Tips
for Transforming Educational Technology through Professional Development and
Training
Teachers say they lack proper technology
support, but schools can turn the tables on inadequate training programs using
these best practices.
If you hadn’t already noticed, education is
in the midst of a turning point: Today’s learning environment looks nothing
like it did five years ago, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it will look
completely different in another five years.
Technology,
of course, drives this ongoing transformation.
Expanding connectivity, the rise of
one-to-one computing, new developments in personalized learning software and
the adoption of hands-on classroom technologies provide students with new and
exciting learning opportunities. Teachers benefit, too, as new innovations
streamline their workloads, provide real-time insights into student performance
and empower collaboration among educators — or at least that’s what we’d like
to think.
In many cases, students and teachers miss out
on some of these important advantages. In the race to stay up to date on all
the latest and greatest technologies, some school and district administrators
forget two very important pieces of the puzzle: professional development and
training.
The Problems with “Professional Development”
Educators put a lot of stock in, well,
education. According to an infographic from
Samsung Electronics America and market research giant GfK, 91
percent of teachers believe their success in the classroom depends heavily on
having access to technology training. Unfortunately, 60 percent of teachers
don’t feel adequately prepared to integrate technology into their lessons.
The reasons behind these sentiments are
probably a bit mixed. I imagine that, in some instances, the teachers surveyed
wished they had more technical training on the features and functions of
different applications and devices. That style of programming is often
positioned as, and confused with, professional development — when in fact it
simply addresses the “how” of using technology.
I also find it likely that most teachers who
responded to the Samsung and GfK survey recognized the larger problem: During a
technology rollout, schools and districts often prioritize the basic training I
just described and do not spend ample time explaining the implications for
learning, or the “why” that is driving the educational technology rollout. This
misstep can increase teacher resistance and negate the power of technology
rollouts.
How to Improve Outcomes
So what’s the solution? Tom Daccord is the
director and co-founder of EdTechTeacher, a professional development company he
helped launch in 2008 dedicated to helping teachers effectively incorporate
technology into the classroom. In an essay penned last September,
Daccord suggests that technology-focused professional development must be built
around a “meaningful pedagogical framework.” He explains:
A defining trait of effective technology
programs is a well-defined, actionable, and motivating vision of
technology-aided teaching and learning. If teachers understand, accept, and embrace
an educational goal, it can become a focal point for a change in practice.
Beyond defining teachers’ learning goals at
the start of each training program, schools and districts can research, vet and
provide science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) lesson plans and other
materials that give teachers a clear picture of how technology implementation
might look. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that 80 percent of the teachers
surveyed by Samsung and GfK said they would appreciate having access to these
sorts of ready-made lesson plans.
To account for the fact that each teacher
absorbs information differently, schools and districts might want to consider
providing a variety of professional development options, including in-person
and online training programs, as well as just-in-time training videos and other
on-demand resources. And because stand-alone programs simply can’t have the
same impact as ongoing education, administrators should offer continual
professional development and training opportunities, even after a hardware or
software rollout ends.
Finally, I suggest that schools set aside
time during the strategic planning process to create attainable benchmarks for
teachers. It is important to involve stakeholders in this discussion to gauge
their needs related to both the “why” and the “how” of technology deployments.
Doing so will not only improve grassroots acceptance throughout the process but
also help ensure the sustainability of schools’ curriculum and technology
initiatives.
Source
| http://www.edtechmagazine.com
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
Best Paper Award | Received
the Best Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship:
Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016. The title of the
paper is “Removing Barriers to
Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”
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