For educational institutions, an instructional technology coach can be an effective leader and partner. An instructional technology coach is instrumental for training and mentoring a teacher and is a successful partner in the success of an educational institute or learning platform. The best instructional technology coaches are collaborators, culture leaders, motivators, and easygoing. Based on their research and firsthand coaching experience, they can bring about a significant change in the learning experience of students. Here is a list of key aspects of becoming an effective educational technology coach.
Discover your clan
Discovering your clan is the first and most important recommendation for an educational technology coach. You can learn a lot from other tech coaches. Rather than trying to tackle everything on your own and inventing the wheel, you must have other people with whom you can network and discuss day-to-day issues. This will help you gain knowledge of the most significant concepts and how to implement them,
Get trained
Tech coaches are the power sources in education. However, they never actually receive professional development that is tailored particularly for how to coach, how to collaborate with adult learners, and how to provide feedback. When we think of how the instructional technology coach industry has grown, we observe through the times of the pandemic. It is usual for administrators to hire the tech-savvy teacher, the excellent math teacher, or any other teacher with good communication skills for the post of instructional technology coach. While there is a lot of commonality with how we work with kids, it is still a very different world; therefore, not only should the instructional technology coach get trained, but also they should ensure that the people they are appointing as their interns receive training.
Build relationships with administrators
An ed-tech coach must work hard to establish promising alliances with school administrations. For a coach to work at schools, collaborate with teachers, and truly succeed, having a good rapport with the principal is essential. A principal who may not understand what coaches are or what they do effectively acts as if they don’t exist. We observe much less of an impact from the coach in those organizations. It is usually advised that tech coaches make the work of those administrators simpler so that they can strive to establish a solid rapport with them, and they can support the tech coaches in getting inside classrooms and working with teachers.
Align your goals with the school
You need to define your goals if you want to succeed. This piece of advice helps you to ensure that your coaching technology objectives are in line with the educational purposes set for the educational system you are working for. So, whatever the objectives, they are of utmost importance for an ed-tech coach. Verify that your effort is advancing those objectives. As a result, there is no friction, and everyone is moving in the same direction.
Stress on the bright areas
At times, tech coaches, especially new coaches, may feel defeated. They enter their job with all these wonderful ideas about how they’re going to instantly transform everything, and they have much more authority to maintain that attitude. However, it might take longer because changing people can be difficult. Rather than trying to change people, an educational technology coach is attempting to change the way that students are taught, which, as you may know, is something that educators deeply identify with. Therefore, in a way, an educational technology coach is trying to alter a small aspect of them. Create checkpoints along the journey, think of things to do there, and look for the positives to stay upbeat.
Work on the system level
To help you think from a systemic level, you frequently need to kind of envision yourself as a leading work culture shaper. What can you as a technology integration coach do to further this culture and mindset, and what changes are you willing to support? An ed-tech coach needs to take a top-down approach to bring positive changes to the culture of the school.
Hero, your teachers
Everyone likes words of appreciation. Teachers are going to appreciate working with a technology integration coach if she is actively expressing that and appreciating what her teachers have accomplished. They’ll appreciate spending time with her and working with her during this transition toward a new work culture. Then perhaps it will increase their likelihood of wanting to keep up the difficult and in-depth work on coaching technology.
Feedback
After the professional development sessions and coaching stretches with teachers, make sure to collect all the feedback. You are aware of what teachers desire. We won’t ever be the best personal technology coach we can be if we’re not willing to consider the input with an open mind. One should consider their criticism about our coaching technology with a positive mindset. We must accept it and swallow our ego to consider the input. Only then will you be able to grow as a coach.
The Final Word
If you are an online teacher or a personal technology coach, Classplus can help you grow. Classplus can assist an instructional technology coach and a teacher in creating their apps. Teachers can use this app to sell their courses and study materials, track attendance, administer examinations, participate in several live classroom sessions, set assignments, keep track of all fee receipts, and obtain performance reports for their students. Reach out to the team for a free demo and experience the change yourself.
