I read this sentence in Shelly, Gunter, & Gunter, “To prepare educators to use the technology after it is implemented, administrators provide technology training with mentorship programs and follow-up staff development after training.” I don’t know whether they meant this as the ideal or what they think is reality, but this does not happen a lot of the time. I was at a conference last weekend and on Friday, I did a workshop on whiteboards. One of the teachers had a whiteboard, but never used it because she had no training, no mentorship, or any other assistance in learning this new technology. It’s not that uncommon for a school to have technology that many of the teachers either don’t know how to use or are afraid to try to use because of the learning curve. It seems like everyone thinks of the goal as getting technology into the classroom, but really that’s just one step in the process. The work really begins once technology is in the classroom. Technology that sits idle does nothing, but teachers need the time and support to learn how to use technology effectively. Time in class is very limited and we’re all trying to get all the material in that we can, we don’t have time to lose trying to learn technology while teaching. So if time isn’t set aside for professional development in using technology then those who don’t already know how to use it won’t use it. It seems like a really simple concept, but obviously it is overlooked since there are teachers out there with technology, such as whiteboards, in their classroom that isn’t being used.
Shelly, G.B., Gunter, G.A., & Gunter, R.E. (2010) Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom (6th Ed.). Boston, MA: Course Technology.
Article on using whiteboards: http://bit.ly/9DuEXy
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