Interview Excerpts and Analysis

I interviewed two colleagues.  Teacher A is a science teacher with six years of experience.  She has a SMART Board, ceiling mounted projector and one desktop computer in her classroom.  Teacher B is close to retirement and teaches math.  She has a tablet connected to a ceiling mounted projector, one desktop computer and a class set of graphing calculators (GC).

What does this technology allow you or the students (or both) to do that you feel improves learning, if you feel it does improve learning?

Excerpts	Analysis/Comments
Teacher A: The SMART Board makes lessons more visually appealing and clear and allows me to incorporate different types of media which appeals to different learning types. It also allows me to bring in real world information and examples. The wiki/blog that I tried went ok but I didn’t do enough follow-up. I learned what I would do differently next time.	Teacher A concentrated on what the technology did for the students. Although the technology was used by her, she noted the things that it allowed her to do that could meet a wider range of learning styles. This teacher is providing her own professional development through trial and error and reflection.
Teacher B: The tablet is more user friendly than the old over-head projectors – it is cleaner, easier on my body, efficient transmission of information, and allows me to face the class. That is why I chose it over a SMART Board. Plus I don’t have to stand as much. As for the GCs, the curriculum is designed to see the pictures of math along with the equations. GCs allow pictures to be incorporated more seamlessly.	Teacher B concentrated on how her tablet was physically easier for her to use rather than its impact on the students. I found it interesting that this teacher commented on how the graphing calculators tie in to the curriculum.

Do you feel that you are adequately supported in your use of technology (by the school district, tech department, peers?

Excerpts	Analysis/Comments
Teacher A: Yes by the tech department – issues get fixed quickly. But as a system, the students are not supported in technology use. It is hard to take a class to the computer lab because there aren’t enough computers for everyone and they are so overbooked it is hard to get in. I tried the laptops on carts, but they were too slow. It took 15 minutes for everyone to log in and up to 10 minutes for one page to load. We basically wasted the whole class doing nothing staring at computer screens. I have heard that the wifi might be better in other spots in the school.	Both teachers noted that physical difficulties with their computers were dealt with quickly, but uses or applications that would allow them to use the affordances of the technology for their students was lower priority. Teacher A is willing and eager to try incorporating the affordances of technology (wiki, blogs) but finds it difficult to do so because of logistical/physical limitations of the school.
Teacher B: Day-to-day crisis are handled quickly by the tech department, but it takes a month or more to get specific network instalments done.

What was your experience choosing and using the technology? Did you need any training or support? If yes, what kind and did you receive it?

Excerpts	Analysis/Comments
Teacher A: I got the SMART Board from a casual recommendation by the vice principal. I think there was grant money from somewhere. Workshops were offered after school and in the summer and focussed on how to physically use the technology rather than how to use it purposefully to improve learning.	Focus of training was not on how the SMART Board can improve student learning.

Do you think technology should be used even if the same concept can be learned effectively without it?

Excerpts

Analysis/Comments

Teacher A: I think it should be used if possible to help incorporate technology skills but realistically, our curriculum is set up for content not technology, so if it takes longer using the tech, it won’t happen. We don’t have technology for the students to use. If we had the technology, we would use it, but when things are used infrequently, they are more work. Student use should be in the curriculum. It would force teachers and districts to supply and support technology.

A recurring theme – she would like to use the technology, but it is impractical.  If it were there, then she could use it, but as it is, it creates more work than it is worth.

Teacher B uses the graphing calculators because they are available and because they tie in very closely to the curriculum. Although the focus of her answers was on how technology affected her, Teacher B has the students using the available technology on an almost daily basis.

In contrast to this, Teacher A has definite ideas that she would like to try for having the students use technology to improve their learning, but is stymied by the lack of available computers – she cannot place the technology in the students’ hands. She would like to see technology specifically prescribed in the curriculum as she feels it would force departments and districts to supply it for the students. Although she does not make use of it now, she feels that if it were more available it would be used more.

As a district, it appears that our focus is on keeping the technology running and available to our teachers. Having teachers use the technology to improve methodology or having the technology in the hands of the students is not the focus of available professional development or technology department time. The exception to this was the graphing calculators, although Teacher B noted that she had received no training in implementing them and that replacement as they failed was an issue.