Sherry Ganon-Shilon, Orit Avidov-Ungar E13 Proceedings of the 21st Chais Conference for the Study of Innovation and Learning Technologies: Learning in the Digital Era I. Blau, A. Caspi, Y. Eshet-Alkalai, N. Geri, Y. Kalman, D. Olenik-Shemesh, Y. Sidi, & N. Brandel (Eds.), Ra'anana, Israel: The Open University of Israel School Principals' Technology and Transformational Leadership Practices for Spreading the Adoption of an Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) Policy Sherry Ganon-Shilon Achva Academic College sherryg@live.achva.ac.il Orit Avidov-Ungar Achva Academic College Avidovo@achva.ac.il פרקטיקות של מנהיגות טכנולוגית ומעצבת בקרב מנהלי בתי ספר להפצת אימוץ מדיניות בינה מלאכותית בחינוך אורית אבידב - אונגר המכללה האקדמית אחוה Avidovo@achva.ac.il שרי גנון - שילון המכללה האקדמית אחוה sherryg@live.achva.ac.il Abstract Spreading the adoption of an Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) policy calls for school principals to serve as boundary spanners communicating technology and transformational leadership practices. This qualitative study aims to examine the leadership practices that school principals communicate for spreading the adoption of an AIED policy, an innovation diffusion, during the persuasion stage, within a national program. A bottom-up thematic analysis approach was utilized to analyze qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 16 elementary and high school principals from four school districts. The analysis surfaced school principals' technology and transformational leadership practices exemplified via their role as boundary spanners: (1) technology leadership practices across internal and external boundaries: (a) building professional capacity through learning opportunities for experimentation with AI tools and communities of practice for AI learning (b) sharing leadership (c) connecting with parents (d) connecting with external partners; and (2) transformational leadership practices within internal boundaries: (a) idealized influence (b) inspirational motivation (c) intellectual stimulation (d) individualized consideration. This research provides a theoretical contribution emphasizing that the spreading of an educational innovation bridging top-down policy adoption with bottom-up stakeholder engagement requires an integrated leadership. Professional development programs should equip principals with specific leadership styles for an AIED policy. Keywords: School principals, diffusion of innovation, technology leadership, transformational leadership, artificial intelligence in education policy.
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