ICT Coordinators’ TPACK-based Leadership Knowledge in their Roles as Agents of Change

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: The aim of the study is to examine what ICT coordinators perceive as the main elements of knowledge needed to implement ICT successfully into school culture. Background: For the past few years, Israel’s Ministry of Education has been running a national program of adapting the education system to the 21st century skills. Key teachers have been appointed as ICT coordinators. Their role was to implement technology in schools. Methodology: The participants in this study were 130 ICT coordinators in Israeli Hebrew and Arabic schools. Those ICT coordinators had to attend a special in-service 60-hour course throughout an entire school year. The research tool was the reflection of the ICT coordinators who were asked to complete at the end of the in-service course. Narrative analysis was chosen as the main approach to data analysis. Contribution: We claim that ICT coordinators maintain a complex perception of their role, based on broad personal and professional knowledge that enables them to lead the needed changes. Findings: Based on the findings the coordinators revealed primary successful elements of their work: (a) technological aspects, (b) pedagogical aspects, (c) the organizational aspects, and (d) the ICT coordinator as a leader of systemic change. The first two elements already appear in the TPACK construct, while the others constitute organizational knowledge (OK) and leadership knowledge (LK) that enables the coordinators to facilitate ICT implementation in schools, and these are the unique elements of this study. Recommendations for Practitioners : We recommend that when choosing ICT coordinators or ICT implementation leaders at school, one should check not only that they possess the familiar TPACK knowledge, but also organizational knowledge and leadership knowledge that was found essential to successful completion of the coordinators’ role. Impact on Society : his study has shed light on the nature and significance of leadership knowledge (LK) and its function as an additional expression of TPACK. Future Research: We suggest that future research about educational technology leaders’ TPACK be drawn from these results.