Digital Learning for North Carolina Educational Leaders

In response to national and state emphasis implementing digital technologies in the K-12 classroom, the North Carolina (NC) state board of education approved the integration of the Digital Learning Competencies for Teachers (DLCT) and the Digital Learning Competencies for School Administrators (DLCSA) for schools statewide. DLCSA support school and district administrators to improve practice, build capacity in the staff, and drive student learning within their schools. Following a mixed method sequential explanatory design, this study was conducted to explore the perceptions of NC school administrators about the DLCSA to develop digital age learning organizations and identify best practices to support teachers and students. Data were collected during the 2018-2019 academic year through a web-based questionnaire distributed to current and former Educational Leadership program students (n = 21/52) and 6 semistructured interviews. The findings supported the development of a new digital learning certificate for educational leaders.