Over the past month, I have learned about new technologies and their uses in the classroom, and am very excited to use them in my own room. As I have sat down to actually figure out how to implement, however, I have gotten frustrated and overwhelmed. There are so many obstacles in the way, mainly the accessibility to those technologies. Despite these facts, I feel I am still committed to implementing, but, this got me thinking. I consider myself fairly technology savvy, and I am having issues with all of these new resources (hence the title of my blog!). What does this mean for those teachers who are adverse to technology? How do you go about getting them to use these wonderful tools?
My school is lucky. Each teacher was recently given a personal laptop pc and LCD projector. If you go around the building, I would say that many, if not most, are not using it to its full potential. We have it…why aren’t people using it? I searched online for some answers, and came across the Education Leadership Toolkit. I started to read through the toolkit, and it seemed that my district had followed all of the steps…so what went wrong.
In my opinion, the breakdown comes from professional development. Most of the development I have attended is purely dedicated to operating the equipment. You obviously need to know how to operate the technologies, but equally if not more importantly is giving practical applications for the resource in the classroom. Teachers aren’t allowed to actually explore and use the equipment.
Also, teachers are at much different levels in terms of technology. Using something like this sample needs assessment or this Perceived Educational Technology Needs Survey, would help identify the needs of the teachers. Then, the districts, buildings, grade levels can actually meet the needs of the teachers. It can be time consuming to do this, but I think worth it. We are told to teach our students at their level…why can’t we do the same for teachers?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Implementing Technology-Blog #3
Posted by scurry at 2:12 PM
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6 comments:
I completely agree with what you saying about professional development. I’ve had the opportunity to run a few inservice days and I will admit I’ve learned from my mistakes. I now allow for about ½ of the instructional time dedicated to teachers actually using the technology. I let them develop lessons and work in groups. After all I also learn more by actually completing a hands on activity myself. I ran across this article a long time ago about staff development. You may find it interesting.
Your district also seems to have many obstacles to what you can access so that may contribute to the lack of use. You have to give teachers the ability to make the technology their own; make it part of their system. Then, they can use it as a tool for teaching and learning.
I can relate to your post. It seems like a very similar situation to my school. I agree that there needs to be some time to go to the next level with the equipment. We know 'how' to use it physically, but HOW can we use it in the classroom for education.
Wow! This problem must be a problem for so many school districts. It is so funny how as teachers we are told to differentiate EVERYTHING and make sure we are meeting the needs of all of our students....well, why can't professional development sessions be differentiated? I find that I learn how to do something and then are not given time to "try" out my new learnings and figures some things out on my own. Hopefully some staff developers are realizing their mistakes and getting feedback to make positive changes!
You make a very great point about the different readiness levels for teachers and the implementation of technology. Many teachers aren’t digital natives, yet, which is changing as more younger teachers are getting hired. So how does a district, which in many cases is run by administrators who aren’t digital natives themselves, get their teachers to incorporate more technology while considering effective implementation of professional development? I think that as turnover occurs at the administration level and as more teachers, and mainly parents, push to see more technology infused in the classroom, change will occur. In my district a way in which we get teachers to use technology is that we are in collaboration with a university and the district guarantees special reimbursement for all courses required in the program, as well as summer technology/Web2.0 courses and supplemental contracts that deal specifically with technology where teachers get paid beyond their salary, and resource teachers at the elementary level who are encouraged to push into the classroom and use technology so that the classroom teachers can become comfortable with using technology. Does your district offer any of these opportunities for teachers? Another aspect of getting technology in the classroom, when resources are available, is that when my district is looking for new curriculum materials, such as science and social studies right now, technology is a huge factory as to whether or not we are interested in the resources being offered.
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