What do you do if your executive role in educational technology requires a diverse skill set?

En mi experiencia como DI y Desarrolladora, actualmete la integración del dise?o instruccional (DI) y la inteligencia artificial (IA) en el desarrollo de capacitaciones representa un paradigma innovador que optimiza el proceso de aprendizaje y maximiza su impacto. Esta sinergia estratégica fusiona los principios pedagógicos del DI con las capacidades analíticas y adaptativas de la IA, dando lugar a experiencias de aprendizaje personalizadas, efectivas y escalables.

Having a diverse skill set is advantageous in any district leadership role, particularly in educational technology where the landscape is constantly evolving. To excel, I focus on continually learning, adapting, and leveraging various skills to address the multifaceted challenges in education. Additionally, building a strong team with complementary skills has helped to cover any gaps and drive the success of our team.

Navigating an executive role in educational technology demands a diverse skill set and strategic approach. First, assess the specific requirements of the position and identify areas where additional skills are needed. Invest in continuous learning through courses, certifications, and networking opportunities to enhance expertise in technology, leadership, and education. Build a versatile team with complementary skills, fostering collaboration and innovation. Prioritize effective communication, problem-solving, and decision-making to drive organizational success in the dynamic field of educational technology.

I always insist on a basic idea: we develop a personal relationship with technology. Therefore, we must consciously direct our efforts to develop a positive relationship with new educational technologies. It is a matter of attitude.

Eu concordo que estar atualizado com o que há de mais moderno e atual no mercado em termos de tecnologia educacional, é essencial tanto para quem trabalha com tecnologia educacional quanto para quem é professor, é uma forma de manter os processos educacionais atualizados e inovadores, bem como manter o engajamento dos alunos, tendo em vista que a educa??o precisa acompanhar o movimento e a cultura da sociedade.

Change is very crucial for any team to grow. So, if the current practices aren't taking the team to where it is then Change is obviously inevitable. And this would mean to have people get convinced about how a particular set of skills or technologies would help the whole team to a desirable outcome. This would involve a positive, open and a growth mindset of all along with the management as it would involve a lot of efforts and budget in planning and training of the staff. From the staff aspect sometimes, we may face a barrier where we need to break the conventional mindsets and teaching methodologies. Hence, it becomes very important that the staff is made to feel comfortable and at ease during this transition period.

Here at BrightMind eLearning, transformative disruption encompasses not just the introduction of new technologies but also the adoption of innovative philosophies and methodologies, all of which align with our mission, vision, and social impact statement. By championing these comprehensive changes, I ensure they resonate well with our vision of redefining educational experiences. This involves integrating cutting-edge tools along with transformative teaching strategies that redefine how learning is facilitated. Through clear communication and supportive training, I lead our team to embrace these shifts holistically, nurturing a culture of innovation that significantly enhances our educational impact and aligns with our broader social goals.

Do you really know how a specific change is going to impact your educators and students? As a leader, you need to be willing to invest in the change yourself before you have others take on the change. In addition there are three areas that you need to address when helping others go through change: communication, training, and technology. You need to develop a clear communication plan where you reach the right audience at every stage of the change. You need to provide the resources to help them through the change, such as, training and other resources. You need to ensure the change makes good sense from a technology stand point. Has the new technology been tested? Do you know how it will impact each user specifically?

Change is unavoidable in education. But you need to reinforce a culture of innovation and permanente adaptation to new tools, contents and skills. Ypur professional development program needs to include exploration and constant sponsorship of certifications with external allies

Professional development is the key to the growth of any teaching professional which in turn leads to an outstanding teaching organization. Therefore it is very important for the leaders to provide enough oppurtunities for the professional growth. But what is important for educational leaders is to reflect on the current practices, spot on an individual basis what kind of professional development is actually required by the staff because generally what happens in reality is that leaders offer a very general professional development programme for all their staff.The professional development programmes need to be custom tailored as per an individual's need.The leader needs to motivate the staff and support them to select an appropriate one.

Any good leader does not have all of the answers but rather relies upon a well trained and invested team. Each member of your team is excited about the impact of educational technology, and as such, you need to foster this excitement by providing them opportunities to grow in their knowledge and skills. You can do this by fostering experimentation, having them share what they are learning, foster relationships with other colleagues at other organizations, and provide opportunities to participate in online and face to face events.

Aunque no es necesario ser un experto técnico, tener una comprensión sólida de las tecnologías que se implementan ayudará a tomar decisiones informadas y a comunicarse eficazmente con los equipos técnicos. Asimismo, Construir y mantener una red de contactos dentro del ecosistema educativo proporciona apoyo, insights y oportunidades de colaboración.

Life long learning is the key. Short courses Y Tube, LinkedIn, Paid courses whatever is available to you. Some manufacturers have courses available for buyers of there products

Professional development is key in our educational technology leadership, much like Google's "g2g" program, but tailored to our social enterprise's scale and mission. Our internal peer-to-peer learning initiative leverages our team's diverse expertise, enhancing skills related to subject matter expertise and technology as well as socio-economic, industry, regulatory, and legislative contexts. This model not only boosts technical proficiency but also deepens understanding of our operational environment, aligning with our focus on social impact through vocational training. Investing in continuous learning fosters a culture of innovation and motivation, essential for achieving our goals and enhancing team cohesion.

Eu concordo que como executivo em tecnologia educacional, e eu posso contar, pois já passei por isso… nesta posi??o você será responsável por definir de forma estratégica como a tecnologia será aplicada aos processos educacionais para atingir as metas de aprendizagem. Isto é muito diferente, simplesmente, de desenvolver sistemas, requer uma compreens?o profunda dos princípios pedagógicos e de como eles se cruzam com a tecnologia. Você precisará ser capaz de criar solu??es tecnológicas que possam apoiar as os processos educacionais e claro isso n?o é garantir um sistema no ar, isso é garantir e focar no objetivo principal: melhorar os resultados de aprendizagem de seus estudantes.

Effectively navigating the evolving landscapes of technology and education requires a deep understanding of both. Don't rush into the latest trends without first gaining experience in both areas. Instead, start with your vision of an ideal learning environment that go beyond the limitations of what any single software company can offer. Select tools that align with your vision, and remain flexible enough to adapt to new innovations. Be cautious of solutions that lock you into a single ecosystem, as this can limit your ability to respond to rapid changing needs. In the end, technology is a means to an end, and there will never be a perfect technological solution to just being better teacher.

As an Educator, I would first build a road map as to what we first need to accomplish and draw perspectives on the different ways to achieve it. Then I would list down what are the skill sets required, and map it with my existing team as to who among the existing team are closer and would benefit long term by learning those skills. Only after we have considered the pros and cons of using/not using this to our specific context and weighing out all the options, if we do decide on a particular technological tool, I would master that skillset along with my team.

Absolutely, incorporating insights from Simon Sinek's book "Start with Why" reinforces the importance of beginning with the mission. Sinek emphasizes the power of understanding and communicating the underlying purpose or "why" behind actions and decisions. By starting with the mission, leaders not only establish a clear direction but also inspire and motivate their teams by connecting them to a deeper sense of purpose. This approach transcends mere task delegation; it fosters a culture where individuals are driven by a shared belief in the mission, rather than just the tasks at hand.

Our organization recently shifted its focus from business to social impact. This significant pivot required us to reassess and realign our technologies and strategies to better support inclusive and community-focused educational practices. The challenges were considerable, involving not only integrating new pedagogical principles but also reshaping our team's mindset from profit-driven to impact-driven goals. Despite the complexities, this transition has revitalized our mission, directing our technology use toward enhancing our goal of democratizing education for social good.

Maintain a deep understanding of a core EdTech area, such as learning management systems, curriculum development tools, or assessment platforms. This expertise positions you as a thought leader within your specific area.

Education has to do with teaching people to be protagonists of their own lives. This goes beyond mere instruction. It has to do with building a person as such and a future that houses us all.

To make a strong and right decision, data analysis plays an important role. From the data gathering, its interpretation and drawing useful results from data is a huge process that fosters decision making. This will help you identify the problems where technology lags in education and how can you overcome those problems.

Data analysis = Happy Target Audience! Currently, I can say without a doubt that the area of education does not exist at all if there is no data analysis. It's the best way to get to know your target, understand how they are relating to the content available, where they have the greatest difficulty and how much time they spend on each topic. This is without a doubt the best way to personalize teaching, remedy needs and correct errors. One must not only analyze the data, but create strong strategies so that this data becomes information, which becomes knowledge and this is applied for the benefit of the student, thus improving adherence to the content, learning itself, which generates a happy student who speaks highly of the brand.

As an educational technology executive, you need to decide what resources you will utilize within your department and across other departments, such as, IT. You need to not only use good sense but data to back your claims for why and where you need to invest those resources. Using skills in data analysis will allow you to drive home the points you need to make with real numbers to back them up. Also, you may find that what you believe or other educators believe is important is not going to impact the learning performance as significantly as you thought, and you should invest in more fruitful areas.

We have to look beyond student profiles and learning metrics. It is important to focus on the life stories of students to understand them in their contexts so we can provide a personalized and valuable education.

In fact, I just don't agree that data analysis supports those who work with edtech, my opinion is that data analysis increasingly supports the entire learning process, including understanding student behavior, strengths and weaknesses, learning gaps , dropout indicators, etc… using data today is essential to personalize the educational process. Na verdade eu só n?o concordo que a análise de dados apoia quem trabalha com edtech, minha opini?o é que cada vez mais a analise de dados apoia todo o processo de aprendizagem, inclusive entender o comportamento dos estudantes, pontos fortes e fracos, gaps de aprendizagem, indicadores de evas?o, e etc… usar dados hoje é essencial para personalizar o processo educacional.

Policies governing hidden, but necessary aspects of educational technology use such as data privacy, security, accessibility and AI are essential to every program. As an exectutive of your organzition, you will need to ensure your organization has these policies in place and that they are regularly reviewed and updated. This doesn't mean you personally need deep expertise in each of these areas, but it does mean you need to establish a trusted network that can address these areas in a thoughtful and productive manner to ensure your organization is adequately addressing associated risks without sacrificing the innovation and instructional benefits of adopting new tools.

School are unable to face technological disruption and innovation on their own. Working with networks, closing ties with productive sector, being open to investments from companies and enterprises, hosting activities of innovations is necessary to offer the best options to yout students

Strive to develop a T-shaped skillset. Possess a deep understanding of a core EdTech area (learning management systems, adaptive learning, etc.), while maintaining a broad knowledge base in business administration, finance, marketing, and project management.

Stay updated with the latest trends in educational technology, instructional design, and digital learning tools. Engaging in professional development through courses, webinars, and conferences can help broaden your knowledge and keep you ahead of technological advancements. Connect with other professionals in the educational technology field. Networking can provide insights into best practices, emerging technologies, and potential partnerships. Have a solid foundation in educational principles and how they apply to technology-enhanced learning. This includes understanding different pedagogical approaches and how they can be supported through technology.