This post also appears in the current edition of the BC College of Teachers TC Magazine (here)
Never before have teachers faced challenges such as those created by continually evolving information technologies. Five years ago, we found it difficult to imagine the concept of touch-screen computers, yet today the word “apps” is part of the vocabulary of our pre-schoolers. And many of our children are entering school completely at ease with computer technology, having the technical skills to create digital videos and participate in virtual spaces that were foreign to the generation that went before them.
Students’ technical expertise must be nurtured and supported by their teachers. Yet our challenge as educators is far greater than simply staying up to date with advances in information technologies. We need to make sure our educational system creates environments to engage technically adept students, and that we use technology in our professional practice to support our students as critical thinkers, lifelong learners and ethical decision makers.
Across our province and around the world, educators are wrestling with the implications of personally owned devices, coming to grips with the role for social media in education, and having rich debates on issues that speak to the core values of our system, including safety and equity. The increasing pace at which technology is evolving has also fostered an ongoing reflection on what the latest changes mean for our profession and what lies in store for the next decade.
Without question, our profession is evolving. We are connecting across roles and geographies in new ways using blogs and Twitter. We’ve shifted from seeing technology as a way to support distance learning to looking for ways to make blended learning part of every student’s educational experience. And we are beginning to move beyond being excited about the tools themselves to looking for ways we can best use these tools to support learning goals and good pedagogy.
As a profession, we need to take a critical look at the structure and content of teacher training programs. It is simply no longer acceptable for someone to enter our profession without some degree of digital literacy. Teachers entering our system need to know the how of using the tools and also the why. They need to apply their reflective and critical thinking skills to the digital space. I expect that the new teachers we hire into our schools will understand the suite of tools available to them, know how to model their use and be able to choose the appropriate tools to match learning objectives.
I also expect new teachers to enter the profession with a mindset that the digital tools they are using now will likely be different a year from now. That is the way it should be, for it is not really about the tools themselves, but about the learning, which requires matching the best tools of the day to the process. These are not easy tasks, but they are essential.
And some specifics for teacher training programs? Teacher education programs need to include a course on the history, philosophy and practical use of educational technology. Educational technology learning at teacher colleges should be grounded in research, pedagogy and the use of current technologies. Finally, technology should be taught to teachers in ways that are consistent with how we would like teachers to teach students in their classes.
For those in the system, we need to commit to embedding technology and digital literacy in our growth plans and in all our ongoing professional development. Employers need to support teachers in the use of technology throughout their careers. This must go beyond the superficial. We must acknowledge that replacing lectures with digital lectures or online videos simply substitutes one mediocre practice for another. I have been in far too many classrooms where interactive whiteboards were a source of entertainment that facilitated “fake-learning” and did not truly support student learning.
Technology is no longer an event, and “computer lab” is no longer a course. Digital tools are being used to support literacy, numeracy, social responsibility and the full gamut of goals in our system. To be relevant, engaging and current, we need to be committed in how we prepare teachers and how we support them throughout their careers in the thoughtful and purposeful infusion of technology into their professional practice.
There are wonderful examples across Canada of education faculties embracing these ideals, and of districts, schools and classrooms across BC trying to figure out a better way to use technology every day.
I like the saying that when it comes to teachers and technology it is okay to be where you are, it is just not okay to stay there.
Thanks to Gary Kern, David Wees, Chris Wejr, and others on Twitter who contributed to this paper.
The thing that makes our profession so personally rewarding, exciting and enriching is that we are always dealing with change. Early teachers changed tools from chalk and little blackboards to pencils and paper. When I was in Chem11, my teacher said that calculators would never catch on and we had to rely on our slide rules. Then came the most rapid tool change of all with personal computers, PDAs, smart phones, and iPads. Excellent teachers have always embraced change and ‘re-educated’ themselves to use whatever tools work best for each individual student.
I am most excited about the technology for special needs students. Students who had no ability to communicate with the world at large, now have the tools to make their needs and, especially, their thoughts known. How fascinating it is to watch this process and realize that lack of communication does not necessarily mean lack of intellect.
We live in exciting and challenging times. Let us, as teachers, make the most of it!
Yes, one of the best parts is that we know no two days will be the same and that our profession will likely be a little different in twelve months, and really different in five years. Great story about calculators. I remember using a computer in school and being told they would never be cheap enough to be in people’s homes.
I agree with you around special needs students. While I am not sold on the iPad as the best gizmo for students in school – some of the stories that I have seen about their use with students who have used them to connect them to their families and other students are exceptionally powerful. This one fromm 60 Minutes recently caught my attention: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385686n
Some great points, Chris.
One of the threads that runs throughout your post is the idea of engagement – for students, new teachers and those already in classrooms.
For students, my belief is that the use of technology can draw them into disciplined approaches to solving contemporary problems; that assignments for them could replicate authentic responses to real-world problems. That it can help them realize that the time they spend in school can be a vital and enriching part of their very real and very important lives.
For prospective teachers, you’re ‘dead on’ about the approach to their future training.
The area upon which the biggest focus should be drawn is for “those in the system.” You write of embedding technology and continuous, not ‘one-off’, pro-d experiences. This, for me, is the key. “Employers” need to support teachers by arranging for incremental, non-enrolling staffing to be spent on in-school tech directors (knowledge brokers if you will) that have a firm grasp not only on the “toys” but an appreciation and woking knowledge of inquiry-based learning. These teacher colleagues would be able to help teachers alter delivery models and with the use of technology help staff and students redesign learning and facilitate content creation and skill acquisition in a hands-on, personally meaningful way. In this way, change becomes organic (teacher to teacher) and not something that could be interpreted as a top-down mandate.
In the end, your last sentence reiterates what Terry Ainge tweeted at last year’s TedxUBC: Tomorrow’s teachers are in today’s classrooms.
And you’re right, “wonderful examples” are already in place – time to share them.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Gino. If we are going to have a bold plan to personalize learning for students, we need a bold plan to support the adults who will guide the students. We do have wonderful examples, like those in your school, that we can learn from and with as we go forward. I have shared the Learning Commons video with people across the country.
Social networks such as facebook and YouTube as well as great resources including Wikipedia and Wolfram-Alpha are here to stay so that educators must use them in the teaching process. Many academics are posting great educational videos and materials online. The only problem is to sort the good ones from the rest and present them in an organized manner.
Online Self-learning is becoming fast the perfect choice of learning, especially with so many great educational videos available for free. The only problem is to sort the good ones from the rest and present them in an organized manner.
This effort is being done by: http://Utubersity.com which presents the best educational videos available on YouTube in an organized, easy to find way to watch and learn.
They are classified and tagged in a way that enables people to find these materials more easily and efficiently and not waste time browsing through pages of irrelevant search results.
The website also enhances the experience using other means such as recommending related videos, Wikipedia content and so on. There’s also a Spanish version called http://utubersidad.com
This is a project that YouTube should embrace itself, with curated content from academics and maybe using a different URL (Youtubersity?) so it won’t be blocked by schools.
You expressed an extremely important point, Chris: universities must incorporate leading-edge technology programming into their teaching degree programs. Ideally, the use of technology should be modeled throughout the student’s attendance in the program, as well. The occasional workshop on using a Smartboard is not acceptable. The interesting challenge is moving universities and education faculty in that direction.
Thanks Rhonda for the comment. I admit to knowing little about the politics surrounding universities, but if we are changing the system for students in K-12, we need to be able to influence the training programs to ensure incoming teachers are prepared for the changing classroom. It is a disservice to those teachers coming out of university who are not exposed to digital learning – they are at a disadvantage when they seek employment – and it is no fault of their own.
Mr. Kennedy,
I am an English Education Master’s students at New York University and was asked to look up blogs on teaching for my Integrating Technology in the Classroom course. How surprised I was to come across your blog which is on the exact topic I am learning about!
I too, agree that technology, second to the teacher, is the most important tool in the classroom and if used properly, can excel any student’s learning. I especially like what you said about how teachers should expect to change their technology tools from one year to the next because by then, the tools will have changed. For too long, teachers have been complacent in “the ways of doing things” and have refused to take advantage of the innovations our world creates everyday. Now, teachers have fallen behind and desperately need to catch up.
Do you know of any blogs where teachers are implementing technology infused lesson plans in their classrooms? I would love to see more!
Thanks for the comment. I know of many – in our district and elsewhere where this is happening. Here is a list of admin edu-bloggers in West Vancouver: http://sd45.bc.ca/news/index.html
Another one, not on the list that I would recommend is Keith Rispin, a teacher at West Van Secondary, who is reflecting on the use of iPads in his classroom here: http://www.keithrispin.com/
[…] have teachers faced challenges such as those created by continually evolving information…Via cultureofyes.ca Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this […]
Good Post Chris.
We are obviously at a point where change is going to happen whether we like it or not and we have a choice of whether we are going to be in the driver seat toward this change or just going along for the ride.
What we have to deal with however, is the gap between what is possible technically and what is practical from the user/teacher/student end of things.
I think part of the problem has become that the technophiles who are leading the charge have lost sight of where the less technically blessed are along the spectrum of use.
I see it everyday when I am trying to help family, colleagues and students navigate the the myriad of tools available to us. What is “user friendly” to me, is frequently nothing more than a intimating frustration to them.
To get to the point I am at today, took hundreds if not thousands of hours and I think it is easy for those of use who are fully vested in using technology, to lose sight of where the “average” user is at.
It is incumbent upon those of use who were early adaptors to bring our colleagues along for the ride, until they are comfortable enough to take the wheel for themselves.
This will require more than a simple “Hey look! this is cool, you should us it” during a PRO’D. It will require the resident early adaptors, supporting their colleagues as new technology is brought into the classroom.
As for the student end of things, we need teach kids that technology is just as much a production tool as it is an entertainment consumption device. We also need to teach about (techno etiquette) that there is an appropriate time and place for using technology and that meaningful communication without a digital buffer is a critical life skill.
Times are a changing but unless we the “Techno Geeks” take on the roll digital assistant and help our less adept colleagues bring technology into their class, digital Utopia may never be realized.
JMHO
Yes, Keith – I believe we have to limit the “tools” that we encourage people to use – there are so many available. I think for classes – blogs and discussion boards are an excellent place to start. They both promote individual student ownership and are technically relatively simple to use. Let’s get away from the “cool” . . . I was speaking recently at a Conference and made the point that the goal is not blogging, it is actually improved writing and literacy . . . . so we need to get less excited over the tool, and more excited that often by blogging students are reading and writing more, they are getting to create work for a public audience, and are able to get immediate feedback.
Nice article, Chris. Last night in my masters of education course I learned that students “are using E-mail to converse with many others around the world.” There was a bit of surprise when I brought up a few of the social media sites that students are using to actively participate in creativity with like-minded people around the world:
http://weheartit.com/
http://www.stumbleupon.com
http://www.deviantart.com
Education technology is not as much about the hardware as it is about the ability of players in the education world to have open minds and be willing to abandon traditional power structures to become true learners.
Thank you for your thought provoking ed. blog writing…
Some fellow UBC M.Ed. Leadership students who also teach in your district referred me to your blog and TEDXUBC video since I’m a teacher exploring for myself the issues surrounding the meaning of “personalized learning” through blogging (www.personalizinglearning.com). I feel like I want to click “share” for many of your blog posts! Thanks for keeping cutting edge as an educational blog leader–I guess I expected superintendents’ blog writing to be more “sanitized”/bland/politically safe and I’m inspired to find the opposite: real opinions, passion, and perspective. These examples forge a path to be followed by more teachers. Blogging is great way to connect meaningfully and efficiently with the masses.
IDEA: As you said, teacher ed. programs have to address technology in a relevant manner–along that line, I want to recommend to the universities and districts that we have focused discussion and pro-d concerning the skills needed and philosophical and even legal matters associated with being a blogging educational professional. As professionals we have to think very carefully about each and every word we post.
You have a full plate these days, but if you ever want to lead a session on that, it would be a packed house. Maybe round up other Superintendent blog leaders to offer a no-holds-barred kind of Blogging Mastermind session. Let us know! Blogging is an under-used, free and powerful way for educators to communicate…it just requires some philosophical awareness, knowledge of one’s professional rights and responsibilities, and editing skills on the front-end.
Thanks!
Tiffany Poirier
Teacher Blog: http://www.personalizinglearning.com
Classroom Website: http://fcweb.sd36.bc.ca/~poirier_t/
Hi Tiffany – Great to connect with you. I really like your blog. I really like your idea – a conversation around the legal aspects of edu-blogging would be great. I would be happy to be part of it, and I will connect with a couple legal friends who may be interested.
I find the number of bloggers to be exploding in BC education right now – and that is great for our system.
Virtually all of David, Chris, Gary’s, and your observations resonate, but I thought the closing comment: “I like the saying that when it comes to teachers and technology it is okay to be where you are, it is just not okay to stay there.” strikes at the heart of the solution! Of course it also applies to all learners in and out of the educational ecosystem.
Martin Goldberg
@postdewey
Thanks Martin, and while we used it with technology, with the speed of change, it really applies to all parts of our profession – from classroom management, to instruction to assessment. We need to always be a profession looking to do different and better.
Technology can be viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture. Additionally, technology is the application of math, science, and the arts for the benefit of life as it is known. A modern example is the rise of communication technology, which has lessened barriers to human interaction and, as a result, has helped spawn new subcultures; the rise of cyberculture has, at its basis, the development of the Internet and the computer. Not all technology enhances culture in a creative way; technology can also help facilitate political oppression and war via tools such as guns. As a cultural activity, technology predates both science and engineering, each of which formalize some aspects of technological endeavor.
Thanks
Michael
Hi Chris,
This is a very well written article. I especially liked the ending statement
“I like the saying that when………..is just not okay to stay there.”
Blending into technology is imperative and how well the blend is made lies in the teachers hands. In the hands of a good teacher, technology tools like online education platforms will enable very effective teacher student interaction.
Kind Regards,
Vandana
[…] 2. Preparing and Supporting Teachers to Integrate Technology in the Classroom […]
[…] a recent post, Chris Kennedy wrote: As a profession, we need to take a critical look at the structure and content of teacher […]