Integration, Engagement, Workflow – Interview Abstract

Integration, Engagement, Workflow

Mr. C is a grade 7 teacher that works for the Vancouver Board of Education that was interviewed on his use of technology in his science and math lessons. His qualification are a B.Ed. and B.A.. He is involved in teaching coding and HTML to his students.  He is a technology mentor and has worked at the district level on various projects related to aboriginal issues.

Integrating technology through access

Mr. C discusses how it was challenging to incorporate technology into his program because not all students had a device to use. He states that “once I was able to provide each student with a device, teaching workflow…made it possible to increase the use of technology. This is an issue that I find can sometimes hinder my own practice when there are not enough devices available.  Students have to be given the opportunity to be creative in their own independent space sometimes.  It can be challenging to really to use a learning management system when the students don’t always have access to the devices. Mr. C started with 10 Macbooks and then expanded his collection of computers over the past several years.  However, with students choosing to bring in their own devices, the needs for the school to provide each student a device is not as necessary anymore.

Student Engagement with Technology

Mr. C will use programs and apps that allow students to utilize any device in the classroom. He also uses many reading, math and science websites and programs. Some of them include thinkcera.com and activelylearn.com (which student’s read for content in the field of science). In order to provide the students with hands-on (manipulative learning) in mathematics he uses explorelearning.com.  This provides students with various drills and games to further develop this skills. For science presentation he uses glogster and for math khanacademy.  From the multitude of applications he utilizes, it’s obvious that he is quite embracive of new programs makes great attempts to find students programs that suit their learning needs. One of the most interesting things that I found was that Mr. C is completely self-taught when it comes to using technology in the classroom.  He encourages his students to play with technology  through trial and error and in order to master how to use something. Mr. found the many of the students in other classes at his school were “envious” of he used technology with his own students.

Efficient Workflow:

Efficient workflow and organization are important aspects of students learning, especially when the amount of content increases.  Mr. C discussed how “students agree  that doing things online… means less [performance] issues around executive functioning, organization and accountability.” With all of the tasks that students need to complete in a given school work week, he felt passionately that technology provided the structures to keep students organized and accountable.

In conclusion, Mr. C was able to demonstrate tremendous mastery with the different educational tools he uses in his classroom. He seems to be willing to work with any types of device as long as it can run the internet.  He emphasized that effective workflow is necessary in order to maintain good organization in his class with technology.

If you would like to check out my transcript Q&A, see the below google doc link

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BKDTJqLde51b7vE_TmEYFGxbZvT0urXmGQz7icaktv4/edit?usp=sharing

Thank You,

Tyler