FACILITATING EFFECTIVE TEACHER USE OF TECHNOLOGY

Presented by Nicole Long

Interwoven Issues

Educational Technology has not fulfilled its’

promise

Why?

Teachers

Funding

Support

Technology

Educators need to look at all

these issues to solve the problem

The Questions Is teacher-training affecting how

education technology is used?

Do teachers have sufficient support from administration to implement technology?

Are teacher perceptions impacting technology implementation in the classroom?

Are teachers using technology effectively?

How can teacher training be made more effective?

What increases in support need to be made?

How can negative attitudes be altered?

What would be more effective uses of technology?

Relevant LiteratureThere are several evident themes in the research of educational

technology.

Technology innovations have outpaced technology training (Cuban, 2001; NCES, 2000).

Support for technology integration is not sufficient (Moursand, 1999; Hayes, 2006).

Teacher attitudes toward technology strongly affect how it will be used (Ya, 2007).

Technology is not being used within a pedagogical framework (Noeth & Volkov, 2004).

The State of Educational Technology

100% internet connection

5:1 ratio of student to computer use

Computer carts and handhelds on the rise

How Are Teachers Using Technology

Creating materials 78%

Instruction 50%

Teacher-training Only 50 % of

American teachers feel capable of using technology

93% of American teachers learn about technology independently

the average total of training days is only 4 per year

Support Systems 96% of American

school superintendants are not aware of national standards

83% have had no technology training in the past three years

only 28% of the technology budget is spent on tech support

Teacher Perceptions Digital immigrants

make up the majority of our teachers

Teachers choose technology based on ease-of-use and computer efficacy but only 23% feel that technology is easy to use

Pedagogy and technology Only 50% of teachers

use technology to delivery instruction or to have their students produce materials

Some technologies like Microsoft Word actually hurt student performance

Teachers are reluctant to use technology that does not easily adapt to their lessons.

SOLUTIONS

Technology training must be given a higher priority.

All facets of teacher education should have learning-through-technology strategies so that teachers have a first hand knowledge of how learning through technology works.

Training must take place in the context of a classroom, be in small groups of less than 12 and provide teachers with hands-on practice. These classes should be available after school and in summer months.

Beginners could be paired with tech savvy mentors to increase knowledge sharing.

Newly purchased systems must have teacher training built in as a regular feature when they are brought into the schools.

There needs to be more support for teachers

School superintendants must be up to date with national standards of technology training as proposed by the US Department of Education.

School superintendents need to be trained to construct their own technology plans

We neet cost-efficient technology management that follows successful business models

We should encourage partnerships with industry to offset costs and to allow the creation of more effective educational technology.

Create and promote pedagogically sound technology

Have easy-to-use interfaces for the teacher and student.

Include ‘help’ functions to assist in overcoming errors or difficulties faced by teachers or students.

Make it engaging to students.

Provide evidence of an increase in student outcomes.

Insure that it saves time over more traditional methods.

Have it practically tested in a real classroom setting rather than a laboratory.

Conclusion

Increased teacher effectiveness and student outcomes

Train teachers

more effectively

Give leaders the

proper tools to

lead their schools

Provide better

technology alternatives

THANK YOU