Carmen Richardson

E-Leadership and Teacher Development Using ICT

In this chapter, we develop a definition of e-leadership that extends from the business sector to encompass educational contexts. We describe schools as complex ecologies and dynamic organizations that require a change in both traditional forms of leadership and more recent ICT use. We use the RAT (Replace, Amplify, Transform) framework to explain the varying degrees to which ICT has been used in business and education and relate this model to the research in e-leadership. It is through the purposeful, transformational use of ICT and the meaningful development of multiple kinds of knowledge that those in charge of teacher education and growth can use ICT to develop a new kind of teacher leader.

Design thinking and the practicing teacher: addressing problems of practice in teacher education

ABSTRACT Design thinking has been receiving increased scholarly and popular interest in education; yet, teachers are often uncertain about what it means to implement this in their educational settings. Design thinking, nonetheless, offers a framework to address the challenging problems of practice educators face. In this article, we examine a graduate-level teacher education course, at a Midwestern US university, which uses the Stanford Design Thinking Model. Educators in the course found that exposure to and practice of the design thinking model allowed them to creatively solve problems of practice relevant to their context. In particular, educators reported three main takeaways from the experience: (1) valuing empathy, (2) becoming open to uncertainty, and (3) seeing teaching as design. We discuss implications and challenges for scholarship and practice.

Teachers Are Designers: Addressing Problems of Practice in Education.

Teachers may be confused or put off by buzzwords like “design thinking,” but the concept is a useful one: To solve stubborn, everyday problems of practice in schools, they should approach those problems strategically and systematically. Specifically, explain the authors, teachers gain new insights into challenges they face when they take steps to empathize with students, come to terms with the uncertainties of school change, and learn to think of themselves as designers.