Part of the reason many schools are not utilizing available technology might lie in the fact that in many buildings, the responsibility of keeping up-to-date in technology falls solely on the teachers who are willing to step outside of their required roles and assume the position of “resident technology expert” of their building. Many teachers are not comfortable assuming this role for a variety of reasons.
I had the opportunity to visit two different schools while on vacation in Los Angeles, CA last week. One school, outside of the city, was a private school. The majority of the students at this school lead very privileged lives. They are the children of Hollywood actors and actresses or other big players (producers, directors, etc.) in “the business”. I went to observe their computer class.
The other school was a new charter school in Sherman Oaks, CA. This school touted itself as being a math, science and technology school. The population was mostly upper middle class. I observed their after-school program, which included computer club and homework help center.
Both schools had dedicated computer labs with 20 or more computers in each (with internet capabilities). The private school did not have a strong emphasis on technology usage. The school was not fully “wired”; there were no SmartBoards, document readers, etc. in any of the classrooms. Their program relied on the expertise of the computer teacher, who was not formally trained in educational technology (he was a graphic arts major in college). They did not have any standards for technology usage. The computer teacher had no real support system. If anything goes wrong with the equipment, he is pretty much on his own.
In the charter school, on the other hand, every classroom was “wired” with the latest technology. Their program also relied on the expertise of the teachers. There was no dedicated IT professional due to budget constraints. One of the teachers confided to me that because of some system malfunctions, they couldn’t use the technology at all until just a few weeks ago! There was no one available to get their servers up and running well enough for the students to use the computers regularly.
My visits were enlightening. Just because you have all the equipment doesn’t necessarily mean the students are benefiting from it. Also, there is an urgent need for districts to maintain their initial hardware investments with a dedicated IT staff who can support the staff members willing and eager to use the technology. And another thing…there are technology standards available for those districts willing to implement them. Students across the nation are having vastly different experiences with technology in school. We need to do more to make sure we level the playing field in terms of technology usage in our schools.
Valerie
In my school the Technology Coordinator says the problem with implementing technology in the classroom is not about having expensive equipment. It is about time and money for staff development and teacher attitudes toward using technology. He said he has visited schools with very limited resources make the most of the technology they have because the staff is willing and able to use it.
Technology also has to be user friendly. Last week I made a list of web sites for teachers about nutrition for “No Junk Food Week” and I emailed them the hyperlinks. I carefully researched sites that had fun and educational activities for elementary level students, as well as educator sites with lesson plans and standards. I told the teachers that I made sure all the links worked, and that they were not blocked by the schools filter. The response has been overwhelming, so many teachers have come up to me to say that they had used my information. One teacher said she had her class on the nutrition sites because she got my information at the same time it was her turn to have the computers on wheels in her room. She did not have to waste a lot of time hunting down equipment and finding websites that were appropriate and workable. If we make it easy to use, teachers will be more likely to
Comment by schoolnurse — March 8, 2008 @ 11:03 pm