For my interview, I spoke with the technology coach at my school ‘Trevor.’ This particular individual works collaboratively with teachers in elementary one on one to help with tech integration in the classroom and supports grade level planning during units that have a technology, or Makers Education focus with year level teams. I have a pretty good idea of how classroom teachers view technology integration at my school, so I thought it would be interesting to get the perspective from someone who works across grade levels in a support/coaching role. Three words that stuck out to me during my analysis were Accessibility, Challenging, and Collaboration
Accessibility
During my discussion, Trevor describes many examples of accessibility and explained in different ways how technology allows everyone to access the curriculum. He explained that “writing isn’t the end all be all” in education and there are many ways for students to show their knowledge rather than writing it on paper. Technology has allowed education to progress by providing students with the opportunity to personalize their learning by giving them access to a wide range of platforms and programs. “When I went through school…the only way to show what you knew was either through writing things down or to do a science fair project and that’s it.” We have a very diverse school with many EAL learners as well as students with a wide range of learning disabilities. Trevor emphasized that technology can build confidence in those learners by allowing them to find a good place in school and help them feel like they belong. Having technology accessible to all students is a natural way to differentiate learning as well. Trevor describes this as “a low floor, high ceiling” approach.”… you can take it as high as you wanna go.” Students can produce work with the minimum requirements, or they can take it as high as they want by including things like multimedia and “App Smashing.” Technology also provides access to more hands-on experiences with certain materials that may not be available to your school. For instance, in a chemistry classroom when students are learning about how to mix chemicals properly many schools probably don’t have access to hazardous materials, “but sometimes technology allows us to simulate science, on the computer…We can have access to hazardous chemicals, or other things…” and give students an opportunity to handle them virtually.
Challenging
It was interesting to hear what the challenges were from Trevor’s perspective because they were very similar to the challenges that we saw in the video cases. Trevor believes that our school has been productive and made a lot of progress working with teachers by providing training through professional development and specific grade level planning meetings to get to a point where technology is being effectively integrated into many classrooms across the school. There is still the challenge of time, however. In our school teachers have a heavy workload and many expectations. “Classroom teachers are always juggling, you know, your report card outcomes […] positive education, field trips that you have to go on, the expectations that you have a makers unit, expectations that you are integrating technology throughout your curriculum, you’re developing a new Math program right now […], all these kinds of things.” With so many expectations on a teachers plate, we are still faced with the challenge of teachers seeing technology as something separate and something “they have to do” rather than it being organically embedded into our pedagogical approach to teaching. Many feel as if they don’t have the time to use it, and or explore how they can use it.
Collaboration
In many instances, Trevor mentioned how technology allows us to collaborate with different audiences in different contexts. It opens up conversations with parents and gets them more involved in the classroom, and allows them to connect and collaborate with their child from home. Technology “allows us to connect and collaborate with people outside the classroom…” It gives us the opportunity to “connect with people in [the] community and outside of [the] community [as well as] the global community. It really becomes a classroom without walls when used effectively.” Using technology regularly also gets students in the “habit of sharing” which Trevor describes as an element to collaboration. By using programs like GoogleDocs and SeeSaw, students are continuously sharing their work with their peers, parents, and others outside the classroom “this helps to build this habit of sharing.” By using technology in the classroom, students are continuously developing their collaboration skills by working together to solve problems and by figuring out new programs, with each other and the classroom teacher.
Hi Sarah,
Trevor said “there are many ways for students to show their knowledge rather than writing it on paper”. This is a really good point. Technology allows showing and sharing individual knowledge. In the school of my son (12 years old), most tests are indeed “writing on a paper”. This is not motivating, it does not allow showing deeper learning, and does not show what students really know about the topic that is tested. More open inquiry projects, constructive group work and sharing results with peers and parents would probably engage my son much more in a given topic.
After reading the first interviews, my feeling is that we in Austria are way behind the initiatives reported from other countries. For example, I don’t know of any school that has technology integration specialist or curriculum designers or maker spaces!
Elske
Hi Elske,
I agree, tests are by no means motivating, and don’t give you accurate representation about what a student really knows. In my school, at the elementary level, we have moved away from written tests and have students do a wide variety of summative assessments that are more hands-on and open-ended. That being said, they have reintroduced later in middle/high school as to help prepare students for IB exams and university. Therefore I sometimes feel as if we should be giving students some written tests so when they get to secondary they aren’t foreign to them and they have been exposed to written tests.
I do feel fortunate to work on a school that values technology and has a lot of resources to support students in their learning. That being said, I think there are schools in Erupre where they use much less tech but get outside daily and use the natural environment for learning experiences which I really appreciate!
Hi Sarah,
During my interview the issue of time came up, and it is something we have discussed in this course already. Teachers are busy! And i’m not sure we are going to get away from the, “something that they have to do” mentality. Further, the teacher I interviewed explained that because the learning curve is so steep and is always changing, that this is overwhelming to teachers. My argument would be, however, that once you become confident using one platform, switching to another becomes much easier…you have to start somewhere!
Thanks for an interesting post!
Kathryn
Hi Kathryn,
I agree. In my interview as well, Trevor talked about how when he was a classroom teacher he felt comfortable using tech with his students without being very knowledgeable about the platforms or programs beforehand. He felt comfortable learning alongside his students and figuring out how to use it with them. He still uses this mentality as a coach and works with classrooms and teachers by learning with them rather than teaching to them. Do you think creating a similar mindset in teachers would have an effect on how teacher view tech integration?
Sarah
Hi Sarah and Kathryn,
During my interview the idea of time also was a theme. The teacher I interviewed spoke about using her own time to find new ways to integrate technology into her classroom. She felt very unsupported in the beginning so used Twitter as a way to collaborate with other teachers and classes. Of course, this was done on her own time. We know that teachers are busy, but technology should be integrated into daily lessons when it can extend the learning or make the learning better. This would fit into the time that teachers use for planning. How can we get reluctant teachers to see the value in integrating technology? Yes, it might take a little more time in the beginning, but the benefits in the classroom make it very rewarding for both the teacher and students.
Absolutely! Does your school have a tech coach who plans with teachers? We are fortunate that for at least one unit a year we plan with the technology coach which helps greatly. It has really helped embed tech into our practice across the school.
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
The synopsis of your interview touches on some really key points, notably collaboration. While I’ll agree, technology provides access to simulations and online labs to students who would otherwise not have access to these learning tasks, these learning activities often only replace traditional approaches without enhancing the learning experience for the student. The collaborative element that technology affords, however, truly redefines the learning activity in question. Allowing peers, parents and other teachers the ability to easily to provide feedback on a student’s written work results in powerful learning. Additionally, when students are able to work synchronously and asynchronously on the same Google Slide regardless of whether or not all group members are in attendance is absolutely amazing. Online collaboration tools are fairly old hat now but I think they deserve another round of applause. They have broken down so many physical barriers in education and has transformed the way we connect, share and learn from one and other.
Hi Bryn,
I agree collaboration is definitely a skill that students are building at a young age because of the technology they are using in school. Assignments and tasks are designed so that students are working in groups which not only builds their collaboration skills but helps them develop attitudes and character strengths such as empathy and tolerance.
Dear Sarah,
I enjoyed your reflection of Trevor’s experience. Similar to Trevor, in my interview case, the teacher also feels strongly about how the use of technological tools allows flexible access to education and learning resources. This is also a key reason why many countries—especially developing countries—are optimizing their e-learning programs (Bates, 2001). Moreover, STEM and technological pedagogies appeal to various learning styles. This then intrinsically encourages educators to include STEM activities into their curriculum.
Interestingly, our grade specific support and meetings with specialists does not enhance the use of technological tools. Rather, it is met with resistance. The teaching workload has exceeded our planning and prep time. This also became a scheduling nightmare for our specialist as they attempted to juggle grade level meeting times and in class/teacher support. Given that there are multiple initiatives happening at the school, teachers are not able to fully support all visions. It is possible that the school can assuage this by reevaluating its prioritizes and focus solely on balancing initiative demands and logistical needs.
To extend your discussion about a sharing culture, learning and professional development has become a life style. Life-long learning has been the motto for the IB program since 1968. As a skill-base culture, the current workforce values people who choose to continue to develop their craft in a specific field. Educators are expected to learn and extend their skillsets. Thus, it is only logical to immerse the students in the learning culture.
Alice
Hi Alice,
Unlike the scenario you describe, the planning and collaboration among teams and support staff are valued at my school and seen as meaningful and helpful. We have been able to work in ample time for collaborative meeting times into our schedules where our support staff come and assist in the planning. That being said it wasn’t always perfect and took a few years to work out all the logistics. Grateful that we are at a place where it works well for all involved.
Hi Sarah!
I enjoyed reading your post, as it is very clear and divides all the ideas that you want to talk about in separate sections.
As I was reading, I realized that you also had a section on challenges. As soon as I saw that I jumped to a conclusion that this is going to be about students getting distracted while using technology or in general making an inappropriate use of technology when given the chance. However, you did not mention any of these challenges. It is great to see some teachers not get bothered by the distractions that come as a package with the use of technology in a classroom. Based on my interview that I did for this assignment and also another person’s interview that I read about, they both mentioned about distraction being the biggest challenge. It is nice to see for once a teacher not being discouraged by this. Great post!
Hi Gursimran,
That is interesting, I have never considered students getting distracted to be one of the challenges when using technology. I am not sure what level you are working with, but in elementary, I would argue that any tool you are giving the students has potential to be a distraction. Anything from a simple eraser and pencil, to Math manips to a laptop. In order for you to ensure that students aren’t getting distracted it to make sure you have an engaging task for them to do.
Thanks for the feedback!
Sarah
Hi Sarah
I like the fact that the person you interviewed discussed “can build confidence”. Right now I am renovating a bathroom and having the right tools has made me more confident in completing the project properly.
I wonder if there are any studies that look at confidence and the use of technology in the classroom.
A good next step might be to look at your own student’s confidence at the beginning of a unit and at the end. Is there a change? If so, what allowed for the change? What is confidence?
Christopher
Hi Chris,
Absolutely! I can l think of a few instances where I have seen technology give students more confidence, especially when it comes to presenting their work to the front of the class. For my EAL learners especially. I agree it would be interesting to keep track of it anecdotally and focus on watching their confidence grow.Perhaps an idea for my e-folio!
Thanks!
Sarah