Quick! Part 2

Fantastic comment/question from my last post (here).

Bill, just want some clarification. What do you mean be number 1? If the teacher has no relationship to the technology, will that not be different and require much more than, say, someone who is very adept at using technology?

This list is meant as a “in-the-hallway-how-does-technology-work-in-education” conversation - 15 seconds maximum. That being said, point one refers to the relationship the teacher has with technology - the better the teacher groks technology, then the more likely they will use it! If a teacher is afraid, has experienced failure, or doesn’t see value of using technology in their classroom, then they will be less likely to use it.  I suppose (if we had to) we could imagine a continuum:

Less likely to use

More likely to use
               

I know it’s more complicated than that, however, the general idea is if teachers think/feel close to technology they will be more likely to use it.. Part of our work as instructional technology people is to foster, build and encourage a teachers relationship to technology.

#2 - What do you classify as effective and real in-class support? Someone who is available all day to help teachers with technology problems or someone who is there to help teachers link technology and ideas or someone who does both?

What a great question. Support isn’t support if it doesn’t support. Pretty easy, yes?  If a teacher asks for help and doesn’t get it, then they are not being supported. If a teacher asks for help and gets help, then that’s a good thing.   To poke at this slightly further: let’s say Mr. Adams is using a smartboard in his class, and doing a really neat lesson. But no matter how much he tries, Mr. Adams can’t seem to get his LCD projector working. Mr. Adams calls for help, and in a few minutes, a friendly IT person comes down and pushes Fn-F7. Mr. Adams can now proceed to get on with his lesson! 

Support also means teaching teachers how to use technology! Perhaps there are professional development activities planned through the week, and there are newbie-friendly HOWTO’s freely available on the web - you can see my HOWTO’s by clicking here.

Without belaboring the point, we also use students on a “tech team” to provide front-line technical support. We also pay very close attention to what kinds of questions teachers are asking! If we see a pattern of “printing” problems, then we focus our efforts on solving printing issues.

#3 - What do classify as real connections? Is using a wiki to do group work real? Or does it have to apply to “real” life?

Is technology making a difference in your class? One of my colleagues often says “if it’s not making your teaching more effective, why are you using it?”. So the idea is not to use technology for technologies sake, but to use it to strengthen, deepen, and broaden our learning!  To answer your question, using a wiki to do group work is “real” if it is making your teaching more effective. At the end of the day, our job as educators is to teach. I think technology is a great way to make our teaching better.

Unfortunately, many teachers are asked to use technology without knowing how, why, or without any plan to measure it’s efficacy!  I’ve seen this so many times: a computer is thrown into a classroom and administrators proudly proclaim “see! we have technology!” Um, no. Like, no way.

These three are kind of ambiguous in what you are trying to outline. One thing I’d include is the time to integrate and work with the technology.

I’d say this one falls under support. Time is never on our side, and we need to do the best job we can given the constant constraints we face. In our school, we have an instructional designer (that’s me) - I make sure to provide as many opportunities as possible for teachers to learn not only how to technology, but why. I offer meeting during lunch, after school, and keep a flexible schedule!

Another is ability to use web2.0 applications to ease repetitive tasks for both the teacher and the students.

There’s 2 things here. I am a big proponent of web 2.0 stuff: google documents, 37 signals, google shared calendaring, etc…I think it’s our future.
The other thing you mention is easing repetitive tasks. I see this as important, but slippery.  It makes sense to use computers for administrative tasks: grading, attendance, parent communication, classroom management systems (ala moodle) - but I worry computers and technology will stagnate there. I think we need to consistently talk about learning, pedagogy, and effective teaching! How can technology make that more effective.

I’d probably include support from administration for the use of such tools.

You know, you raise a very interesting point here. I see many administrators who don’t “get” technology. They adopt a passive role in it’s implementation and use. The result is the classic “drop-off” computer model in many schools (which I dislike), and a general submissive role of technology in learning. It’s really cool to find an administrator who “get’s it”, and actively pushes technology in learning. The key question administrators must ask is “what do you want to do with technology?” - teachers should be specific and clear about how they use technology in their classrooms!

(SNIP)...I see it being much more complicated than three steps but I could be wrong.

You are right! The three points I raised above are meant as a quick 15 second blurb about how technology can work in education. Thank you for you comments, and please continue the conversation!!!