Communicating with Teachers for Successful Technology Integration.

Communicating with Teachers for Successful Technology Integration.

So this week I was asked to reflect on what the top three things to communicate to a specific stakeholder group.  I think teachers are the most important stakeholder group for a successful technology integration so I’ll focus on this stakeholder group.  Teachers can help parents and the community visualize how such technology is indeed a critical component of preparing students to be affectively engaged citizens with the skills necessary to be successful in an ever changing job market that focuses on the utilization of technology and critical thinking.  While all the other stakeholder groups do indeed have an important voice, I don’t think a 1:1 initiative is ever going to be effective or gain traction with the community until the teachers become passionate about what the technology and how it can truly transform education for all students in the classroom.

So what are the three most topics to address with teachers?

1.       How will this improve upon what I’m already doing and better serve all of my students?

The vast majority of teachers care deeply about their craft and have likely invested thousands of hours to develop educational lessons and projects that they feel are affective toward helping students engage with the content and understand concepts.  Such lessons are likely based on strong pedagogical backgrounds, professional memberships & collaborations, journal readings, and conferences.  While I often toss out lessons that I know are no longer affective, I’m generally more comfortable with updating them so that I can still utilize the components I know are affective with students.  So showing teachers how they can take their years of lesson design and bring it into the 21^st century will be an essential component of any successful technology implementation.    

2.       How will this save me time and improve my instruction?

I love technology, but honestly I’m not one to use technology just for the sake of doing so and will often do things the old fashion way if it takes less time and the results are just as good.  As a science teacher I often seem all sorts of gizmos that come along for use in the classroom from pH meters to computer simulators.  Why buy a $300 pH meter when $5 pH test strips can test of pH in less time and for a lot less cost.   Technology should save time, open up windows to learning, and provide access to information that just isn’t easily accessible without it.  Any technology integration should pass this simple test and if it can’t then I think its value should be challenged.

3.       How will I be trailed so I feel comfortable enough to use this with students?

Unfortunately the item that never gets adequately budgeted for is training.  I know far too many schools who have wonderful Smartboards or have started 1:1’s but if you talk to the teachers in the classroom you’ll often find they really don’t know what to do with the technology.  Those that are engaging with the technology often have just taught themselves and connected with others with others who are also learning as they go.  However, in most schools the number of self-taught users of technology is rather limited to those already comfortable with other forms of technology.  This is no way to bring about a transformative implementation of technology and certainly is a poor economic on the part of school corporations.  Teachers must be trained and given the skills to be successful.

I would love to hear your thoughts as to what you feel are the most important topics to address with teachers when implementing technology integration. 

Dr. Lance Brand