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In today's business environment, it is easy to get caught up in the different trends that plague leadership. What exactly does being a leader mean? Many times, people fail at answering this question, as leadership means different things to different people. In some cases, it may mean taking responsibility or risks, and moving forward even if that means doing so alone.

The Leadership, Education and Etiquette - On and Offline, or [Leo ] Student Leadership Training Project ended Friday with a debriefing and motivational words by the program's adult leaders. It wrapped up four days of training in which the 26 teens learned about cyber safety and social networking issues as well as peer-to-peer marketing and career preparations.

Learning to Change Changing to Learn Advancing K-12 Technology Leadership, Consortium for School Networking(COSN) Video. COSN was the recent recipient of a $450,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation to explore policy and leadership barriers to Web 2.0.

CoSN Receives MacArthur Grant: Exploring Policy and Leadership Barriers to Effective Use of Web 2.0 in Schools
The $450,000 grant began July 1st and over the coming year CoSN will focus on the following key objectives:
1.Identify findings from existing empirical research relevant to the use of new media in schools and the barriers to their adoption and scalability.
2. Assess the awareness, understanding, and perspectives of U.S. educational leaders (superintendents, district curriculum and technology directors/CTOs) and policymaker's on the role, problems, and benefits of new media in schools within a participatory culture context.
3. Investigate and document the organizational and policy issues that are critical obstacles for the effective deployment of new media.
4. Develop a concise report of findings and construct an action plan for intervention.

In 2006, following extensive research into the educational potential of virtual worlds, Global Kids became the first nonprofit to develop a dedicated space for conducting programming in the virtual world of Teen Second Life (TSL). Within TSL, the organization has established Global Kids Island, which hosts interactive, experiential programs for teens from around the world. Specifically, Global Kids is conducting intensive leadership programming for youth, bringing youth from its New York-based programs into the space, and streaming the audio and video of major events into the world.

A free five-day, multiple-language, multiple-time zone online collaborative conference on global education. Teacher, student, curricular, policy/leadership, and change tracks.

In June 2008, the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) released an update to their technology standards for teachers. The revised National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Teachers mark a significant overhaul of the group's original teacher technology standards, which ISTE introduced in 2000. The new ISTE teacher standards begin with the assumption that every teacher recognizes the importance of technology and how it can transform teaching and learning. The revised framework focuses on what teachers should know to help students become productive digital learners and citizens. "NETS for Teachers, Second Edition" includes five categories, each with its own set of performance indicators:
1.Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
3.Model digital-age work and learning
4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership.

Presentation for 2006's FBLA National Leadership Conference in Nashville, TN. Placed THIRD in the nation with student-made video.\n

Back To School, Back on the Internet, Back to Basics: A Guide to Protect Yourself and Your Children Online .This double-sided brochure from Americans for Technology Leadership can be downloaded, printed and distributed to parents -- or used as a link from your school web site.

School counselors are not the only people in the school who are responsible for the safety of students, but they may be the primary contact person for parents and students seeking information or help. Providing leadership for students, faculty, administrators, and parents in addressing the topic of cyberbullying may be an important step in ensuring students' safety.

Job characteristics and strengths at work at Google -
\n\n... analytical reasoning. Google is a data-driven, analytic company. When an issue arises or a decision needs to be made, we start with data. That means we can talk about what we know, instead of what we think we know.
\n\n... communication skills. Marshalling and understanding the available evidence isn't useful unless you can effectively communicate your conclusions.
\n\n... a willingness to experiment. Non-routine problems call for non-routine solutions and there is no formula for success. A well-designed experiment calls for a range of treatments, explicit control groups, and careful post-treatment analysis. Sometimes an experiment kills off a pet theory, so you need a willingness to accept the evidence even if you don't like it.
\n\n... team players. Virtually every project at Google is run by a small team. People need to work well together and perform up to the team's expectations.\n\n... passion and leadership. This could be professional or in other life experiences: learning languages or saving forests, for example. The main thing, to paraphrase Mr. Drucker, is to be motivated by a sense of importance about what you do.

Blog post resource for parents, students and teachers on cyberbullying and internet safety.

This blogpost is intended as a resource for parents, pupils and staff and came from the excellent PHSCE evening for parents recently organised by Ms Tina Duff. It supported the strong approach to these topics by the school's senior leadership team. Cyberbullying and Internet Safety have been the subject of whole school assemblies and are part of the IT curriculum taught in KS2 and KS3 when pupils are given their own blogs and encouraged to use social networking tools to support their learning in class.

Slick video made by the Pearson Foundation for COSN that explains the shifts that need to happen if we are going to enable students to become fully digital literate.
\nThe Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) provides a voice for K-12 education leaders who use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning. CoSN provides products and services to support leadership development, advocacy, coalition building, and awareness of emerging technologies.

[May 2008] AASA article gives examples of school organizations that are desperately and inappropriately blocking the future and Scott McLeod pleads, "Please don't block the future." Please don't relegate your students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to second-class status in the new economy because you left it to them and their families to figure out on their own what it means to be digital, global citizens. Ask AASA and its state affiliates to provide more technology leadership-related professional development opportunities. And let us know how we can help.

From the Technology Information Center for Administrator Leadership /Radio TICAL audiocast: First they showed up in every driver's hand. Now, your second graders are bringing them to school. Yep, cell phones have become as ubiquitous on campus as they are on the roads, and they force us to consider new rules and policies in each context. In this episode, TICAL cadre members Bob Blackney and Kelly Calhoun share their perspectives on the kinds of things we need to consider in crafting campus cell phone policies.

Adults need to be good role models. Politicians need to think about this the next time they consider demonizing (as opposed to criticizing) an opponent. Media personalities and talk show hosts need to think about the messages they're giving to children when they engage in name calling. We all need to be aware of comments we make in the presence of children and even people who comment on blogs need to think about the difference between legitimate criticism and derision. Children learn by observing our behavior, and there are plenty of adults who behave like bullies. Changing behavior isn't easy, but it's not impossible. I've been watching episodes of the TV show Mad Men, which is set in the 1960s when it was acceptable to smoke around other people, ride in cars without seat belts, leave trash everywhere, make derogatory comments about minorities, and treat women as inferior beings. We haven't yet completely eliminated any of those dangerous or antisocial behaviors, but we've come a long way. With concerted effort and national leadership, we can do the same with bullying.

Book limitations - through the eyes of digital youth. Posted by Chris Lehman and the Science Leadership Academy.

Video Conferencing is one tool that can be used to extend and enhance the impact on\n\n * Curriculum Content and delivery\n * The Professional Development of school staff\n * The quality of leadership within schools\n\nVideo Conferencing enables learners to do things that are hard or impossible to do by other means.\n\n * Collaborate easily and regularly\n * Be in more than one place at once\n * Link directly to places and resources\n