Thursday 15 September 2016

Contemporary issue or trend in New Zealand or internationally-Activity 3

Integrating Technology in Teacher Education

A report from Walden University (2010) revealed that the problem of integrating technology into the classroom often begins with many teachers believing that their pre-service training did not prepare them well in either technology or 21st century skills. When I started teaching I had limited knowledge of Digital Technology but through the use of using technology daily, asking others for help and actively trialling new apps I have been able to integrate technology successfully into my classroom. I am at a school that has many experienced teachers who have stayed in the same school for longer than 10 years. They are amazing educators but they haven’t transferred their skills to be accessible for the 21st Century Learner.
In Europe, the “Survey of Schools: ICT in Education” also identified several obstacles that are all too often present when implementing ICT in the classroom, ranging from insufficient equipment for digital learning, lack of competence and pedagogical models, and unclear goals for using ICT. Some of the teachers in my school are still waiting for the step by step resources of what to do. They do not have the confidence to use their devices other than for ‘the internet’ and publishing.
Almadhour (2010) highlighted that to improve the use of ICT in the education environment teachers need to improve their ICT skills and, in many cases, change their perceptions about ICT. When teachers integrate ICT in a technology subject, problems with ICT tools such as trouble shooting can adversely affect students‘ confidence and learning. Teachers with skill levels lower than their students may avoid using ICT because they feel embarrassed in front of them. For our students to log into our server they need three different passwords which is frustrating and time consuming.
The Future-focused Learning in Connected Communities report highlighted if every student and educator is to be a confident, competent user of digital technologies, there will need to be provided curriculum resources and professional development opportunities for teachers. Effective leadership is also essential to successfully implement digital technologies for learning. It is not enough for a leadership team to provide an ICT infrastructure capable of meeting the school’s varying teaching and operational needs. Our current Senior leadership team have stood back as part of the ICT team. I have successfully requested that they are a part of the 2017 ICT team. I am hoping that their involvement will get wider buy in from other team members and also the IT culture will positively change as more teachers integrate technology into their programmes.
The Ministry of Education states by the end of 2016, all schools will have access to the technology, high quality/capacity, ultra fast internet access for teaching and learning. In my school we need to be incorporating the use of technology more into the classroom so students and teachers can connect with family, peers, our local community, online communities, and experts. Edutopia (2008) identified “Effective technology integration is achieved when the use of technology is routine and transparent and when technology supports curricular goals”.
The Ministry’s illustrative draft vision for education in 2025 Lifelong Learners in a Connected World shows a highly connected, interdependent education system that equips students with the skills for the future. Central to this is the Government will continue to play its role in ensuring every student benefits from a quality education.
References:

Almadhour, B. (2010). The integration of information and communication technology into secondary technology teachers' pedagogy in New Zealand(Doctoral dissertation, Auckland University of Technology).
Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2015) NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf
Mawson, B. (2003). Making it happen: Integrating ICT in a technology unit. Computers in New Zealand Schools, 15 (1), 31-33.

Ministry of Education. (2015). New Zealand Education in 2025 - Lifelong Learners in a Connected World. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Initiatives/Lifelonglearners.pdf


O’Riley, B., Amos, C., Copeland, T., Fidow, S., Langford, D., Newton, C., ... & Vester, A. (2014). Future focused learning in connected communities​ 


Riley, R. W. (2010). Educators, Technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling five myths. A Study on the Connection Between K-12 Technology Use and 21st Century Skills. Walden University, 1-32.

Staff, E. (2008). Why integrate technology into the curriculum?: The reasons are many. Retrieved September19, 2016.

3 comments:

  1. I think Dion we are in very similar situations. I think the biggest challenge we have as ICT leaders in our schools is developing the confidence and capabilities of our colleagues. I'd like to know more about how you see the involvement of your management in this venture next year.

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    1. Thank you for commenting. I have started sowing the seed with the management team to be a part of ICT meetings. We met a few weeks a go and I made sure I had their input. I had emailed our Principal beforehand and said that it would be great to have them on board and she made it happen. As they are using It for our LMS and 6 year nets I saw it as a natural progression. Our staffing has dropped slightly so I also wrote it would be important for staff morale also to see our management team involved. My next goal is to set up IT buddies where I match up strong IT users with those with less ability. The idea is they are mentors in a low stress advisory role. This year I let a novice lead the ICT unit and I supported her. It worked really well as I got to free up time from hardware and App related issues and I could focus on integrating ICT into my own class more. We have a lot of work to do with our App management and IT support. It is a really interesting time at our school as we make decisions on changing our outdated LMS system and bring our ICT practises inline to 21st Century practises. We need to make informed ICT changes that everyone gets an input in so we can slowly enhance the use of ICT in our school to a higher standard.

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  2. That's a great idea to link up buddies with novice ICT users as an advisory role - funnily enough this was exactly my plan for implementing BYOD next year and I linked it into may change initiative plan for the LDC2 assignment. Great minds obviously think alike. It seems exciting times are ahead for both of our schools. I look forward to hearing how it goes

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