Literacy with ICT
Across the Curriculum

A Developmental Continuum

Role of School Leaders in Supporting Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

This section of the website provides school leaders with practical guidelines to support teachers as they implement Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum to enhance student learning. This information was gathered from the LwICT action research school leader breakout sessions. School leaders can find information on

• Factors that Influence How Literacy with ICT Can Support and Extend Student Learning
  
• Concepts, Policies, and Procedures for Implementing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

Effective school leadership is the single most important influence on student learning. This does not mean school leaders act alone. It means that school leaders collaborate with teachers, parents, and support staff to develop the school culture, resources, and focus that support student learning.

Effective leaders understand how to balance growth through change while, at the same time practising aspects of culture, values, and norms worth preserving. They know which policies, practices, resources, and incentives to align, and how to align them with organizational practices. They know how to gauge the magnitude of the change they are calling for and how to adjust their leadership strategies accordingly.

Once school leaders begin to establish Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum as a focus for initiating change, they can construct a plan to realize this vision. According to a comprehensive study that reviewed theory, research, and practice related to educational leadership, there are three critical factors related to increased student learning. These factors are the

• ability to maintain a positive school culture with order, discipline, support for teachers, and resources
• knowledge of curriculum, teaching practices, and student assessment as they relate to an increase in student learning
• understanding of how to increase student engagement in their learning (Waters et al.)

Factors that Influence How Literacy with ICT Can Support and Extend Student Learning

School leaders are knowledgeable about learning, teaching, and assessing in the context of developing students' literacy with ICT. They understand the instructional factors that influence students' literacy with ICT, including school factors, teacher factors, and student factors.

School Factors

Resources and timely access to ICT: School leaders provide opportunities for all students to use ICT to support and extend their learning. While the continuum identifies the cognitive and affective behaviours demonstrated by all students, school leaders also indicate their expectation that all teachers and students will use ICT to learn, teach, and assess. For example, school leaders arrange for teachers to have common preparation time, peer coaching, and access to ICT and the Internet in classrooms for student use, as well as other resources and supports.

Collegiality and professionalism: School leaders model leadership and collaboration by involving teachers in the development of the school plan and the establishment of procedures for implementing Literacy with ICT, as well as by providing professional learning opportunities for teachers to explore strategies to enhance student literacy with ICT.

Ethics, responsibility, and safety: School leaders ensure that their divisional ICT acceptable-use policy is understood and adhered to by staff, students, and parents.

Reporting to parents: School leaders share with parents and their parent council the provincial expectations for student literacy with ICT. They provide opportunities for parents to view evidence of their child’s developing literacy with ICT. This could be accomplished in the form of student-led conferences to display work samples in electronic portfolios.

Teacher Factors

Effective use of ICT: School leaders ensure that teachers use ICT effectively to support and extend student learning so that

• ICT is used to add value to teaching and learning, and to move students upward through Bloom's taxonomy to higher levels of critical and creative thinking
• ICT is used to provide learning experiences otherwise unavailable to students in order to increase their understanding and their engagement as self-directed learners

Instructional strategies: School leaders ensure that teachers have access to professional learning opportunities to explore literacy with ICT for

• searching, summarizing, and note-taking from electronic sources
• higher-level thinking such as comparing, classifying, analyzing, inquiring, problem solving, justifying, and evaluating sources
• collaborative learning
• gradually releasing to students, responsibility for their own learning
• differentiating instruction
• providing ongoing feedback and assessment FOR learning

Classroom management: School leaders ensure that teachers establish rules and procedures related to

• general expectations for behaviour and respect for other ICT users
• using classroom hardware, software, and networks safely and responsibly
• learning centres using ICT
• plagiarism and copyright of intellectual property
• choosing the most appropriate educational uses of ICT

Professional use of ICT: School leaders provide teachers with access to ICT for

• preparation of learning experiences
• development of learning resources
• sharing with colleagues
• collaborative planning
• teaching and assessment FOR/AS/OF learning

Student Factors

Home environment: School leaders provide parents with information about the effects on student learning and safety of time spent watching television, instant messaging, and surfing the Internet.

Exposure and prior knowledge: School leaders and teachers are aware that students with home access to ICT may have exposure to and prior knowledge of ICT procedures, and that these strengths may be shared and developed at school. At the same time, they are also aware that these same learners may not understand how to effectively locate and critically evaluate information and information sources.

Concepts, Policies, and Procedures for Implementing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

As with any curricular initiative, school leaders are responsible for insuring that Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum is implemented within a set of key concepts, sound policies, and clear procedures related to curriculum implementation. These concepts and policies serve as the foundation for developing promising practices in learning, teaching, and assessing.

Guiding Concepts for Implementing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

By asking themselves the following questions, school leaders consider concepts of continuity, complexity, diversity, differentiation, equity, fairness, and relevance in the development of student literacy with ICT.

Continuity: What assurances are there that the development of students’ literacy with ICT is a continuation of what came previously, as well as a link to future learning? For example, are teachers provided with time for mapping the continuum across curriculum and between grades?

Complexity: How is the complexity of Literacy with ICT addressed within grade levels and across grade levels? For example, are students expected to conduct inquiries and design solutions to problems, and not only to learn keyboarding or to use interactive software?

Diversity/Differentiation: How are teachers using ICT to meet the wide range of students’ interests, motivation, learning needs, and levels of literacy with ICT in their classrooms? On what basis are specific strategies and skills selected? For example, are all students in a class expected to develop the same literacy with ICT, but to use materials appropriate to their level of development?

Equity/Fairness: How are students provided with equal opportunities to demonstrate the behaviours outlined in the continuum? For example, are students given opportunities to demonstrate their literacy with ICT in different ways?

Relevance: How is Literacy with ICT made relevant for the students? For example, do students engage in real world problem solving and projects or do they use ICT mainly for remediation and practice?

Policies Relating to Implementing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

School leaders follow provincial and school division policies regarding infusion of ICT and develop school-based strategies for

• implementing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum
• conducting regular classroom assessment FOR/AS/OF learning
• following school-wide or division-wide procedures for reporting to parents

Procedures for Implementing Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum

School leaders, together with their staffs, develop procedures within the context of provincial and divisional policies, and the school plan, to implement Literacy with ICT Across the Curriculum.

Common planning time: School leaders consider common planning time for teachers as they work collaboratively, so that they have time to plan and coordinate use of the continuum within and across grade levels and curricular areas. School leaders establish a teacher team(s) at each grade level and/or across grade levels. The focus of the team(s) is to ensure that the principles of continuity, complexity, diversity, equity, and relevance are applied when deciding the key skills, strategies, student learning, and assessment of literacy with ICT at each grade level and across the curriculum.

Professional learning: School leaders provide professional learning about Literacy with ICT, so teachers learn how it can support students to achieve curricular outcomes. Action research, classroom-based inquiry, professional learning over time, and ongoing mentoring by other teachers have all proven to be effective ways to provide professional learning.

Budget: School leaders set priorities to ensure that students and teachers have the necessary supports and resources to develop literacy with ICT.

Technical support: School leaders ensure adequate and timely technical support, and do not expect teachers to provide their own technical support. They also ensure that decisions regarding technical support are made in the best instructional interests of the students and teachers.

Access to ICT in the classroom: School leaders establish ways to provide just-in-time access to ICT in the classroom.

Reporting procedures: School leaders develop procedures and timelines for reporting to parents, students, and the community. Reporting documents such as report cards, student profiles, and electronic portfolios show evidence of student progress.