After reviewing all of the video cases presented, there were a few things that stuck with me. The first one is that the more things change, the more the seem to stay the same. I was surprised to see that pre-service teachers had little exposure or teaching regarding technology and its use in the classroom, in spite of this being an important aspect of the need for 21st century learning skills, and that, when they were shown how to use various programs and hardware, they were still reluctant to incorporate this into their classroom teaching and learning plans. Particularly in Case 4, many of the teachers acknowledged the the integration of technology is important, and what they were learning was interesting and engaging, they stated that they would still be reluctant to use it in their own classroom because they were not “experts” and it would take too much time to implement it. I still find it odd that there are people who still consider themselves not “tech savvy”. To me this is like saying you are not math smart. Everyone is math smart and everyone can be tech savvy, it is a learning experience, not an innate talent. This tells me that there is not enough technology education for educators to allow them to feel competent about including this as part of their teaching. Many of the teachers using the technology in the classroom stated that they had educated themselves by taking classes, or learning from others, or just trying things out on their own. Many pre-service teachers seemed to be not willing or able to put the required time in to learning or using technology with their students.
Technology should not be used for the sake of using technology, it should be integrated as seamlessly as possible into the daily routine of the classroom, as a tool, not as a special event. Unfortunately, in many cases, this is impossible due to the lack of available devices. If a teacher has to sign out the devices well in advance it becomes a logistical nightmare to arrange the curriculum to be at the point when you can get the devices. Many projects require the devices to be available every day for most of the day, which is impossible in the sign them out scenarios. In a lot of cases, teachers will forgo using the technology and revert to older ways just for ease of use. This is one of my issues in the classroom. I would love to be able to teach my students how to use a variety of programs as the need arises, and as they would do in their future lives. You need to use programs, software, and devices for specific purposes and times. My computer is on all day with usually about 5-10 tabs open at any one time. I am constantly switching between programs and platforms as I go about my day planning, grading, researching, and creating. These are skills that my students need to learn also, but it would require a 1:1 classroom, which is impossible at the moment. This means it is very difficult to move into the 3rd stage of integration where students are using the tech to learn at their own pace. It seems to me that although there is a push from the ministry and school boards to integrate technology, there is not the equipment or training available to make this a reality.
The last thing that caught my attention was that a lot of the technology being used seemed to be older technology. In particular I was surprised to see Clickers being used in the post secondary classroom. I used them when they first came out and agree with everything the professor was saying, they do engage the students more as they are being made accountable for their learning in a large environment, it is easy to participate as they are anonymous in that they are numbered instead of names, however it is important for everyone to participate because you can see when someone has not responded. However, Clickers would be an expensive proposition for a class of 100 students, especially when there are programs like Kahoot or Plickers that utilize phones and personal devices to do a very similar activity. Of course, Clickers would likely be a one time expense and could be used very effectively for a number of classes over many years.
Overall, it seems that technology is advancing at a great rate in terms of its applicability to the classroom and the variety of programs and platforms available to use, but technology education, training, and understanding seems to continue to lag behind. I think that there should be a mandatory course or courses for the education of pre-service teachers in the use of technology in the classroom. This is the future.
Wonderful reflection! Your point about change yet remaining the same is so,etching I agree with extremely because I have noticed that technology integration continues to be met with some resistance in one way or another. I feel like there are many opportunities available for teachers to learn how to use technologies in their classroom but it seems that teacher are reluctant to use what they learn in their classrooms and as time progresses, the forget about it.
I was also surprised at the lack of enthusiasm that the preservice teachers shared regarding implementing technology in their classrooms, as well as their lack of knowledge regarding engaging tools and resources. Even the two male teachers who possessed a positive attitude towards technology integration shared very basic methods on technology implementation. As mentioned within the Case Videos, there is a need for technology integration instruction presented in the teacher education program through the methodology classes. A separate technology methodology class may be useful, but integrating technology with other disciplines would be more practical and meaningful.
As an elementary teacher, I did not see the benefit of the teachers representing life cycles through still photo animation. Although the end product may prove interesting to students, there are endless “interesting” ways of presenting life cycles that are not static textbook photos. One teacher mentioned that she and her partner had spent six hours working on the project. Although with practice, this time may shorten, I can see why teachers were less than enthusiastic in implementing the still photo animation technology into their primary classrooms!
HI Everyone,
Jessica in reading your last statement about the amount of time it took to create the still picture animation I was reminded of my questions and wonderings when I watched that portion of the video cases. Was this a tool they were being taught in order to create their own lessons on their own time (other than the colouring of “fish” etc) to then show in the classroom? If this is the case then it seemed like a make-work project as I am sure with a bit of digging (probably not even all that long) they could find a video that does the trick and show it in their classes. [Were the preservice teachers so focused on the task at hand, and being successful in the course that they missed the point of being able to do this with your class, not for the class?] Personally I feel the real impetus behind the lesson not to teach them how they could create a video with their class? From the creation of the story line to the colouring of sets and characters to the placement of the items for pictures to be taken, would this not be a really cool thing to do with the kids? Of course, it will not be perfect but what an awesome teachable moment. Walking students through the process…Here is how we do it, we plan the story, we make the set and characters, we plan out our pictures, we need a camera/ipad/phone, oh a tripod will help us stay still, here is how we upload the photos, here is how we use this app to create the video, which picture should come next. Here is our product, what can we do to make it better? You get the idea. Of course, you could not do this in every unit but doing it once or twice in the year would be an awesome learning experience. I can not actually think of a grade level where this could not be done starting with fully guided lessons in the earliest grades to the gradual release of tasks to the students in the older grades. Kids always amaze me with what they are capable of when given the chance.
Catherine
Sorry, this sentence should read:
Personally, I feel the real impetus behind the lesson was to teach them how they could create a video with their class.
Not,
Personally, I feel the real impetus behind the lesson not to teach them how they could create a video with their class? Did some editing that changed meaning and missed this sentence. For some reason I can’t edit the comment to fix it.
C
Thanks, Catherine, for your insight. From the case videos it seemed that the project was intended to be used as a teaching resource, but I agree with you that the skills that the teachers acquired through the process could be then used as learning tools for the students. I know in my own experience with instructing technology assignments with students, I only use technology tools that I have previously learned {often learning them through personal use or for teaching purposes}. A still photo animation would make for a wonderful class project in the lower grade levels.