Blog 6:  Tech Training

 

There are lots of warts on this frog when it comes to technology at my school. But I don’t think we’re unique when it comes to the ways in which technology is provided, supported, or implemented. In every facility that I’ve worked, we’ve had issues, challenges, and triumphs.

 

Presently, I work in a school that just completed a 3 year school improvement grant (SIG). The grant provided the school with additional funds to purchase equipment that other schools in the district (presumably) do not have. Also, everyone in the district was given laptops at the beginning of this year (at least 5 years behind other districts where teachers have had the use of laptops for a good long while now).

 

The way in which both the SIG technology (laptop and ipad carts) and the laptops were ‘rolled out’ to the staff, highlights some of the issues with technology in education today: we get the goods, but then what?

Some of the most important aspects of using technology involve training, implementation, and support. In our school, they created Coaching Clinics, held during our planning periods on many Thursdays. During these clinics, we received training on the use of the ipads, Promethean boards, websites, and software programs. The training was mostly introductory in nature, with other teachers and coaches suggesting and demonstrating the use of technology in instruction. And while it was very helpful, most of the staff has not yet implemented many of the suggestions.

The reasons? Time and comfort.  For many staff members, the idea of registering clickers for the Promethean board, creating the flipcharts for instruction and testing, and then learning how to collect and use the resulting data, is just “too much”. Additionally, jumping through the cumbersome hoops (developed by administration, and managed by the media specialists) is a big turn-off.  For instance, in order to reserve the carts and the computer labs, the teachers have to use a site called Sign-Up Genius. And there are numerous rules about how many times a week they’re allowed to have the technology, the timeframe in which they must have the sign-up submitted, overseeing check-out and signature procedures, and now – serious accountability factors.  

As technology usage increases, incidents of vandalism and theft have naturally started occurring. In order to combat this, and to try to maintain the technology for future use, administration has put some measures in place. The teachers must assign each piece to the students, have students sign for check-out and check-in, and must report damage immediately. Also, the teachers must remove and replace each item on the cart personally; no students are allowed to plug or unplug the devices into the charger cables or place them into the slots (that don’t fit because the cases are too large – but that’s another story). This means that considerable time is required for the procurement of the carts and labs, for check-out/in procedures, and for inspection of each component before turning the carts back in or leaving the computer labs. And while the teacher is tied up with all of this, students are free to make mischief, as we all know they do when the teacher is occupied, and they themselves are not directly engaged in a task.

Furthermore, if any device goes missing, or is damaged, if the teacher cannot trace who did what, they are being held accountable, and must pay for the item to be replaced. No teacher can be expected to see everything happening at once; students trade out devices, get up and move around, and change settings all the time.

As for the teacher issued laptops, there were no security procedures given or suggested. I personally purchased a cable lock for mine, and suggested to our department chairs, that they use funds to buy cables for everyone. So far, I am the only one with a cable as far as I can see. And teachers leave the laptops out on their desks all the time, whether they’re in the room or not. And even though we all signed for them at the beginning of the year, no warnings or suggestions for security have been issued, and consequently, it’s an accident waiting to happen.

When the only insurance policy for replacing broken or stolen items is either having the student or the teacher pay for it, the expected result is a chilling effect on the staff’s desire to use the technology. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about something that places you in very real and increasingly likely financial peril.

As for using the technology for instruction, much more training and support are needed, and the media specialist is in the perfect position to advocate for this. Some of the ways that the media specialists could help our staff become more comfortable with using technology in instruction, would be to implement some of the coaching techniques outlined in the ISTE Coaching Whitepaper, available as a free downloadable pdf at: https://www.iste.org/resources/product?ID=2157.

One of the things that the whitepaper recommends is providing support in a one-on-one capacity, to help guide teachers through some processes. Our media specialists are very good at doing that. If you call and ask them a question, it is not unheard of for one of them to run upstairs to the room and walk you through the procedure on the spot.

Another technique suggested in the whitepaper, is providing checklists and other materials for teachers to follow. Our media specialists do this regularly. In addition to helping us be able to independently execute procedures or use software, it also frees them from having to repeatedly instruct each and every staff member.  Of course, there are always teachers who need the direct contact, just as there are students who need to be hand walked through steps in the classroom. But at least this cuts down the frequency.

Our media specialists also try and visit us during collaborative planning to impart information. In fact, at the Technology Meeting that I attended this week, one of the media specialists asked us what further technology professional development opportunities we thought teachers would like, so that they could arrange it during departmental planning periods. We recommended more in-depth training on how to incorporate the Promethean board clickers into instruction, and asked that they arrange for some hands-on sessions with the county instructional technologist. They were more than willing and happy to do so.

In every technology professional development session that our media specialists have scheduled, they model the steps of the process they’re teaching. Watching them step through a software feature is very helpful, especially when they relate it to something we actually do, need, or want to accomplish.

One of the gaps in our professional development however, is an encouragement to use social media for instruction. Since that is one of the sore spots in the classroom, with students attempting to access their facebooks accounts, and snap chatting each other every 5 seconds, the adults are reluctant to address the banes of our existence. And I can’t blame them.

On the one hand, yes, we could make use of twitter and facebook, and other social networks. But on the other hand, allowing students to access social accounts is pretty much interpreted as the go-ahead to indulge in a free-for-all.  We’ve seen this tendency with the BYOT. Even though the handbook clearly states that technology is only allowed when the teacher says it can be brought out and used for instruction, the students hear what they want to hear: it’s allowed, period. I have had many a student suck their teeth at me and eye-roll themselves into a near-unconscious state when I tell them to put up the cellphone. “BYOT!” is the snarky answer I usually get. And explaining that BYOT is only for instruction, and only at the teacher’s discretion (and this teacher’s not discretting), just starts up the old circular argumentation that teenagers love so much.

So how would I do things if I had free reign, and all things were legal and possible? Well, the first thing I would do, would be to install a cellphone scrambler. Sure, you can have the cellphone, but it won’t work once you enter the educational domain. So if a teacher deemed that using a personal device was allowed and necessary, they could deactivate the scrambler for that period of time only.

Next, I would have the computers set up on a tightly controlled LAN, monitored with software (like LAN School). There would be no way for students to stray outside of the programs and sites needed for instruction during the time when instruction was being given. Come time for exploration, research, and project work, the teachers would have the capability of releasing the strictures while closely monitoring through LAN School. That would be a start. Any yes, I know that unless the FCC rules are not changed, this would never be possible…

So what would I do if I were media specialist in the world we actually live in? Train, train, train. If I provided liberal training sessions for the staff, where they could come during planning to learn useful programs and procedures, I believe that they would take advantage of it. Instead of the big group everyone-has-to-go sessions, I would structure them more informally and encourage smaller groups come more often to learn things in smaller bites that they could then turn right around and use immediately. Chunk the instruction.

And I would try and prevent the kind of mindset that says “use the technology, but if anything goes wrong, we’re going to hold you personally and financially responsible.” This is something that has to be built-in when technology is procured – a battle fought at the county level, way before the technology is purchased and installed at the building level. You need the damage and replacement warranties and software updates negotiated before the purchase occurs.

Better to have fewer pieces that are protected, than to have more items that will be available only at the outset. If you’re going to build a system and get everyone to buy-in and use it on a regular basis, they need string-free and stressless confidence in its longevity. The last thing a teacher needs is to be more worried about the device in the student’s hand, than the knowledge it can imbue.

So for me, the technology issue revolves around proper planning before purchase, liberal and on-going training for staff, and support of the technology and the staff, after the roll-out. If any of these phases is lacking or missing, then the venture will not be an ultimate success.