This is the start of my third year in the district, and I have not been asked my input as to technology integration, whether it be hardware of software. If my district did utilize these forms, I figure that last year would have been an awesome opportunity to do so. We just went through a massive technology upgrade with each teacher receiving a new workstation. Each workstation has office 2010 loaded on it. With all the new open source software available, was there even a discussion as to utilizing any of the free programs? My guess is probably not. If there was, it was probably on an administrative level.
In my other class this semester, we talked about having a need for the technology before purchasing it. Don’t put the cart before the horse theory. Pretty much every teacher has a smart board in our district, but was there a need for every teacher, was there a want from every teacher? I am sure that there were many teachers that would have been fine without a smart board. Are they now going to sit unused, because a needs assessment wasn’t done? I understand that the smart board is hardware, but the same process could be used for hardware as well.
I think software selection forms would benefit teachers, because decisions can be made on who wants the technology, who will use the technology, and then award the technology to those teachers. Selection forms can also help because if there is a mass desire for a piece of software, licenses can be purchased in bulk, often reducing the cost per license. If there is a small demand for a particular software title, possible solutions could be looked into including freeware, and IU support.
Using software selection forms also helps guide technology purchasing back to the teachers who have fresh ideas, and more recent schooling, instead of administrators and coordinators who may have very little recent background in technology and software applications.
Hi Amy! You are absolutely correct in stating that we should not purchase technology without getting input from teachers. We have also installed interactive boards district-wide. While most of the teachers effectively use the boards there are a few that are not used. I do have to say though, that as the teachers embrace the technology and talk amongst themselves about the usefulness, the late adopters are beginning to try new things.
ReplyDeleteLike your district, we do not utilize a software evaluation form but I do like the idea. I am anxious to present the idea to my supervisor to find out her feelings.
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the need for software selection forms and software selection committees. It seems like technology is sometimes forced on teachers. Those that make the decisions as to what kind of hardware or software to purchase for a district often do not consult any teachers. Additionally, some district technology coordinators have no background in education. Their expertise may be from the technical side. This may affect the decisions they make regarding technology that is to be used by teachers in the classroom.
A technology coordinator that is a good leader will seek multiple perspectives before making any big decisions in regard to purchasing new technologies (hardware or software) for the district they are employed by.
There is a lot of truth in what you are saying about buying things that are not needed. I can tell you that as a student of Wilkes the past five(+) years, I have seen them make some odd decisions when buying both hardware and software. The switch over to Apple computers is a good example, most students only use the Windows side, many probably do not even know how to boot into Apple instead. Smartboards are another example. Breisth has them in most of the classrooms, but the Math/CS department has very few (if any).
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of great points that you brought up in your post. I love to hear the other side of the argument since I am the technology coordinator. You are right when it comes to the feelings of a disconnect between administration and teachers. There are no formal procedures in our district for asking teachers what software would be best suited for their classroom. Unfortunately, I do not believe there is a simple solution to this issue. You could simply say why don't we simply ask the teachers and use what they recommend. I would have to have come back with the argument that most teachers are not aware of the some of the newly developed software that is out there. There is a lot of great software that is brought to administrator's attention at conferences that teachers can not attend. It all depends on how cutting edge you want to be with how you educate your students.
ReplyDeleteThe one solution that can potentially fit this issue is to integrate these programs on a small scale and depending on the reviews go from there. With regards to the interactive white boards, our district is rolling them out to almost all of the classrooms as well. We are wall mounting them in the classrooms for a full media experience. I feel that we have done enough testing with the boards to know the effectiveness of the hardware. I do feel that some teachers do not utilize the hardware for many reasons. My reasons for placing them in most of the rooms including some that might not be utilized as much include: professional development (teachers do not know how it will greatly improve classroom lessons and we simply need more professional development to show them), if they have it and they see other teachers making great use of it they will learn from the other teachers and use it as well (I have seen this happen a lot), and teachers constantly move rooms so no matter where you move you will have a board.
This is the discussion that needs to take place at districts more often because I can sense a little bit of hostility toward administration and I am sure teachers in my district feel the same way. FYI, my personal actions toward teachers that start being argumentative in an aggressive fashion about my ideas instead of communicating constructively have been a tendency to put a shield up and move on to other teachers and get their opinions. I have a feeling this is most likely the case in other districts when it comes to technology coordinators. Unfortunately, we have not created a great communication gateway.
"Pretty much every teacher has a smart board in our district, but was there a need for every teacher, was there a want from every teacher? I am sure that there were many teachers that would have been fine without a smart board. Are they now going to sit unused, because a needs assessment wasn’t done?" I agree with you here; especially the more expensive the resource becomes. i.e. perhaps an evaluation tool isn't necessary for something relatively inexpensive. The cost and man hours of evaluating the tool could prove more expensive than the software itself. Once the cost enters several thousands, tens of thousands of dollars and more then the tool should be used for sure. It's really nice to have more and more open source free software solutions available as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteAlso concerning the Smartboard... Over 2 years ago I requested to have a smartboard moved to my room from a room where the teacher does not want it. We both made numerous requests which got shot down time and time again. What a waste!