Technology Applications in Educational Leadership

Catalog description

Development and use of information technology applications to analyze common problems faced by educational administrators. EDLDR 540 Technology Applications in Educational Leadership (3) EDLDR 540 teaches the development and use of electronic spreadsheet models to analyze common problems faced by educational administrators. The format of the course is a computer laboratory in which students work through a series of assignments designed to introduce them to the basics of spreadsheets and then to teach a broadening range of modeling and analytical skills using progressively more complex problems. Applications are stressed through the creation of models that emphasize the organization, analysis, and presentation of data concerning such topics as salary schedules, budget preparation and analysis, expenditure control, cost projections, and data development. In conjunction with model building, a variety of analytical techniques are used, such as graphing, frequency distributions, regression, what-if tables, pivot tables, and database applications.The work in the course is individual and students move at their own pace through the assignments. New concepts and techniques are introduced and demonstrated periodically by the instructor and are then used by the students in succeeding assignments. The course accommodates widely differing ranges of abilities possessed by students taking the course. No prior computer experience is necessary. Satisfactory completion of all assignments is required for the passing R grade.The course emphasizes the development of useful information for administrative decision-making. Students should finish the course with a new or renewed confidence in their ability to deal with a problem in which some quantitative analysis is necessary, to be able to organize the available data in a logical and helpful fashion, and to use an electronic spreadsheet to develop a serviceable model to aid in the analysis.