Category Archives: A. Interview

On Jan 18, 2018, I interviewed a colleague in Hamilton.   “Lucy” has been teaching physics, science and math for the past 10 years at the high school level.  She recently developed a self-directed unit in her grade 12 physics course, and I wondered what the effect of a self-directed unit would have on the engagement of her students.

I asked her the following questions: (her answers are summarized below)

1. What are your main goals in implementing tech in your classroom?

• L: I developed a student directed learning unit.  In it the students use technology for research and for simulations.  I want them to recognize the power of technology as well as understanding the responsibility that goes along with it.

2. Every time a teacher undertakes to add new ideas and strategies (including tech) to their classroom, there are always barriers. What have been the biggest barriers for you, and how have you overcome them?

• L: The biggest barrier was dealing with resistant learners who want notes and want to be given the right answers by the teacher.  I have found that students are losing memorization.  They rely a lot more on looking things up.  There is a lack of common and foundational knowledge.  I think I could do a better job of finding relevant activities and simulations that the students can relate to and learn from.

3. Suppose I was a student in your class who learned effectively using traditional methods and was resistant to new technology in the classroom. What would you say to justify using tech for their learning?

• L: I found that they grew through the process.  I received very positive feedback from the students (all the students) in a survey after the unit was completed.  They really enjoyed it, learned, and the marks were comparable.  A 90s student still scored in the 90s and a 60s student still scored in the 60s.

4. What other benefits do you see for students that justify the use and expense of technology in your classroom?

• L:  They develop strategies for their own learning, they have increased engagement.  I also have the opportunity to move around and interact with students, to help focus their learning and assist them with any difficulties.  We have a limited number of laptops, so the students share them.  This is best part of it – they have to collaborate.  Collaboration is the key, rather than learning on technology in isolation.

5. What are your thoughts regarding technology replacing textbooks in the future?

• L:  I think textbooks are helpful for reference.  I would want to keep using them.  I wonder about digital textbooks, I’ve never looked into them.  That might be something.

6. Does digital technology allow you to do anything that isn’t possible using traditional teaching methods?

• L: Certain simulations of theoretical physics (eg. Photoelectric effect lab allows you to measure the electrons that come off) and especially chemistry.  Lots of the chemistry modules can be visualized this way.

7. Which students do you feel have the most to gain from using digital technology in class?

• L:  The 70s and 80s students, the average students.  They really took on the challenges; were engaged.  They went above and beyond.

8. Do you feel that some students are at a disadvantage because of your use of technology in class?

• L:  Not really, this is a 4U physics class, so the students are pretty motivated.  It was very effective for them.  For some maybe the extra screen time.

Through this interview, we were able to address a number of issues that we both felt were important to the use of technology in science.

1. Responsibility – Students learn to take responsibility for their own learning. Over the years we have been teaching (10 for her, 17 for me) we have both noticed a trend of neediness among the students.  The are becoming “lazy learners” who simply want to be spoon-fed the material that they “need-to-know” by the teacher.  They have lost a sense of the purpose of life-long learning and the value of learning for its own sake, as well as becoming accustomed to a lack of curiosity in favour of curriculum.  Self-directed learning helps students develop their own strategies for learning, for organization, and for taking responsibility for their own deadlines and education.  Students also gain confidence in their ability to find answers, solve their own problems, and prioritize what is important.  While they are often resistant at first (I found the same thing with students in my class) upon reflection, they realize that they enjoyed it and were engaged, while still being able to perform at the same level as more traditional methods.  Most also recognize the value and merit of this type of skill development.

1. Collaboration – Student-directed learning brings out many of the best aspects of education, in particular the opportunity for collaboration. Collaboration teaches students that their ideas matter, they are valued, and that as individuals, they are important to the learning process.  Students begin to realize that they all have different skills, abilities, and perspectives, and that by working together we are stronger and can grow and expand our knowledge.  In this type of learning the teacher is at the side, assisting, not directing, which further emphasizes the value of student contributions and understandings.  It is very important not to work in isolation, as this may allow many misconceptions to occur, as was discussed with Heather in the first unit of this course.  Collaboration allows students to assist each other with using technology and developing tech skills, but also with supporting their understandings.  Finally, collaboration also helps to develop social and interactive skills which will give life-long benefits to them in future education, careers, and relationships.

1. Engagement – Another key word for student-centered learning is engagement. A barrier that is often raised is that this methodology takes too long.  Our science curricula in Ontario is jam-packed, and it is difficult just to get through it each time.  However, I would argue that whatever small part of the content is missed or reduced (usually details like terms) is more than made up for by the added retention that a deeper level of engagement contributes.  For example in my class, if I had simply explained various biotechnologies they would likely forget shortly after the test.  If we did a lab they would probably have a better understanding, but when we did a RAFT activity, they are likely to remember far longer.  How long do you think you would remember doing a 12 days of microarrays carol by a science nerd band as one group did?  When students are more engaged, they also tend to go “above-and-beyond” as “Lucy” mentioned – they took on challenges and made them their own.  The real benefit here is not better grades but the interest and enjoyment, and the stimulation to best work.  When I asked a different colleague if unmotivated students would be more likely to fall between the cracks with student-directed methods, he said no.  His argument was that the teacher has more available time to direct and re-engage students who are off-task.

Interviewee
Mr. M
Years of Experience: 5 years
Subject Levels: High school mathematics
Current course load: PreCalc 12, PreCalc 11
Interview Date: January 18, 2018.

During the interview activity, I was interested in exploring new roles of technology in the senior mathematics classroom.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. M on his experience employing various technology in the classroom.  Mr. M is 5 years into his teaching career and is an early adopter of many new educational technologies.  The interview was conducted through Google Docs in order to allow Mr. M the flexibility to reflect and answer questions at his convenience.  It was clear from the interview, that Mr. M is comfortable experimenting with new technologies and actively tries to innovate his teaching practice with technology.  Three central themes that arose most frequently during the interview process were affordances, access, and intentionality.

Affordances

Mr. M responded at length the many ways he uses technology and the affordances it offers to his classroom.  “There are many ways that technology enhances learning in my classroom,” Mr. M said,  “I am able to write better on my tablet than on a whiteboard. The use of a tablet also allows for notes to be uploaded online. This allows students to revisit ideas that they may have missed in class.” He also mentions the affordance of asynchronous learning whereby technology “allows for learning to be completed outside of the classroom setting, as students can learn at home through the use of videos or revisiting notes.”  In short, Mr. M summarizes that technology “enhances [his] teaching and makes the knowledge easier to understand” for his students.

Efficiency

Another recurring theme throughout the interview was that of efficiency.  Mr. M’s use of technology was often closely tied to improving the efficiency of learning and communication in the classroom.  For instance, Mr. M uses “a collaboration tool called Slack to allow for text messaging between myself and students. This allows [Mr. M.] to address student questions and concerns almost anywhere at any time.”  Likewise, Mr. M’s students frequently use graphing calculators which “make many calculations and graphing more accessible to students”; additionally “many [students] would have a difficult time if they did not have one.” At Mr. M’s school, many students miss school due to extra-curricular activities.  Technology allows Mr. M to efficiently “send students links to videos that teach various skills in case they miss class or are struggling to understand a topic” Bottom line, technology greases the proverbial wheel and provides more opportunity for students to learn at their own pace.

Intention

Mr. M demonstrates a high degree of intention behind every piece of technology he uses.  He recognizes when technology is appropriate and when it is not.  Mr. Ma avoids using technology for the sake of technology and will use traditional approaches when appropriate.  For instance, “learning how to solve an equation is a skill that is best learned through constant practice [using] pencil and paper… I am unsure if there are better ways to for students to be more proficient at [solving equations] on the computer than by hand.”   Although showing online video instruction instead of direct instruction might employ more technology in the classroom, he argues that instructional videos are “not very good at explaining ideas that would allow students to arrive at a deeper understanding of Mathematics.”  Ultimately, there is a great deal of intention behind every decision he makes concerning technology use.  “I never show a video in front of a class in order to teach a concept. Instead of spending time in class teaching students how to perform different operations on a graphing calculator, I simply direct them to a video instead.”

The interviewee name is Mr. S, a secondary teacher. He teaches Science and Chemistry in international schools abroad. He also taught mathematics in middle school, grade 6 to 10. He has been teaching national and international curriculum, and International Baccalaureate curriculum for the past 15 years. The interview took place in school on Sunday 21^st January 2018 at 1pm.

Collaboration

Mr.S presented projects-based learning as an important aspect of his science lessons. It was interesting to hear how he assimilates learning to collaborating with others, solving complex problems, critical thinking, developing different form of communication, and improving motivation. He uses technology every day in his classes, through online resources, apps, and Google to enhance collaboration. He finds that Google in particular makes everything easier, because everything is connected – multiple people can edit on one document, Google Classroom can be used to post and collect assignments, notes can be taken much more quickly and shared. He uses technology to help his students developing practical skills such as creating presentations, learning to differentiate reliable from unreliable source on information, and writing emails. In his opinion, these are very important skills that can be developed in any classroom and that enhance collaboration. Mr.S does a lot of group projects in his lessons; he presented collaboration as essential to effectively and efficiently complete any assigned task. He uses technology to transform the learning experience providing his students with the opportunity to enhance the interaction with their peers.

Virtualisation

Some topics and phenomenon in science are abstract in nature, he said. In such a way that sometimes, detailed descriptions in books or through verbal explanation do not always guaranty a correct understanding of the concept. He finds that students usually fail to make connections with their own life because they developed a faulty mental representation. When technology is available, he uses digital tool to enhance visualisation and make the topic more accessible to the students. He presented ‘molecular structure’ as an example of topic in science where simulation is very useful to visualise in three dimensions how molecules change as reactions occur. Also, he emphasised the importance of simulation for some experiments that cannot be physically conducted because elements are either too tiny or dangerous to be handled. I believes that Virtual reality technology combined with traditional classroom teaching instruction enhance the learning experience and create new opportunities for learning.

Conceptualisation

Mr.S finds that technology in classroom is an effective way to connect with students of all learning styles. Students do not always conceptualise or proceed information the same way. Because some topics in science are abstract in nature, technology has helped Mr.S to make some topics more accessible to students. In fact, he uses technology to give students access to incredible amount of new opportunities that facilitate understanding through simulation in virtual reality. For him, this helps to deepen understanding as the students make authentic connections between the concepts they are learning, their environment, and their life.

Engagement

When technology is integrated into his lessons, Mr.S finds that students are more interested in what they study. Technology provides him different opportunities to make learning more fun and enjoyable in terms of teaching same things in new ways. For instance, Mr.S believes that teaching through gamification, competition, taking students on virtual trips and using other online resources encourage more active participation in the learning process. Which that can be hard to achieve through a traditional lecture environment.  When the students are engaged and interested in things they are studying, it increases their knowledge retention.

I am fortunate to be included in a STEAM cohort with my school division, Rocky View Schools. This community of practice group of teachers, teachers assistants, librarians, and learning specialists meet on six full days throughout the 2017-2018 school year. Additionally, Dr. Gina Cherkowski from http://stemlearninglab.com  and her team of STEAM specialists are present to offer ways to include highly engaging, hands-on STEM and STEAM projects like coding, robotics and Maker Education. It was difficult for me to select one or two individuals for this STEM interview, therefore I made my interview questions available to the whole group. We met on Friday, January 19th at a local school which has a STEAM lab classroom.  We began our day discussing Virtual Reality Animals cards and ways to integrate them into a ANIMAL DESIGN CHALLENGE. Thereafter, I was given the floor to introduce my questions, we deliberated as a whole then broke up into smaller groups to discuss it further. I made myself available throughout the day if anyone needed further clarification. Their answers were recorded in a Google document. For the remaining of the day we broke into groups to learn Adobe Photoshop for Educators, CnC Machine-Shopbot and reverse imagery with paint.

An ongoing conversation we have in our cohort are ways to increase the number of girls in STEAM programs. For this reason, I posed my questions around this topic.

• Gender Equality- My interviewees believed that women have not been encouraged or felt welcome in these programs and less confident in their abilities. Traditionally, gender roles and expectations have an impact on career and schooling choices women have made. And some women are just are not inclined to take those courses or have an interest in them – their interests lying more in the arts. North American gender roles continue to dominate what is/is not appropriate for women. By high school, math and sciences become a “stereotype” and the idea of being good in science or math is a “nerdy” thing! And carrying over from the past, there continues to be a lack of opportunity for younger women as those who are wealthy enough to provide bursaries may “assume” this is not an area that would interest young women, and because of lack of opportunity for these girls in the past.
• Empowerment-  One of the teachers explained when she took Engineering at SAIT, she was one of 2 girls and there was virtually no female instructors.It is important to have strong female role models especially in the engineering field and as more women are entering this field. Traditionally, it was frowned upon for women to enter these fields and women were often treated much differently from the men in these fields. By creating more STEAM opportunities for girls at an early age and encouraging women to enter these fields there will be a gradual shift. Another teacher believed that including “girls only” technology and engineering options in high school could peek their interests and allows them the opportunity to see what careers are available to them. She also felt having female teachers in the roles of higher science courses as opposed to having all males in those courses makes an impact to see that girls can do what they put their mind to it.
• Exploration- Girls are tinkering with technology! The teachers have introduced coding with robots, scratch, micro bits, little bits, cubelets. Furthermore, some schools Furthermore, Coding apps, STEAM based building projects, ipads, computers with 4D imaging, 3D printers, SMART boards, technology-based diagnostic tools, especially in the medical field.  Most teachers are finding it was costly and difficult to come up with the new ideas. Another challenge, the time to build the curriculum the way they want it to look like in regards to STEAM.

A couple of months ago RVS offered a GIRLS STEAM day, where girls throughout the division were involved with hands-on, creative summer activities that enable the girls to explore different digital technologies, have fun while they learn new skills and make new friends. Another day is planned for next month. Here is a video clip from the first day.

J L is a secondary science teacher. Promptly after the graduation from the teaching program, he started teaching at his current school. In this off-shore school, the language of instruction is in English and the school follows the Alberta curriculum. Given this unique environment, students have limited access to English-based learning materials in their community. The interview took place on Saturday, January 18th at: 12:45 pm. at an off-shore school in his classroom. Below are five interview questions asked:

1. What role does technology play in your classroom?
2. How does technology influence your planning and or teaching practice?
3. What have you noticed in the way in which students respond to technology-assisted learning?
4. How do you handle the troubleshoot demand for project-based learning?
5. In what what ways do you think technology can be best utlized?

During the interview, JL, spoke optimistically about the affordance of technology. After rewiewing the interview responses, three key themes emerged: communication, diffieniation and flexibility.

Communication

JL views technology as an inviting platform for communication. Technological tools are designed to facilitate communication. The communicative platform allows JL to communicate to a whole class and or to engage in personal 1:1 communication methods. Additionally, technology, in Jason’s perspective, solves many logistic issues related to students’ access to teaching and learning resources. This helps students to develop their organizational skills to keep track of their learning schedule. JL also believes that these technological tools also scaffolds students’ ability to develop time-management skills to organize learning expectations and tasks. More specially, through the platform – Remind—students receive reminders for project due dates and test dates.

Differentiation

Since all the materials are digitized, students are able to access resources and task instructions regardless of location or time restraints. Jason feels that this provides opportunities for self-directed learning. He is a firm believer of using technology as a source of flipped learning. With self-contained lessons, students can review information in their own time. For example, students are able to review videos and other learning resources that explain learning concepts.

Flexibility

JL values the need to coordinate use between colleagues. When sharing resources and facilities, he speaks of the need to be flexible and sensitive. When technological challenges arise, JL envisions these as opportunities for students to develop and expand their digital skill set. Students are quite adaptable and can easily reimagine technological challenges are sources of learning.

Additionally, to combat troubleshooting demand, JL also feels that it is important for teachers to remain diligent and flexible to plan for unexpected technological challenges. Educators should be able to deliver similar learning outcomes regardless of the amount of support received from technological tools.

Moreover, JL feels that by digitizing materials, he is able to curate and reflect upon teaching resources. Personally, teachers develop a better teaching repertoire when compiling useful instructional materials. At offshore schools such as TIS, since the teacher turn over rate can be quite high, new teachers can easily access digitized teaching resources.

Follow up Considerations

Evidently, JL’s perspective of the affordance of technology is contingent on students’ high level of independence and agency. In our earlier discussions, one post proposed the idea that digital education needs to fit into teaching. Luckily, in JL’s case, given that ‘students’ are referred to high school students who are confident at using technology, he feels that students are already adequate learners to use technological tools for learning. Unfortunately, JL is unable to provide additional insights about troubleshooting demands. He simply handles them in class. It can also be inferred that students use their own time to fill learning gaps. Thus, this would not impede upon precious class time. It is apparent that JL uses technology in a seamless way to deliver content and communicate expectations. Perhaps a more challenging use of technology is to design and create learning experiences that connect students with learning tasks that involves unfamiliar technology.

In preparing for the interview assignment I wanted to consider how to conduct the interview in a way that reflected by current reality of being a consultant for my school district and focus on teacher professional development. I decided to interview two of my colleagues from the department I work for called Learning Services Innovation. This department is comprised of consultants that are responsible for technology, curriculum, assessment, languages, and inclusive education. The primary role of consultants is to provide teacher professional development, model classroom lessons, create classroom resources based on the Program of Study, and support research in their discipline area. We all work independently and separately of each other, that is unless we choose to collaborate. This collaboration became the inspiration for my interview. One of my fellow Emerging Technology Consultants decided to work together with one of our Mathematics Consultants to create a series of professional development to support technology in mathematics instruction. I decided to interview them both.

“Doug”  has been teaching for 20 years from Elementary to Junior High. He was trained as a Generalist Educator teaching all subject areas but through the years his focus became Science, Technology and Math in junior high. He holds a BEd, CST (Computer Systems Diploma) and a Masters of Educational Leadership. He has been an Emerging Technology Consultant for  for 6 years

“Tracy” has been teaching for 26 years as an Elementary generalist. She has taught all subjects for grades 1-6. She always loved teaching math  according to her “once I understood it”. Tammy has been an Elementary Math Consultant for the last 5 years with a focus on grades 1-4.

The interview was conducted on Jan 17 at our Learning Services innovation home base St Peters Centre. This is an old school that has been converted to hold meetings in old classrooms, and house consultants in an old gym which we lovingly call the Bull Pit. Despite the openness of the gym, we have cubicle areas for our departments thus creating physical silos. Collaboration is rare. Used voice typing in Google Docs to capture the conversation.

My questions were developed to examine teacher professional development.

1. What was your rationale for deciding to have both the Math Consultant and the Emerging Technology consultant collaborate for teacher professional development?
2. As an educational consultant, how would you respond to the statement “technology is optional in mathematics instruction”?
3. How do you use and model technology in teacher professional development?
4. What are specific technology tools and use of those tools that you recommend to enhance math instruction?
5. What has been the impact of using technology for mathematics on student learning you have experienced both positive and/or negative?
6. If you could offer some advice, how could we better prepare teachers to integrate technology in math?

The interview was enlightening and inspiring. Three key words became clear as we engaged in this professional conversation. Professional Development, Student Learning, and Mindset.

Professional Development

Teacher professional development is key to my role as a consultant. My job is to vision what information and skills teachers need in order to affect student achievement. Traditionally professional development has been face to face sit and get style sessions where the “expert” (in this case the consultant) transmits information to the participants. The teachers then take away the information and go back to their classrooms to apply it. Our department runs these sessions in independent subject area silos. The time and space between the session and the classroom is where the difficulties of application can be found. Teacher’s do not find themselves sufficiently prepared to use technology in the classroom due to a lack of preparation during the course of their education degrees and a one size fits all technology integration approach found in professional development that does not take into account the diverse context of their teaching (Koehler, Cain, & Mishra, 2013). A new approach for teacher professional development is necessary. One that is cross disciplined, hands on, community driven, and timely. Tracy and Doug wanted to reimagine the possibilities of professional development.  Tracy spoke of the rationale for this partnership based on “ it rose out of aneed. As the math consultant I was looking for ways to incorporate more technology into classrooms and also help technology be seen as a tool for instruction and learning. Not simply for using computers to play or to go on the math website and have students randomly play games on it.” Many teachers will contact consultants only for lists of apps or websites. It is a difficult conversation to have when you know that the teacher needs the pedagogy and content to go with the list of tech. Doug is hoping these professional development series where teachers come for hands on application and training can help. Doug said “it was important to me as an educational technology consultant to root the technology into pedagogy and embed as part of curriculum.  There does have to be a purpose communicated for teachers so that it [technology] is not looked upon as a shiny new toy or something fun that’s in the classroom that has no rigor behind it. To be able to link up with another consultant provides that for me as well. As well it helps to reduce the silos that we often experience in education where we have people working in their own areas, but yet there’s so much richness among the other areas it was good to join forces so that we can share the strengths and talents to better serve our students”. Prior to working with Doug, Tracy shared that her professional development lacked the importance of technology as one of the mathematical processes. She said “Prior to working with “Doug” I was integrating only a small amount of technology but when we look at our mathematical processes one of our processes is technology. So I had the use of low tech like pencils, paper and calculators, but I really wanted to integrate technology by using it as an effective tool to enhance student instruction instead of for gaming purposes”. Tracy goes on to describe the purpose behind this PD model “I think it’s really important that when we are modeling the technology we also give the rationale behind it. It’s really important to to share with teachers our purpose and the purpose of using a specific tool in their math classrooms. We also really showcase how by building teacher capacity with a sharing out of crowdsourcing and co-creating lessons showing how technology can be used and shared amongst others and in ways to easily differentiate your math instruction.” It is essential in professional development that teachers have the opportunity to understand the deeper knowledge fundamentals of what they teach (Koehler, Cain, & Mishra, 2013). This is what leads to student learning.

Student Learning

The key to all we do is student learning. It is what we are in the business of afterall. It is essential that we attempt to dispel the myth that technology is optional in mathematics instruction. In fact it is one of the mathematical processes as found in our Alberta Program of Study. Yet a major impact on student learning of ICT skills as part of their daily instruction is teacher skill. The International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) is a new international study whose purpose is to assess the extent to which students know about, understand, and are able to use information and communications technology (ICT). When teachers face too many barriers and obstacles with using technology, they are more likely to not have those technologies used by their students in class.

Additionally we need to look at personalized learning and what each student needs to succeed. Tracy outlines this by stating “technology is not optional in a math classes when we really look at the needs of all learners and we look at the different needs of how are students are coming in and  where we have gaps in their learning. We have to look at technology to enhance student instruction, so it really is about differentiation. Traditionally when we only have the paper, pencil and textbook we are reaching only a small number of students. So technology to me is hugely valuable and it can’t be an option, you can’t opt out when we look at all these list of tools that are out there and all the support that can act as a central component in the math world”. Doug furthers this by sharing “I think it’s also important that we look at leveling the playing field for kids. Technology definitely plays a large role in helping those students who need those other methods. It’s at least allowing more venues for students to be able to to learn the concepts they otherwise could not learn from traditional pencil and paper alone. We are building upon a competency so that we are creating those individuals that are ready for society as adults that can contribute in a productive and effective way.” Purpose is important and we need to model and share specific ways to use technology as part of our instruction in order to impact learning. We cannot make suggestions based on general ideas and terms. Both Tracy and Doug are very specific in their modeling and recommendations as actionable tasks to be taken directly to students. Tracy recommends using technology for “guided math or small group instruction. Technology really enables teachers to set up stations where students can be self-paced. They can work on their own or  they can work in a group so you know it could be a mass light that yoon math learning sites or virtual manipulatives. Really individualizing personalized instruction by using such things as hyperdocs makes learning personal for the student.” Doug continues this by also recommending “some of the movements that we had in our district with the use of Google Apps for Education and the Makerspace movement and how that really ties into math from bringing things in such as stop motion to Green Screen. It really immerses the students into those concepts  and competencies that we are looking to have students achieve with the Alberta education curriculum that will prepare them for what we consider an unknown future”.

Mindset

Impacting teacher mindset is both a goal and an obstacle. If we can influence teachers to see the value of technology as part of mathematical instruction as having a positive impact on student learning, then we can begin to build their own personal technological skills in relation to content and pedagogy. Yet the mindset of “back to the basics” and math being about answers on paper, change is slow. Tracy shares here experience of this “I think the impact on technology in math has been slow. When I look at your mindset, math is that one subject area that has been traditionally set with paper and pencil tasks. It is more the teacher mindset to the willingness to be open to try new things. They are still very comfortable teaching the way they were taught. Even though technology you know might be for one student,  they’re not impacting all learners so it’s not reaching students. Teachers are still not comfortable in the classroom using technology in the area of mathematics so right now to me it it’s limited. There are certainly teachers using it and when they embrace it they love it, but I do find it’s very slow moving because of the comfort level and mindset of teachers”. Doug experiences this as well in classrooms “it goes back to the old saying where we often mentioned we we teach the way we were taught and in particular I think mathematics takes takes that to heart. Technology integration has been in pockets of classrooms, but definitely not has not called wildfire and been consistent among all classrooms. I think it’s just very select few kids or a student with difficulties with learning as opposed to looking at things from a Universal Design for Learning kind of a platform where they can look at all these tools to benefit all kids. So it’s definitely a paradigm shift and the teachers mindsets to open themselves to the possibility of how they can use technology in math but it’s it’s definitely a journey that we are still continuing to try to make some ground up on it and get those teachers to a place where they can certainly support all kids.”

Through effective modeling, re-imagined professional development, and quality classroom examples and resources, we can impact teacher mindset. This mindset is the deciding factor to successful professional development experiences which in turn will affect student learning.

References

Council of Ministers of Education, Canada Programs & Initiatives Learning Assessment Programs International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS). (2013). Retrieved January 21, 2018, from https://www.cmec.ca/322/International_Computer_and_Information_Literacy_Study_(ICILS)_.html

Koehler, M.J., Cain, W., & Mishra, P.  (2013). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)?

For my interview, I interviewed “Cindy” . Cindy has been teaching for 13 years. The interview took place on Sunday January 21, 2018 at Cindy’s residence. Three keywords that stood out during the interview were: Engaging, Collaboration and Differentiation.

Engaging:

Cindy describes using technology as a powerful and engaging tool. “It’s an engaging tool that allows students to gain 21^st century skills to make inquiries into their own lives.”  Cindy has enjoyed using iPads and mobile devices with her class over the years as the students were excited to learn and take charge of their own learning. For example, Cindy now teaches Science as part of her new role as a Vice Principal and describes how engaging the Science Discovery Ed online textbook is. Cindy describes the online resource as “very interactive” and “great for English Language Learners as there are many visuals and links for students to explore.”

Collaboration:

Cindy believes that all staff “should collaborate in regular professional development together” as this helps to “foster a climate of sharing within the staff”. Cindy mentions that this can be achieved by having monthly lunchtime meetings where staff shares how they are incorporating technology within their practice as this helps to inspire others. Cindy discussed how using FreshGrade, an online digital portfolio for communicating student learning has opened the doors for collaboration as it allows teachers, students and parents to collaborate together and creates an ongoing dialogue. Cindy also strongly believes that workshops and opportunities should be available for teachers to attend and collaborate during school hours.

Differentiation:

Cindy also discussed the importance of using technology to support “at-risk” learners and how by using technology, we can differentiate to meet all student needs. Cindy discussed how the iPad itself has many built in accessibility features that support student learning. One feature being text to speech, which assists students who have difficulty reading but have great receptive skills can just highlight the text and it will read it to them. Cindy also described using an app called “iReadWrite” which is similar to a word processor and has word prediction for students to assist them with their writing assignments.

For my interview, I chose to interview a colleague who has been in education for 25 years. He is a teacher at my school in Manchester and he was Head of Department before he was appointed to the Senior Leadership Team of the secondary school attached to the Junior School that I work in. He has been in this role for 4 years and he is responsible for the academic management of the school, ensuring that the teaching and learning component of the school is delivered to the highest possible standard. For the past two years, a focus of his has been to drive the school’s ‘Bring Your Own Device’ scheme, which was implemented this past September. This scheme was the main focus of the interview. The interview took place in my colleague’s office, from 7:30-8:00am on Thursday 18^th January 2018. Below is an analysis of the interview, focusing in on three key sections.

Why BYOD?

I asked my colleague why he chose to drive and implement the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ scheme at our school and he discussed a wide variety of reasons why, despite the many challenges he faced, this is so important. First, he noted that we are helping the students to develop skills that are necessary in the modern world and that are needed to be successful in life after they leave school. Second, he reviewed the collaboration opportunities for students and believes them to much greater than when they are using traditional pen and paper methods. Further, these collaboration opportunities are beneficial for both students and teachers. He also believes that by having their own devices at school, students’ access to large resources full of information creates more individualized learning paths by allowing them to access a greater range of information; the teacher is no longer the sole possessor of knowledge. He also mentioned that everyone having a device enables communication between students, parents and teachers to be smoother and more immediate.

Challenges  

The scheme itself created several challenges including cost, which devices were acceptable and having appropriate IT support. However, the number one challenge that my colleague noted was persuading teachers that there is a better way to do things than the method they are currently using. The school that we work at is quite unique. It is an academically selective independent school. The girls are required to take an exam to get in, meaning all the girls are what might be labelled at another school as more able. Therefore, the school achieves excellent exam results and prides itself not only on academic success, but also developing well rounded students. He discussed how teachers can demonstrate reluctance to try new methods by citing the ‘if it’s not broke don’t fix it’ mentality. The students thrive academically, the girls are happy and there is a very good atmosphere around the school…so why change anything? He further explained that teachers can think the learning curve is too steep and ever changing, it creates extra work and takes too much time.

Further, due to our school being quite niche and small, my colleague said that there is lack of data from similar schools to demonstrate success, which he said would help to get teachers on board.

To mitigate these challenges we discussed how all devices must be compatible with a stylus, as all teachers are able to use resources that have already been developed as a start. Further, there is ongoing professional development to support teachers in this scheme.

Differentiation

When I asked my colleague where he sees technology in education going in the future, he responded that proper differentiation will be more accessible without creating a great deal of extra work for the teachers. He hopes that teachers will be able to facilitate individualized learning paths for students, where they can investigate their own interests in their own way. He hopes that this will help learning to ‘stop being restricted to boxes’ and students will be able to pursue their passions in a learning style that fits best with them.