“Fred” has been teaching for only 3-4 years. He teaches Math and Science both in a traditional classroom and as part of the student directed learning team. He was interviewed in his classroom during his preparation time the week before end of semester exams.
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Transcript Excerpts |
Analysis |
| Q. What educational technologies do you use in the classroom?
Fred tries to work in computer technology every couple of units, making extensive use of Excel and GeoGebra, a free version of Geometers Sketch Pad. GeoGebra does everything a graphing calculator does, and does it for free, you don’t need to buy a $100 piece of equipment (graphing calculator), you can get it on your iPods etc. As well he has students develop “transferable skills” by making them use applications like PowerPoint and sites like Google Docs in the math classroom. He tries to work technology in wherever it seems to flow naturally.
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Fred is very cognizant of what technologies are available to aid in teaching and learning mathematics. He is aware of financial limitations schools (and students) may have. He sees the value Since he feels transferable skills are valuable, Fred has students take time from paper and pencil math to learn some of those skills. Fred is a new age teacher, embracing technology as a tool that is here to stay and attempts to make use of it as much as possible. |
| Q. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of the use of educational technologies in your classroom?
When Fred was asked about how he evaluated technology usage in the classroom he had difficulty in finding an answer, and finally stated he really did not know, that it either “just felt right” or did not. However earlier in the interview he said he felt expensive technology is not worthwhile in the introductory physics classroom. He feels traditional (tickertape) equipment is more valuable in showing students visually concepts like acceleration and velocity than using electronic equipment. With ticker tape you can “actually see the difference, instead of just reading a number that is telling you the ball is shooting faster, you can watch the little dots get further apart”. |
To me, Fred is a digitally immersed teacher who sees a necessity in students becoming familiar with computer technologies as part of their learning, but is hesitant to immerse his students in a digital classroom. He sees the need to have students exposed to typical technologies like spreadsheets and graphing applications, technologies that have become mainstream and in many jurisdictions are mandated by the curriculum.
There are a number of reasons Fred could be hesitant to go past mainly using computer technology in his classroom. One reason is because he has not been able to formulate any criteria on how to determine if technology is beneficial to student learning, and therefore only uses the obvious or mandated technologies. This could be because he has a lack of experience in the classroom, and has been spending the first number of years getting well grounded in the basics of teaching. A second reason Fred is hesitant to use more sophisticated technology in his classroom could be the lack of knowledge or opportunity to make use of these technologies. This could be a result of not having the time or opportunity to have professional development in these areas, or could just be that although he knows about the technologies, he does not fully understand how they work or what they are capable of. Additionally, This reason is somewhat supported by his response to the final interesting question.
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| Q. Do you feel you are adequately supported in your classroom technology use by the school, district and pro-d opportunities?
In response to this question Fred first pointed out he felt he needed to purchase his own personal laptop to be able to do his job properly. He felt he needed the freedom to do what he wanted to the laptop when he wanted to do it, and that he did not want to have to wait for someone to come around and “install updates and stuff”. He feels he not well supported by the school or district and feels more time and money needs to be spent in maintaining and supporting the equipment, and purchasing new equipment and software. He also sees a difference in learning how to use the technology from using it in the classroom, that it is not acceptable to think teachers have the time to learn how to use new technologies on their own time. |
Fred purchased his own laptop to have more control over that equipment, as well as the likelihood that a request for a new laptop would be turned down. (He had been supplied with a 3 year old laptop when he first started at the school, but when it became clear it would not be replaced any time soon, he bought his own).
This feeling of being in more control of his personal equipment is interesting, and one that those on the technology support team need to be aware of. Perhaps the BYOD movement actually started because teachers felt they needed more control and better equipment than what their employer was offering. The policy of locking down equipment for security reasons as is done in the corporate world needs closer examination in schools. Pro-d and training are different in Fred’s eyes. He sees training as how to use the equipment or software and feels schools should be providing this training. Perhaps after getting training, teachers would be more receptive to pro-d involving technology. Both of these issues are important – technology budgets and training-Pro-D need attention by schools in order for technology to properly afford students real learning advantages! |
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