Watching Teachers Change with the Introduction of New Technologies
I certainly advocate evangelize for technology in the classroom. I’ve spoken to teachers all around the country in an effort to get them excited about using technology to teach and learn and it’s wonderful to see folks get excited about their teaching. To see the virtual “light bulbs” popping up around a group of teachers who have been beaten down by administration and standardized testing. But nothing beats seeing it happen in an actual classroom.
Last week I returned to my consulting work at a local high school after being away for a couple of weeks while I was on the “Intellatour.” While I was away the new Smart Boards were delivered and installed in the English department classrooms. Smart Boards are very simple touch screens that, with a LCD projector, create an interactive extension to a desktop machine. These simple devices completely changed the attitudes toward technology in the English hall. Skeptical teachers are now embracing new devices and best of all, they’re PLAYING with the technology.
The teacher who normally teaches theatre tech and acting and is now teaching more English classes than he’d like is using his Smart Board with Sketch-Up to draw theatre sets and plan blocking for the play he’s directing. Another teacher had students up at the board writing notes using the Smart Board pens, converting their writing to text, and making these the notes for the day’s discussion. Collaborative work has evolved where there was none. Teachers and students are invigorated about learning not just the technology but the course work as well.
This week I’ll be training all the teachers in the high school to use Moodle. I can only hope that this addition to the tools available to them will make an even greater impact in this little rural school system. Viva la technology!
April 16th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I am curious, what would you suggest to a teacher who is using technology to teach technology? I have a product that is web based training on different topics (A+, Word 2003, Dreamweaver, etc…). The training has the information to teach, but as a teacher, how can I implement it in my classroom successfully?
April 16th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I think SmartBoards, while useful in certain situations, can be very dangerous for teachers. They reinforce a pedagogy we are trying to escape: the teacher at the front of the room transmitting facts at the students. Used correctly (i.e. the teacher has been given a lot of professional development on not just the technical aspects but also best practices for supporting instruction), the SmartBoard can be a very interactive and engaging technology that supports active student learning. Unfortunately, too frequently this isn’t the case. And for what it’s worth, I think that what has made this product so successful is not the board itself but the Smart Notebook software, which takes the whole PowerPoint motif and makes it more dynamic and interactive.
April 16th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I agree. I know that smart boards can be great. They are wonderful tools. But I am concerned about whether we might place too much emphasis on them and lose our focus on bigger things. The well-funded districts will be the first to provide them to their students. It will take years for them to be available to all schools. And in the end they are something that you would use for only a short segment of class.
I am much more excited about SL than about smart boards. Not trying to criticize…just my two cents.