Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

5-2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Simone Elias

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Scott Bailey

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Kyle Butler

Abstract

This study’s goal was to examine technology directors’ leadership characteristics and their experiences leading information and communication technologies in K–12 independent schools in Tennessee during the COVID-19 pandemic. As information and communication technologies’ use expanded in education, exploring Organizational Leadership characteristics and experiences with information and communication technologies integration in K–12 was critical, especially as teachers and students depended upon remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using narrative inquiry, this study’s findings described experiences and illustrated certain visionary leadership characteristics technology directors used as they navigated information and communication technologies integration in K–12 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two prominent themes emerged through narrative inquiry thematic analysis: supporting and adapting. Subthemes included (a1) technical support, (a2) training, (a3) encouragement, and (b1) change in the field, (b2) increasing responsibilities, and (b3) challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four key conclusions included (1) leading information and communication technologies requires constant evaluation and adaptation, (2) remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic changed information and communication technologies use and management in schools, (3) supporting information and communication technologies in education requires a wide range of both technical skills and interpersonal skills, and (4) the technology directors in this study exhibited the leadership behaviors of visionary leadership. This study provides school administrators and professional organizations a guide for best practices among independent school technology directors, especially in a time of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, this study contributes to advance leadership theory by looking into the leadership of technology directors during a pandemic.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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