Our district has recently adopted three new programs. We’ve changed our grade book, curriculum, and data processing systems. As a result, we are seeing a decrease in effective use of data. This is because teachers must be familiar with how a program works in order to use it intuitively on a daily basis. Administrators in my district made the mistake of forgetting the realities of the classroom—teachers will not make time to learn a new technology once the school year has begun. At the end of the day, I simply have no energy to sit in front of my school computer and figure out the new data disaggregation software. The 45 minute after school training we received was ineffective as we didn’t put that training to practical use soon enough to make the training stick.
This situation has lead to a trend in technology use on my campus. Teachers are using what they knew and were familiar with last year instead of implementing new practices introduced this year. Students are passive receivers of instructional technology. Their experience is limited to at best, creating a PowerPoint in computer class, or completing basic math facts lessons on our math drill software. In fact, most of the time, our technology is used to bolster the effectiveness of lecture, i.e. Document cameras, LCD projectors.
I completely agree with the results of both of my assessments. They show that within the basic applications like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook, I am proficient. The assessments also reflect the fact that I can use a variety of digital hardware to improve my presentation of information to my students. The major gap I see in my proficiency is twofold. First, I need to learn to use collaborative software designed to interact with other professionals. Second I need to enable my students to become active, rather than passive, beneficiaries of the classroom’s current technology allotment.
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