Virtual School Leadership: How Principals in Fragile States Can Use Technology to Support Professional Development

Last week, an article that I wrote on "virtual school leadership" was published in The Online Journal of Distance Education and e-Learning. In this article, I used data from a research project that engaged school administrators in Haiti and Canada over the past three years. The research project centered on how principals in fragile states such as Haiti can use on-line learning opportunities to improve their leadership practices.

What my research demonstrated was that Haitian school principals who engaged in an online professional learning community had significant experiences of collaboration, problem-solving, and engagement. Although the research project has concluded, I continue to interact with school leaders in Haiti who are improving their leadership practices as a result of their use of technology. When in Haiti last week, I was amazed at one administrator (from a Haitian NGO) who was using his smartphone to Skype with leaders in Canada, communicate with his assistant, and access resources from the Internet. This particular person had not been in the research project so his experience resonated with me in demonstrating that it wasn't just participants in the research project who were developing professional skills through access to technology.

This is not to say that technology is a panacea but it certainly provides a suitable tool by which to access and disseminate information. In countries such as Haiti, the ability to interact with others across the country, and internationally, can provide access to information that otherwise may not be easily available.

The conclusion of the article considered how these new possibilities for leadership development are further examples of glocalization.

The article can be accessed as a pdf from the TOJDEL website (click below):

 The Online Journal of Distance Education and e-Learning