Technology leadership of school administrators in the pandemic

In late 2019, the pandemic caused by the virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China and then spread rapidly around the world and was first named "Sars-Cov-2" and then "Covid-19", negatively affected the whole world. With the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring a global pandemic, states started to take measures rapidly. Within the scope of these measures, important institutions and organizations such as stores, workplaces, shopping malls, entertainment venues, sports halls, banks, schools, universities, etc. were closed and included in a long quarantine process. Education was undoubtedly one of the areas most affected by the pandemic. With the spread of the pandemic and lockdowns, schools were closed all over the world and online education was started. Although there have been pandemics in history before, in today's modern world, which has become a small village thanks to globalization and technology, facing the pandemic and closing schools and switching to distance education as a precaution was not a situation that Turkey and other world states were ready or used to. In such a situation, the importance of technology and using it in the right way, technology literacy and the importance of integrating technology into education in the right, fast and effective way has emerged. Our teachers and school administrators had important tasks in the distance education adventure that started with the pandemic process. In this process, many problems that we have not encountered before have been encountered, new concepts and technologies have entered our lives. The aim of this research is to determine the problems experienced by school administrators within the scope of technological leadership during the pandemic period, the solutions they developed against these problems, and the attitudes and vii behaviors they exhibited within the scope of technological leadership during the distance education process. And also it aims to reveal their thoughts about school administration during the pandemic period. Phenomelogy, which is a qualitative research method, was used as the research method and semi-structured interview forms prepared in advance were used as data collection tools. The study group of the research consists of school administrators working in schools in Haliliye, Eyyübiye and Karaköprü districts, which are the three central districts of Şanlıurfa province, selected by the convenient sampling method. Twenty school administrators working in different school types at primary, secondary and high school levels were interviewed with a semi-structured interview form prepared in advance. Probes were used in the interviews in order not to go beyond the limits of the research and to guide the participants. The data obtained from the research were analyzed with the "theme analysis" method. As a result of theme analysis, certain themes and codes were created. Based on the results of the theme analysis, it was revealed that the difficulties experienced by school administrators within the scope of technology leadership during the pandemic process; indifferent parents, insufficient technological infrastructure, inequality of opportunity, teachers who resist technology, and low motivation of students. As a result of the research, some suggestions were presented. These suggestions are; eliminating the lack of technological infrastructure, raising awareness and training parents, training teachers on the use of technology in education and improving their skills, ensuring equal opportunities.