Ensuring Tech Integration
AttributionShare Alike Some rights reserved by torrez
At this point in my career, I’m more concerned with Social Studies Standards and Benchmarks than anything else. Also embedded in our teaching are our ESLR’s ( Expected School-wide Learning Results ) and most recently weaving Character Education. Ironically, integrating technology into the curriculum happened much earlier than the last two. However, it seems that as a school, we have put a lot more focus on the “academic” terms and treated technology as “it’s a nice tool when appropriate.” Not to say that the ESLR’s and Character Education are not important, because they identify and mold the quality of a human being. But, we should not continue to ignore is disregard technology skills. So, how do we ensure that they are taught?
One thought might be offer a separate technology course in which students are taught how to use each piece of software and web 2.0 tool. However, this secluded instruction doesn’t seem to transfer to students in the long term. So naturally, these skills must we weaved into classroom projects and expectations. The problem is, now a teacher must not only know the tech skills and tools, but they must be able to smoothly modify units. This is obviously time consuming.
After looking at the Technology Integration Matrix Grade Level Index, I think this would be great way for K-12 teachers to look at ALL the skills and opportunities there are to use. What the best part of this is that teachers are no longer limited to purchased software on their machines. Now, teachers and students need to learn different tools and have options. Some of the categories to select from are as follows: Audio Tools; Drawing Tools; Presentation Tools; Spreadsheet Tools, etc. Additionally, teachers can perform and integrate at different levels as listed: Entry, Adoption, Adaptation, Infusion, and Transformation. What this means is that teachers don’t feel pressure to master the technology and keep it forever. They can play and experiment with different tools.
For me, this is far less restricting and intimidating than the prior way technology was presented. This will empower teachers to experiment without locking in. This will be relieve some of the pressure off teachers – which is what I really worry about.
Comments
Leave a Reply
