invited to participate in the study.

In order to contact non-award winning exemplary administrators, the primary researcher will work with ISTE leadership to post Recruitment Letters and Informed Consent documents in the ISTE commons. Additionally, links to Recruitment Letters and Informed Consent documents will be disseminated through monthly newsletters of ISTE Professional Learning Networks (PLNs).

Data collection
Recorded interviews with the administrators and teacher focus groups will be used to gain perspective about the administrator and administrative practices in relation to virtual teaching and learning implementation. Interviews with the Area Education Agency technology consultant will help provide information from an external viewpoint. Finally, available documentation relating to administrative practices, pertinent events, and changes to the technology programs at each school site will be collected and analyzed to provide additional insight about this case (Creswell, 2007).

The following questions will be used to help guide interviews in this study:
1. What do you value about the use of technology in education?
2. What did you originally perceive as your role in the technology implementation
process?
3. How did this differ from what your role actually became during the pandemic?
4. What initial actions did you take to communicate your vision regarding the pivot to virtual learning?
What purpose did this serve for you? What was the goal(s) of the communication?
5. What pre-assessment of teacher skills was/is done?
6. Levels of regional/state coordination?
7. How did you deal with teacher issues such as access, working from home or at the school site, managing students online?
8. What professional development did you provide for teachers, parents, and support personnel?
9. How did you identify the potential impact of virtual learning with technology in your school? How did
you focus on developing the knowledge base in preparation for integration?

Training the research team
The research team will meet to discuss standardized protocol in which all researchers will perform interviews and focus groups in the same way. The researchers will also be trained in the procedures of the study so that there is a standardized protocol that all the researchers will follow to ensure human subjects rights are protected including reminding them of the voluntary nature of the study and their right to stop at any time and that no identifying information will be included with their responses.

Data analysis
We will approach data coding and analysis first by recognizing our own experiences and possible biases. We will meet as a team and develop a list of experiences that might influence our coding and analysis. This list will be referenced by each team member throughout the process. Recorded interviews and focus groups for each case will be individually coded by team members. We will meet twice a month to discuss preliminary codes and then cross code for significant statements. We will meet to discuss combining the statements into roles, practices, and action themes by case. Then, we will do a cross case analysis in order to determine similarities and differences between cases. We will report findings first by case, then holistically across cases (Creswell, 2007).

Results

Data will be collected from October, 2020 through March, 2021. Data analysis will be conducted in March of 2021. We expect to complete the study and prepare the research publication to be submitted to JRTE in May of 2021. We expect to discover how and why administrators affect decision-making and implementation of technology at the school level. Further, we expect to gain an understanding of administrators’ knowledge of the ISTE standards and how the standards influence the approach to technology integration at the site level.

Importance

The results of this research could influence how knowledge of the ISTE standards is communicated to all stakeholders within the educational community. Further, study findings could inform teacher preparation programs in preparing new teachers for the variety of technology resources available to them at different school settings. Finally, results could be useful to educational leaders, superintendents, and policy makers in how we might move forward in the national adoption of the ISTE standards in educational decision making.

References

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