Using the label ‘Technology’
Posted on : 07-11-2008 | By : dan | In : Edtech
Tags: 1:1, blooms, CES, ICT, literacy, multimedia
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Does this look any different than any other school out there today? At first, you might think yes because students have their own desktop, but of the thirty minutes I spent in this classroom, 20 of it was spent filling out reading logs, silent sustained reading, and shuffling worksheets from one student to the next. As a school described as a Technology High School, I found computers for nearly every student, equipment for every teachers, and skills that did not go far beyond the lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. I watched as classes supposedly used multimedia to reinforce the curriculum, but it was more of the same. Teachers read a book with students and then reinforced the plotline and history with a MOVIE!!!!! I asked the teachers how much of the movie would be shown. “We’re going to watch 20 minutes of the movie…” I was relieved to hear that…but then she continued with “…each day until we finish it.” This isn’t promoting higher order thinking, contributing to the greater good of a global community, or nurturing ICT skills or digital literacy. So I have one question, what would you do to support this school’s endeavor to become a technology enriched environment?


I think they need to see examples of other teachers who are doing this work with students effectively, and they need to take the initiative to contact those teachers for support. I would ask this faculty what kinds of assessments/enrichment they normally do, then find a sample of a similar strategy that implements technology. What they need to see is that there are more engaging and efficient ways of doing things (do they really want to grade all those worksheets?!?!) and that it is not hard to start using them once you’ve decided that you’re going to change your thinking.
I know that if a complete stranger contacted me via facebook/skype/twitter/whatever, I’d gladly help them out. The information is out there, people just have to ask.
I think this story reflects that fact that teachers that are surrounded with technology and not take advantage of it, they have probably not given the right training/support. To be able to embrace web 2.0 tools, teachers, besides exploring these tools and learning about them, need ongoing support. My school system provides tech training, but it is a one-time thing, so many teachers, especially older ones, are left in the dark afterwards and don’t integrate the tools in their classroom routines.