Utilizing a Simulation within an Online School Technology Leadership Course.
Online courses and programs have grown to become and continue to be a popular option for students. As part of an online Master's of Education in Instructional Technology program, students must complete a school technology leadership course. Leadership decision making, policy making, and how to have innovations take hold in a school settings are important things to learn about, but are even more important concepts for students to be able to practice. This case study details the reasoning behind, utilization of, adjustments to, and results from bringing a simulation into the program's online school technology leadership course. Results show that students found the simulation to provide a mostly authentic experience and grew to understand that they should view the simulation as a system, but some students were averse to risk taking and were not always able to adjust to details within the simulation that challenged their existing schema regarding technology leadership and how innovations are diffused within a school setting.