Professional development is critical to
implementing technology integration is schools. Additionally, it must be on
going, as opposed to a one day workshop or one hour seminar. The technology
being introduced or improved must be authentic and relevant to teachers,
otherwise there will be push back or a lack of motivation to use it. The technology
must be something the teachers can use in the classroom to improve teaching and
learning.
In its most pure form, technology integration must be directly connected to pedagogy for buy in with learners. It requires a motivated teacher who wants to use the technology to teach. If the technology is not connected to pedagogy, it may be a replacement of some other technology or method in the classroom. Bloom’s New Taxonomy includes the level of technology integration in the classroom. The SAMR model also categorizes technology integration into levels.
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The hurdles technology integration
specialists face in schools are like trying to scale The Wall on the border of the
Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones.
Traditional,
entrenched teachers can be against technological change or in fact, any change.
Change is often received as a threat rather than as a positive forward movement
(Meltzer, 2012). The financial side of investing in new technology can be
limiting. Choosing the correct technological changes is daunting. In large
districts, whole sale change can be difficult to navigate without enough integration
team members. The time for which training will be hard to carve out, sustaining
authentic and rich training over time is challenging. The terms professional development, workshop, and training are often considered synonymous
with boring, same old thing, and waste of time (Meltzer, 2012). In general,
many resist change. The flip side is that change is healthy, exciting, invigorating
and has many, many benefits for an organization.
Stephenie White explains in her Blog
EDU 642 Stepenie White that technolgy integration must be provided to all
staff. Regardless of what “traditional” or entrenced teachers think, technolgy
in our classrooms is here to stay. For me, older, entrenched teachers have been
the source of push back against technolgy integration. This is sometimes seen
overtly or in subtle ways, where teachers can sabotage technological intitiatives
before the new methods can take root. Yet, the flow of technology is
un-stoppable and will only grow greater every passing year. Some futureists predict
that the flow is about to become a Tsunami and that we are standing at the edge
as a global society, this has been termed “The Internet of Everything” (Wired,
2015).
Hannah Crary explains in her blog that
the realization that the role of the Technology Integrationist is more that
just showing a group the next Ipad app is quite telling because I don’t think
many people, in or out of education, realize what a Technology Integrationist is
or what there role is. The overiding perception I have seen is that they help
with giving teachers new hardware and maybe how to use it.
Meltzer,
Sarah T., 2012. Step by Step professional development in technology.
WIRED,
W., & Collide, W.,2015. When the Internet of Things and Smart
Machines Collide. WIRED.
Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/insights/2015/03/internet-things- smart-machines-collide/
