The Leadership Role of the CTO

          In the journal Technology Leaders Wanted: Acknowledging the Leadership Role of a Technology Coordinator, Williams Sugar and Harold Holloman explain that the role of the technology officer has evolved from that of a technology problem solver into more of a leadership role. Sugar and Holloman explain that the role of the CTO falls into four areas including instruction, technical support, analysis of technology needs, and leadership. The CTO must be able to provide instruction to teachers on best practices for the use of technology to best support student learning. This can be done either through formal or informal professional development sessions and can also be provided by modeling those best practices for the teachers. A technology coordinator must also be able to provide technical support at the individual, school, and district level. Not only does this require the CTO to be able to solve technology issues regarding devices, hardware, and software, but it also requires the CTO to be able to evaluate and recommend the purchase of available technology products. The CTO is also responsible for analyzing the effectiveness of the school and district technology plan and how the plan is being implemented. Technology coordinators are responsible for identifying what technology is available, what technology is being used by the district, and whether or not the district is effectively using technology to meet the technology plan and district vision. Finally, the successful technology officer is responsible for providing leadership for teachers both verbally and through action. Sugar and Holloman state that one of the most important role of the CTO is to take a leadership role in developing and implementing the district plan for instructional use of technology and in order to reach this goal it is important for the CTO to collaborate and communicate with building level teams, individual staff and with principals in order to help them successfully move towards the district vision for technology use.

            In Sycamore, the district technology coordinator tends to provide leadership more at the administrative level and relies heavily on the four building-level technology specialists for communicating with principals and teachers. The CTO in Sycamore tends to make decisions at the district level only and isn’t very visible to teachers. Once the decisions are made, they are conveyed to the four building-level technology specialists, who then bring the information, devices, or programs to the schools that they work with. Unfortunately, this tends to make her (the CTO) seem a bit unapproachable and prevents her from developing a rapport with individual teachers. This also puts the responsibility on the building-level technology specialists for bringing information in regards to the success of implementation of the district’s technology use back to the CTO rather than allowing her to evaluate the success of the technology plan on her own. This, at times, seems to cause a bit of a disconnect between how technology is actually being used at the classroom level and the decisions about technology that are being made at the district level. This also tends to put a lot of the responsibility for solving technology issues on the building-level technology specialists rather than allowing them to focus on using technology (and supporting teachers in their use of technology) to improve student learning.

Sugar, W., & Holloman, H. (2009). Technology leaders wanted: acknowledging the

leadership role of a technology coordinator. Techtrends: Linking Research &

Practice To Improve Learning, 53(6), 66-75. doi:10.1007/s11528-009-0346-y