The professional workforce has been quick to adopt new technology tools. We readily accept that tablets and smartphones, teleconferencing and social media are now essential fixtures of the workplace for millions across the globe. Yet we've been slow in extending these advances to our schools, and in particular our K-12 schools. While many children's home lives are abuzz with the same platforms and devices as the 21st century workplace, school just hasn't kept pace, and in many classrooms pedagogies are barely more inclusive of new technology than they were in the 1980s.
We desperately need to improve on this record, which is why schools need to make hiring educational technology professionals -- whether specially trained classroom teachers or dedicated staffers -- a top priority. Investment in new technologies can only move a school forward when it's supported effectively by people. Educational technology specialists provide necessary guidance to teachers and students in order to maximize the pedagogical reach of tech acquisitions.
Educational technology specialists are trained in introducing and applying technology that enhances a school's educational reach and efficacy. They work in consultation with students, teachers and administrators, who can voice their wants and needs. In other words, they're not the same as IT staffers. In reality, schools need both IT and EdTech staff, and there needs to be a cooperative spirit between the two so that IT can focus on keeping technology safe and running and EdTech can focus on effectively integrating technology tools into the curriculum.
While we increasingly assume that both children and their teachers have at least basic tech proficiency, we can't assume that either group knows how to use technology to further educational goals. Children won't know how to use technology for learning -- and teachers won't know how to use it for teaching -- unless they're shown how. Intensive, on-the-ground support by EdTech staff unites tools and training in a way that renders the marriage of technology and education feasible.
There are so many ways that today's students can and should be using technology. They can live-tweet political events, use Facebook to document a field trip, and Skype with students in classrooms around the world. On Spotify, they can create playlists of music from the time of the Renaissance or the Civil War, and e-readers such as the Kindle, with their fully integrated dictionaries, are a boon to language-learners. Their teachers have a host of new strategies available to them, including flip teaching, or "flipping the classroom," which allows students to access lectures remotely and frees up class time for review, further applications, discussion and support.
But none of these practices is likely to take hold if schools simply throw their money at new technology tools in the hopes that teachers will make the most of it on their own. Likewise, students accustomed to using technology as consumers aren't likely become fully engaged and creative users of technology by sheer intuition. Whatever a school is looking to invest in -- tablets, smartphones, e-readers -- what's most important isn't how many units they snap up, but that it's backed by EdTech support.
In an age of unprecedented digital access and connectivity, barring students from the best that technology has to offer only stands to hinder their development as learners and workers. By excluding tablets, smartphones and other devices from our educational milieu, we're depriving students of the chance to use them in service of their education and, eventually, their careers.
What education looks like has changed countless times in the past and will continue to change many more times. Throughout most of the 19th century, neither the novel nor modern languages were considered the domain of education. Eventually, however, the educational model in place was forced to evolve to fit the needs of the industrial era. We all surely realize digital technology isn't going away; it's high time we stop withholding and let that technology go to school.
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Instructional Technology Specialist – Holy Cross High School (Flushing, NY)
Schools who pick a technology supplier who shares the same vision will be pleased to see how excitedly educators adapt and internalize their new classroom technologies. Students will gravitate towards the new technologies and teachers will maximize classroom time. Schools do not need to do it alone, they should rely on their technological supplier as a partner and more importantly, as their greatest resource!
However, teaching in a way that exploits the power of technology is challenging. There are many obstacles before teachers when they experiment with new pedagogical models, only one of which relates to the technology itself. I've detailed them here: http://www.edumusings.com/five-obstacles-to-change-in-education/. In short, teachers need support in changing students' and parents' expectations, adequate time to rethink their curriculum, a willingness to experiment, and more. No doubt, hiring EdTech professionals can certainly help. But that's just the beginning.
Anyone have thoughts about this, it is actually rather important.
Can you break down the roles of those five people for me? Is it one network admin, one teacher-turned-tech integration specialist and 3 tech support/help desk types?
I think the tune "we don't have the money" is usually about priorities and the choices being made. That said, we do live in a material world and there are limits.
There are so many factors involved. The age and capacity of the infrastructure, the number and age of computers, software. I know that one person and a couple of part time kids can not support 1100 teachers and students on an aging and broken network, never mind providing integration support. ;)
The situation seems to vary from place to place.. like Tina Andres here below...
What this is really about to my mind is the reworking how we learn, how we teach, and how we interact with each other. Knowledge will be shared and created, not just handed down from a hierarchy.. This website and even this page is an example. It was not possible in the past for people to share information and opinion like this.
It is quite wonderful really.
How can you help evaluate technology when you don't even know how the technology works? I see educational technology graduates recommending: tablets without knowing their limitations, and then wondering why they can't do what they want to do; cloud-based solutions for schools that don't have the ISP bandwidth to support them; and more problems that a trained COMPUTER specialist -- not educational technologist -- should have been consulted.
EdTech professionals can certainly provide valuable insight on team or committee decisions, but it is sad that most edtech programs are woefully inadequate when it comes to teaching fundamentals of computers and technology systems.
IT should be involved in purchasing and planning. NO question. One does not have to be an auto mechanic in order to drive a car which is actually a complex operation.
I think that the options for youth who want to pursue a career in Technology are not available in our high schools. Perhaps some have courses for those who want to learn more. I personally know young people who feel disappointment around the lack of opportunity.
According to NetMarketShare, only 10% of devices are mobile. 90% are still computers (about 84% Windows, 6% Mac.) Yet we are supposed to believe that everything is "going mobile" and computers are becoming obsolete. Shenanigans.
Sure, some people travel. Most only commute, however. And they're not doing work in the car, so it comes down to: they are at the office; or they are at home. You don't need mobility to get work done from one or two stationary locations.
A 2011 Google study of tablets found that only 7% of people use them for work. The vast majority -- about 85% -- use them only at home. Why? Because they are consumer/entertainment devices, and anybody who says otherwise is lying or trying to sell you something. Less than 50% of people even read ebooks on them, and fewer than 25% use them for any productivity purpose whatsoever. The top 3 uses are video games, web surfing, and email.
If you go to Monster.com and look up "iPad" or "tablet" or "smartphone", you will see ZERO job listings that require such skills... unless they are job postings for app developers. Which means the people doing the work are actually using a computer (for the programming and content creation.)
MatthewGudenius
MS Educational Technology
EdTechExpert.com
That is far from the truth. So teachers, admins, and students DO need guidance.
I suppose my concern is that edtech professionals often lack holistic vision needed to get these people the tools and skills they need... partly due to gaps in EdTech training programs, and partly because a great many of these people have been educators their entire lives and thus don't have a view of what the "real world" actually looks like, and what tech skills it requires.
Only when the Apples and mobile devices are brought into an office and used by 50% of all workers, then we can assert that students can be allowed to bring them into the classroom. I had a wakeup call this semester. The cell phone lights were on and students were interacting with fb and tw, but you know what? Those same students failed the class (MS Office) and they couldn't type worth a darn.
I'm interviewing for jobs and typing and knowing that software is required! Apples still are not NETWORKED across the buildings and the cities and countries. Once APPLES are networked then yeh, we can teach those courses.
The stock market pundits insist that people are currently buying tables more and pcs/desktops less. This will be for a time until everyone who is going to buy has bought. Then a new PC! :D Perhaps some people will not replace their PCs though, I am sure that is true. Who knows how many?
Who wants to work all day on a tablet? They may have their places in business; many IT departments will want them locked down and shut out to protect places from data leaks.
Still the tablets have value as an option for learning, and the mobile market is growing for now. It will reach saturation. At the same time we simply can't just get rid of laptops and desktops at schools.