Hey Guys! Greetings from Fort Lauderdale! I'm here at an educational conference, but I want to take time out of my festivities to talk to you about Option 2:
As leaders in educational technology, how can you garner support for the effective use of technology from your staff members? What will this look like in your district, your building, and individual classrooms? How will you plan to offset the “digital divide”?
As an ITRT or an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher, I am a leader in educational technology in my division and I fight this battle every day of trying to support those using technologies. While some people by nature are technology savvy, others are not as gifted with technology. I find that sometimes it is just as hard to introduce a technology to people who are already confident, as it is to introduce technology to the not as technology friendly. While people who are admittingly not as savvy, realize their shortcomings and rely on the vetted less integrated approaches, the savvy will sometimes not even consider technologies because they feel as though they are already doing well.
In Planning for Technology, Bruce Whitehead says on page 8, “Teachers and students in our schools today perceive working, learning, and activities as being interconnected. As a result, 21st century schools must implement curricula where working, learning, and activities converge allowing learning to occur at any time and any place.”
The key is to reteach both sides of that technology spectrum. Reteaching teachers how to teach. This happens more easily one teacher at a time. Teachers want to know how to make life easier, if you give them a solution that works, they will by nature share with their colleagues and the movement grows exponentially. Especially when talking about a lead teacher who are experienced using technology. They will set up lessons for using technology and share it with their subject or grade level and their less savvy teachers in their department and scaffold up their colleagues. So you start with one teacher in this manner, and they make friends and it moves out. Whether we are talking about a new program, a new way of using technology, a computer game; if it works they will share it.
We are challenged to bridge the gap between what we know, how we learned, how we were taught, and how we need to prepare our students. Many times we weren't taught using technology, we were taught technology. We need to start making that movement into teaching with technology, versus teaching technology.
Thanks for listening to my thoughts this week. Have an awesome week!
Resource:
Whitehead, B., Jensen, D., & Boschee, F. (2013). Planning for technology (2nd ed., p. 8). Thousand oaks: Corwin sage.
Resource:
Whitehead, B., Jensen, D., & Boschee, F. (2013). Planning for technology (2nd ed., p. 8). Thousand oaks: Corwin sage.
Hi! I enjoyed your video blog this week! You shared some great points! I agree with you that it can work well to introduce new technology to one teacher at a time, especially if the teacher has leadership skills. Like you said, that teacher will then share with others and the new technology can spread. I have found this to be the case at my own school. There is one teacher in particular who is eager to learn about new technology or find new features in programs we currently use. Her enthusiasm is contagious and motivates other teachers to give the new technology a try! When we started using an online program, called i-Ready, I trained this teacher and then she trained her team. She works closely with the other teachers on her team and can provide scaffolding as needed. It works really well!
ReplyDeleteThere are a few teachers at my school who aren’t quite as “tech savvy” but they’ve come a long way! They are willing to try out new technology and learn from their mistakes – and that is what’s important! I helped one teacher at the beginning of the year set up a “blended learning” model in her classroom. A “blended” classroom combines online and face-to-face instruction. She was a little hesitant at first because she’s not as confident using technology. The blended learning has been a success, though, and now she’s just thrilled! She shared that she’s having the best year of her career!
I like how you mentioned that schools need to use curriculum that connect working, learning, and activities. Today’s students have grown up in the world of technology and do well with this type of instruction. I agree with you that we need to be teaching with technology, not just teaching technology!
Have a great weekend! :)
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteLet me begin by complimenting you on your beautiful blog page! I can see the you take full advantage of the benefits of being technology savvy. I enjoyed your video and absolutely agree with you regarding the need to support those who struggle with the effective use of technology. It can be an overwhelming task to many and having someone to support and gently guide others through the process. I also believe that it is helpful to let them know that it is okay not to know it all when it comes to technology, but it is not okay to use this as excuse not to implement it in the classroom. You have made a very good point by stating that teachers need to relearn how to teach while implementing technology. It is imperative that teachers understand that this generation of students require the effective use of technology at their hands in order to make learning a meaningful process. In addition, I believe that teachers need to be supported through the immersion in the digital culture by taking part in technology-based professional development. For that it is imperative that administrators make technology integration a top priority on their strategic plan. I teach at a small Christian school, in which technology has not yet advanced to the phase of 1:1 devices. Though we are making progress, I fear it is going to be a while for us to arrive at this phase. Finally, I believe in positive peer pressure, in which technology savvy teachers challenge colleagues to step out of their comfortable zone, one step at the time in integrating more technology in the classroom, while supporting them through the process. This type of collaboration benefits not only the teacher learning a new strategy, but it enriches the learning environment for the students as well.
Hey Leslie! Yes, teaching those who have a little knowledge of a subject is just as challenging to teaching those who have no knowledge of a subject. As you know technology continues to improve and develop, it is important to make sure it is effective for learning, reasonably managed, and not just another gadget. When students and teachers are motivated, the expectancy is that growth and learning are created in all aspects.
ReplyDeleteHaving smart boards, and a computer for every student in the classroom has changed how
students interpret and manage the curriculum. Also, grading and testing has responded quickly to
share needed data to the teachers. However, the use of technologies has become a crutch for
many students and teachers. Although, there is a value of technologies used in differentiated
instructions. A teacher should choose to work one-to- one with a student who is struggling with
grammar and context (for example) as oppose to just showing a video presentation of that
instruction.
Additionally, there should be strong support for educational technology. As in all educational institutions, the educational technologist and teachers must be free to lead the integrated technology methods in the lesson that improves student achievement. Many
teachers and educational technologist are hindered in their efforts due to the educational system. Therefore, it’s very imperative that the overall educational system heavily supports the faculty through training, assistance with course development and delivery to name a few (Simonson, Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015).
I feel that the most significant advantages of the instructional technology are the communication
tools and the student collaborative learning. Students are required to pay rigorous attention to
developing adequate life and career skills in this technology driven world. The communication
tools like videoconferencing, audio conferencing, chat, or instant messaging which gives the
teacher instant assessment to gage student’s knowledge of the course content (Simonson,
Smaldino, and Zvacek, 2015).
References
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a
distance: Foundations of distance education. (6th ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
ISBN: 9781623967987.