Technology Training
INTRO
Technology training for educators today is almost as important
to have as a daily meal for sustenance!
Our kids are technology gurus and if we aren’t teaching them with the
newest, trendiest technology available, then we are doing a disservice to
them.
THE
CURRENT STATE OF TECHNOLOGY USE AT MY SCHOOL
When I reflect on the current state of technology use at my
school by our faculty members, I would have to say that about 60% of the staff
use innovative technologies on a regular basis within their classrooms. The 40% are the teachers from the Stone Age
still using the same project from 10 years ago!
While we could definitely provide more technology training, we have
provided some that teachers just aren’t using.
I think the main reason they aren’t using it is because nobody is checking to see if they are using it. We
have a major issue with monitoring in our district overall, not just for
PL. Sometimes, teachers need someone to
look over their shoulder to get them on board with new things that they are
resistant to try. One thing that our
school did within the last month was to have a team from the Schlechty Center
to come conduct walk-throughs with us.
Each teacher got a chance to go into classrooms and ask/observe what the
students were doing. We found that
students wanted more hands-on assignments instead of worksheets and that some
of them were simply bored due to lack of engagement. From this experience, the leadership team and
the design team at our school has been working on professional development
opportunities for the faculty that includes additional training in different areas
of technology and exploration of what TRUE ENGAGEMENT looks like.
ISTE
STANDARDS OVERVIEW
ISTE provides standards that coaches should abide by. Coaching teachers as a library media
specialist is just one of the many hats that we wear in the media center. Listed below is a basic summary of each
standards that coaches should keep in mind when coaching others:
·
Visionary
Leadership – Technology coaches should share a vision for comprehensive
use of technology that will foster excellence and transformational change
within the instructional environment.
·
Teaching,
learning and assessments – Technology coaches should provide assistance
to teachers in using technology to assess students, provide differentiation for
students as well as rigorous and relevant experiences that will also keep
students engaged.
·
Digital
age learning environments – In order to maximize student
learning, technology coaches will not only help to create digital age learning
environments, but provide continuous support to ensure fidelity of their use.
·
Professional
development and program evaluation – Technology coaches will develop
professional learning opportunities built around technology use. Thereafter, they will use evaluation tools to
gauge the impact of the professional development on instructional practices and
student learning.
·
Digital
citizenship – Technology coaches will promote and “BE” the face
of digital citizenship by creating opportunities for all students to achieve
and have access to digital tools no matter their age, cultural background
etc. This will in turn promote local and
global interaction with larger communities.
·
Content
knowledge and professional growth – Technology coaches will be
exhibit professional skills in the areas of pedagogical and technological
areas, content knowledge of a variety of subject areas as well as adult
learning and leadership. Technology
coaches will continuously seek learning opportunities to deepen their knowledge
and expertise in these areas as well.
MEDIA
SPECIALIST’S JOB AS A TECHNOLOGY COACH
In the summary of the ISTE Technology coaching standards
mentioned above, the roles that media specialist are prevalent throughout. As a future media specialist, I will make it
a top priority of mine to ensure that my leadership vision for technology use
to be innovative and relevant throughout the school building is crystal clear
to my principal, faculty and staff. I am
a big user to “to-do” list and so on my monthly list will be a task to research
the latest new websites, digital tools, e-assessment tools etc. to provide a
new one to my staff. Actually monthly
may be a bit much, so I will say bi-monthly which will give the staff time to
try it out as well as time for us to collaborate on what they liked and had
trouble with in using the new tool.
Another way to stay informed is to search for free webinars. I am learning that webinars are one of the
latest outlets to stay informed on new technology and digital tools out
there! One of the ultimate goals of a
media specialist should be to be a resource to the teachers at their
school. I know that it takes time to
become a GREAT media specialist, but I really want professional technology in
the area of technology to be one of my main duties to the faculty and staff at
whatever school I am blessed to become a media specialist at. My mentor which was the media specialist that
I interviewed said that she trains teachers on things that come down from the
board basically. And my media specialist
at my school never provides professional development! She is retiring this year and states that she
is overwhelmed with inventory. I say
that every experience is a learning experience whether you learn best practices
on things you should do or things you shouldn't! Having said that, when I become a media
specialist I will try to keep my originally stated goal in mind when I feel
overwhelmed and try to seek help from others (volunteers) so that I am able to
keep my main focus on finding and training teachers on different technology
resources and tools to keep their lessons engaging.
It might be interesting to have some brainstorming sessions with students about the games, social media and websites they are accessing in their free time. Some of the sites they are using might not be educational in nature, but can be used as reference points or to create/solve a real world problem. One of the ISTE standards is to "research real-world problems, collaborate with others, and produce products
ReplyDeletethat are meaningful and useful to a wide audience."
In some of my volunteer experiences, students come after to school to the media center for the reading bowl team and also to shelve books in return for some 'free time on the internet."
It could be useful to gather a technology team of students (possibly teachers) to discuss the newest, greatest websites, apps etc to be reviewed in the media center webpage. Not all of these would be useful but in doing the reviews one might find a diamond amongst the trash :)
Webinars are a fantastic idea. Many of us forget about the impact of digital professional development. Technology professional development does not have to be in a classroom with the speaker and teachers. It can be a webinar. It can be a observation where teachers can see the tech tool being used live with actual students. It can be an online discussion post where people respond with their ideas after reading an article or watching a tutorial. With professional development, I want teachers to be able to walk away with something they can use right away. With this in mind, I want them to have time to play with the device or play with the tool. That way at the end of the session, they can immediately take it away into their classrooms. Just like we are bringing technology into the classroom, we can revamp the way we conduct professional development as well.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand your media specialist's frustration with a lack of time to do anything other than administrative tasks. I think that many teachers have the same problem when it comes to integrating technology. We have access to many tools, but who has the time to analyze those tools, determine what will work best and then develop the engaging lessons to use these tools? If teachers were allotted time each month for all of the "extra" duties, we'd probably be able to use technology effectively. This planning time would allow someone to work with teachers to ensure that they are using the time to develop plans that integrate technology into their lessons.
ReplyDeleteYour school sounds like a school I worked in over 10 years ago. I don't see how the teachers are able to get away with poor use of technology if technology is evaluated on their TKES form each year. Not to say our school is perfect but it seems that the teams at my school really work together and when one person on the team is weak the strong one always helps to train. In a perfect world I wish I could hold just the grade level chairs and introduce them to the new technology and have them redeliver the training to the rest of their team. I enjoy sharing new things that I learn in the form of technology with my colleagues and absolutely love the capacity in which I am able to do so.
ReplyDeleteAt my school, we have both a Media Specialist and a full-time technology coordinator who work together to make technology cohesive around the school.
ReplyDeleteThe Media Specialist concentrates her efforts in the Media Center and has computers, a SMART board, and mini-lessons on Destiny Quest and e-book retrievals.
Our full-time technology coordinator teaches students how to use the technology in the world we live in. (She is NOT a typing program person!) My 4th graders know how to create QR codes, write and record podcasts, develop PowerPoints, and create Excel spreadsheets with graphs and functions.
I can see the immense value in having both of these supports at every school. It allows the Media Specialist to concentrate her efforts within the media center -- and develop the technology usage within.
It would be really hard to effectively do as much as two full-time support people provide, however - if I was just a media specialist withOUT a full-time technology coordinator, I could image assisting teachers in class projects. Having another set of hands when working with technology is invaluable, so that would be a great way to assist others within my school. I also think that providing PD on easy to use technology once a month or every 9-weeks would also be an amazing component to add to the Media Centers resources.
Bridget makes an excellent point above! Teachers are still getting away with the lack of technology in their classroom. Technology is not just integrating the use of iPads for students to play games on during their centers, but technology integration should include students using the technology to create and use in ways that it is intended.
ReplyDeleteCurrently our media specialist also holds the title of technology coach. She is required to attend meetings that relate to both media and technology, she also has to redeliver the information gained from the meetings to the school, and she supports teachers when technology fails. (We also have an IT person that visits our school once a week). The media specialist is overwhelmed with the two roles that she is leading. She wants to share the technology coach role with another teacher leader to help balance out her own media meetings and the technology meetings. The media specialist feels the pull from both directions and feels like she is not able to do her best in both areas. It is already in works that next year she will share the role with one of the instructional coaches at her school.
As a CTAE teacher, I am glad one of your goals is to make sure there is adequate technology training available for teachers. I like your idea of using webinars; they are a great way to introduce technology to teachers. In the past, when we were out because of inclement weather we would have to create our own professional learning/school related log form. If we graded papers, read school related articles, or worked on lesson plans it had to be documented. The logs over time have become meaningless and just something to do. I think switching out the fluff with meaningful webinars are a great way to provide professional development for teachers when we are in school and out of school.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Awesome job on your post Nikia! You're teachers are doing way better than mine with the use of technology. I'm at a Title I school so we get lots of funds to acquire the latest technology for the students; however, it's hardly being utilized. For example, we have TONS of CPS clickers (as well as other things) tucked away in a closet. There may have been 5 teachers out of the whole school that checked some out AND just because they check them out, doesn't mean that they are using them. We have an Instructional Technology Coach that makes it her business to come out to the school to provide training for us. Sadly, they don't always take advantage of the wonderful opportunities. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that they are being negligent. I just feel like they have way TOO much on their plates.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your current media specialist. There is so much more required of us than checking books in and out & assisting patrons. I have to conduct four inventories (State, Title I, Fixed Assets & Books),continuously update Destiny and WRAD with new and obsolete material, provide technical assistance (troubleshoot) for teachers (since our techie only visits about twice a month), teach classes along with a million other things all while operating on a flexible schedule. This is why I rely heavily on the ITC to provide the training and if necessary, I'll assist one on one when I can.
Yes, I do think that training our teachers how to use technology in the classroom is very important and needs to be at the top of my list; however, I can totally see how easy it is to get swamped with a wide variety of tasks when there is not a clerk to depend on handling the daily tasks. Volunteers are wonderful, but they are volunteers and are not always 100% dependable. I am learning that very quickly. I have a volunteer scheduled for each day of the week, but very seldom do they all follow through. Their children get sick, they go shopping, have surgery, and the list goes on. When they do come in....it is a marvelous day and so much more gets accomplished. I do agree that volunteers are the key to giving you that time to focus on those much needed tasks like tech training. It is something that will not only benefit the teachers, but the students as well.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! I am impressed that 60% of your faculty attempts to use new technology. My school implemented iPads 2 years ago and it was a struggle to get “those teachers” on board to new things. I do agree that having a Media Specialist that is eager to help out and rigorous in learning new technologies can change an entire dynamic of a school system!! I observed at another high school recently and was SHOCKED at the lack of work and responsibility the MS had with the faculty. Her main job each day was to check out books and re-shelf them… in an 8 hour period the only “busy” time was before the 1st period bell when students wanted a place to hang out. I asked if teachers came to her for help and she said mainly with gradebook issues but that was it. I was not only shocked but I was BORED. A Media Specialist should be a resource used not only by students but by the faculty as someone that is up-to-date on technology and helps to take a classroom and school into the 21st century. Your post is great and I hope you will take your school into the 21st Century when you are a media specialist!!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about the role of technology coach and the importance of thinking about the training and results as a long term project. We know that there are different levels of experience and desire within our schools so maybe we should create teams that reflect the teachers needs and build on that as a start. Varsity, JV, Thirds and Recreation!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, some teachers might need private coaching either because of their weakness or strength. Also, pairing teachers with other teachers or students in collaborative teams could be useful in creating useful technology rich lesson plans, research or projects. Having a traditional presentation on a particular website, app or software might not be the best use of time for anyone involved. We need to think outside the box and also meet the teachers at their point of need----