This will, I promise, be my last post of this nature. Though I love a good soap box as much as any other teacher, I tend to with technology, only preach the positive. But I would feel remiss not to immediately address one of the main issues I see with technology in education: availability. I am in a unique situation. I have computers for each of my students but I am the exception not the rule. When I started teaching at my school 6 years ago there were mumblings of a 1 to 1 environment. That our district would have computers for every student. Alas, 6 years later and I feel strongly teachers have less access to technology then they did when I started here.
A few years back, our district started making us include ISTE standards on our lesson plans. I was thrilled. This forced me to look at the technology I was using in a different and unique light. I was framing my lessons around actual technology standards! I remember sitting down with a teacher one day to plan out our lesson and asking her what ISTE standards she was using. In my naiveté or inability to project into other's classrooms, I had forgotten that she didn't have computers. She laughed, then responded the same one she put every week. She had developed some politically correct almost nonsensical sentence about using her ELMO.
Another teacher decided to start using text in responses in order to have something to put in her ISTE box. I was intrigued! How can I use this tool in my classroom? After observing her, I realized a harsh truth: technology when forced, without resources or training, isn't very effective. Yes, she was using it. Yes, she had something in the box. Yes, she had technology, but it wasn't effective. It didn't push her lesson and learning in a new and exciting way. It was a checked box. A "highly effective" on her evaluation. A requirement. If we are going to implement technology, especially BYOD programs, how can we train teachers to not only use this technology but use it effectively?
At the end of last year I had to make the same argument I make at the end of every year, justifying my placement in my lab. You would think this decision would be based on evaluations or learning gains, but it's not. Why then would they want to change my environment? At the end of the year, we go through our standardized testing. This process uses all 8 of our computer labs for 3 solid weeks and another 5 for 3 more. This is not even including the 3 progress monitoring assessments we have for 3 content areas across all 3 grades throughout the year that must be administered on the computers. After figuring out what to do with me and my students for 3-6 weeks as we are evicted from our classroom, my administrators are always wary of keeping me in the lab. It is simply inconvenient. I win the battle every year, but unfortunately, the trend at my school is to use our technology for testing instead of education.
My classroom is the exception. We use computers daily and integrate technology into what we do. But, at least at my school, we have less and less technology in classrooms not more. We have to function using obsolete tools. I only have one question, how do we get 21st century schools without the funding and training we need?
References:
Hrannar, I. (2014, February 26). 14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/
International Society for Technology in Education (2014). ISTE Standards for Students. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-S_PDF.pdf
Seminole County Public Schools (2011). Evaluation System for Instructional Personnel. Retrieved August 24, 2014 from http://www.scps.k12.fl.us/Portals/80/assets/pdf/2013-14%20SCPS%20Teacher%20Evaluation%20System%20to%20DOE--7.8.2014.pdf
Chadband, E. (2012, July 19). Should Schools Embrace "Bring Your Own Device"? NEA Today. Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2012/07/19/should-schools-embrace-bring-your-own-device/
Hi Marissa! I completely agree that the availability of technology is a major issue in education. You are so lucky that you have computers for each of your students. In my classroom, I have 4 student computers and an IPAD. I use the IPAD to project documents and learning activities for classroom instruction. Also, I have educational apps on my IPAD that I allow students to use from time to time. However, having only 4 student computers and one IPAD makes it difficult to teach students the 21st century skills.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love the question you added at the end of your blog post. I work at a school with limited funding and personally would like to hear other people’s comments and thoughts on the subject. If you recall, in McLeod’s video “Did You Know” (2007), one of the statistics states that Nintendo invested more than twice in research and development in 2002 than the US government invested in research and innovation in education.
Finally, I agree with most of the comments made by Hranner in his article “14 Things That Are Obsolete in 21st Century Schools” and feel that my school is very far behind in the technological shift in education. I believe that the US government needs to allocate more money to research and innovation in education. What are your thoughts?
References:
Fisch, K. & McLeod, S. (2007, February 8). Did you know? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q
Hrannar, I. (2014, February 26). 14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools.Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/
Alexis,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I do feel lucky with my computers. I'm interested to hear more about how you incorporate tech with your iPads! We have some on campus and am always looking for more ideas to help other teachers use technology in their rooms.
The video did highlight some interesting facts on how technology is growing and yet not quite growing in our schools. I completely agree that our government needs to support the technology shift we need in our schools. We need to train the upcoming work force with the tools they will need in the future!
Hi, Alexis,
ReplyDeleteThank you for being so candid about your daily experiences as a teacher. I can imagine it must be hard to innovate with limited resources. That said, I think there will always be a digital divide out there.
What is encouraging is that we are producing a new crop of tech-savvy teachers who can bring students up to speed when the money does materialize. These new teachers can also help older colleagues catch up with the new technology as well.
Bring Your Own Devices policies would help alleviate some of this, but of course this is complicated because many students are priced out of this option.
You sound like a very committed teacher. Thank you for all you do for your students on a daily basis.
Claudia
Marissa
ReplyDelete"If we are going to implement technology, especially BYOD programs, how can we train teachers to not only use this technology but use it effectively?"
When you said this many bells went off. This is the same question that I am asking myself. How can we keep up and be asked to incorporate technology in the classroom but have no proper training. Most teachers as you say use the ELMO just to make that box gets checked off on our evaluations. But is this really incorporating technology in the classroom? Is this exciting the students and brining the lesson to new heights?
My last school I came from before I got a room change had and old projector with the transparencies to use, there was no updated technology in the room at all but yet I was still being observed for it. Schools need to have the proper funding to get these things in the classroom and then train the teachers so they can properly use them within the classroom and get those lessons to the next level and adding more rigor.
Ashley
Hi Marissa,
ReplyDeleteOne sentence of your blog that stuck with me the most is "technology when forced, without resources or training, isn't very effective." I couldn't agree more. I am also a teacher, and as part of our evaluation we need to incorporate some type of technology. However, it is so ineffective when it is being forced (especially if it is outdated). Students benefit so much more from something that is both authentic and effective. I feel that technology really needs to be something that students can easily use and benefit from. I am blessed to be in a school that has ample technology, but I am still working on how to integrate the technology while increasing rigor. I would think that the access to technology would help, but it doesn't if the teacher doesn't know how to properly integrate it.
Thanks for sharing!
Danielle C.