The Savvy Edtech Leader: New Strategies to Boost Influence and Elevate Your Career

This book provides a road map for edtech practitioners looking to advance or pivot in their careers, ensuring they are well-positioned to move forward in their professional journeys.

Edtech practitioners need pragmatic and applicable strategies to shape and advance their career paths. Written by four prominent edtech leaders, this book addresses this need, guiding readers in how to build effective leadership skills with strategies that encourage creativity, flexibility and adaptability, so they can respond effectively to evolving challenges. In a field as dynamic as educational technology, such a mindset is crucial to being prepared not just to adapt to the present, but to shape the future.

Bridging the gap between theory and practice, the book addresses core topics such as leadership vision, strategic planning, ethics and performance management, so that both budding and seasoned professionals are well-equipped to navigate the diverse challenges they might face. By focusing on strategies that have the potential to transform learning with technology leadership, this book supports educators and leaders in harnessing technology to lead in the most effective ways, directly benefiting students.

The book will help readers:

• Focus on internal motivation and increase confidence in order to become an effective leader.
• Learn how to establish a positive leadership culture at the staff and district levels.
• Cultivate interpersonal and team-building skills to foster collaborative, harmonious work environments.
• Make informed, ethical decisions as the rapid evolution of technology often outpaces the development of ethical guidelines.
• Build strategic planning and performance management skills to prepare to move into top education technology leadership positions.
• Map out a plan to support a school system’s vision, and influence others to buy into and support that vision.

Tackling diverse challenges that professionals in educational technology face, this book equips readers with the knowledge and practical strategies needed to bring about meaningful change.

Audience: Leaders and aspiring leaders seeking higher-level education technology leadership positions, including educators, education leaders and coaches.

Sheryl R. Abshire, Ph.D., is a highly respected educator, author and speaker known for her lifelong dedication to advancing education through technology integration. As the chief technology officer for the award-winning Calcasieu Parish Public Schools in Louisiana for over two decades and a recognized teacher, library/media specialist, school principal and university faculty member for 20+ years, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership in incorporating cutting-edge technology into the district’s curriculum and operations. Her published works and sought-after speaking engagements at national and international conferences have solidified her status as a thought leader in the field. Abshire has been the recipient of numerous accolades, including CoSN’s Seymour Papert Lifetime Achievement Award (2023), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Learning Counsel (2019), ISTE Public Policy Advocate of the Year (2009), ISTE Making It Happen Award (2006), and the first teacher inductee into the National Teachers Hall of Fame (1993).

Frankie Jackson is a nationally recognized chief technology officer (CTO) in K-12, leading education technology initiatives for 30+ years at the state and national levels, working in large districts with 25,000 to 118,000 students. Jackson serves on the Consortium for School Networking’s (CoSN) Policy Committee, Advanced Professional Learning Committee, Cybersecurity Advisory and Driving K-12 Innovation Board. She’s the Cybersecurity Coalition for Education project lead, certifying education leaders as cybersecurity evaluators. She’s also an instructional content designer and subject matter expert for the CoSN Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL) project management course for technology school leaders. As a nationally recognized education technology leader, mentor, coach, speaker and instructor, Jackson is passionate about serving as a trusted technology thought partner in the K-12 education sector.

Donna Williamson has served as a Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) board member, executive board member and officer; as the chair and founder of CoSN Alabama Leaders; and co-chair of the CoSN conference. She’s a frequent speaker at national and state conferences, presenting on topics such as innovation, edtech leadership, communication and soft skills in edtech, data analytics and more. In 2019, Williamson shifted her focus to consulting and project facilitation in the education technology field as a consultant and project director for the CoSN Early Career K-12 CTO Academy. She has received many awards, including the ISTE Making It Happen Award, the Alabama Education Technology Association Sally Moore Award, the National Withrow CTO Award for Educators Honorable Mention, EdTech Digest’s Trendsetter Award and Alabama’s 2016 Marbury Technology Innovation Award. Williamson’s school district was named ISTE’s 2016 Distinguished. She has been named one of the Top 100 Influencers in EdTech from EdTech Digest, and in 2023 she became a certified cybersecurity rubric evaluator for the Cybersecurity Coalition.

Diane W. Doersch is the senior director of information technology at Digital Promise. She previously served as a chief technology and information officer for a large Wisconsin School District. Doersch earned a master’s in educational technology from Lesley University, and holds a Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL) National Certificate from CoSN. She was a founding member and served as president of the WISEDash Local Consortium, a group of Wisconsin school districts that built their own data warehouse. She’s currently president of Northeast Wisconsin Women in Technology (WIT), an organization devoted to attracting, educating and supporting women in the technology field. She’s also Consortium for School Networking’s (CoSN) national chair and leads the organization’s board of directors.