Challenges of Serving Different Communities

Week 1 Discussion 1

• How does working with the public, school board, administration, and teaching staff differ from working with students?
• What are the potential challenges a technology integrator faces from school communities?
• What do you believe are the best strategies for tackling these challenges?

As a technology integrator/technology teacher, I work with both students and teachers as well as with administrators.  Working with students is a little more straightforward.  They are there to do the assignments, most of the time. They are usually waiting for the teacher to tell them what to do.  Not that there aren't some students who struggle, but most take the assignment and run with it.  They are like open vessels ready to be filled.  They are also "digital natives", as Marc Prensky calls them, used to working with technology, so they are not afraid to use it. 

Teachers, on the other hand, in many cases are not used to using technology in their practice.  They already have plenty to do, between planning lessons, keeping up with curriculum standards, assessing student performance, writing IEP's, communicating with parents, among other things.  There is not enough professional development for teachers on using technology in their lessons.  (Morehead and Labeau, 2005).  Also, with the frequent changes in software products, it is difficult for teachers to keep up and relearn new revisions. There is not enough funding to implement technology across the board anyway. Teachers do not want to train to learn how to use technology when they know the technology will be limited and if they cannot use it regularly, they will forget what they have learned.  There is often not a lot of support from the administration as well, as they are too involved with policy and day to day operations of the school.  If it is not mandated from the top, it is hard to get teachers to change the way they have been used to doing things.   Their time is also driven by high stakes testing concerns, or putting together alternative testing artifacts.  

As a fairly new technology integrator, I see these things daily.  I see the pressure that teachers are under, mostly from not having enough time in the day, but also due to staff being out sick, therefore the teachers fill in for them, as most of the students need 1-1 assistance in our school. They even eat with the kids. Their students are all going in different directions, most working on different programs.  Also, most teachers do not appreciate other people coming in and telling them what they should be doing, especially with all of the concerns they have to deal with. They would rather send the students to me to teach them how to use the technology, but that does not allow for transfer of the knowledge to the teachers. 

Camera Mouse Alternative Tech

One of the ways I try to help integrate technology is to work with the kids to get them familiar with it, so when their teachers are ready to implement it, the kids will be ready. But because I work in a school for students that are all on individual educational plans, it is easier to justify working on skills that the individual students need to focus on, using technology and alternative technologies as needed, a real differentiated education.  Usually the students' 1-1 paraprofessionals will come with them and I can show them how to use the technology with the students. But in the public schools, that would not be an option.  I am trying to go into the classes and observe and then recommend ideas that the teachers could use.  I also try to share ideas with them during teacher meetings when there is time, or in informal discussions, and via email. I research and find apps for their students' iPads based on needs and then show them how to use them.  I believe that administrators need to encourage teachers to use more technology, but the budgets also need to be funded to pay for the professional development and materials to implement the use of technology.  

References:

Morehead, P. and LaBeau, B. (2005).  The continuing challenges of technology integration for teachers. Essays in Education Online, Vol 15, fall, 2005. University of South Carolina.

No author. (No date).  Identifying challenges to technology integration in math instruction. Center for Implementing Technology in Education. Retrieved from:
http://www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=117