Are Technology Trainers No Longer a Need in Education? - Part II

Last month when I first posted on this topic, I stated I would share my own thoughts in the comments or possibly in a follow-up post after giving readers a chance to comment. (Reader comments were wonderful for adding to my perspective; thank you!) I did share some thoughts in the comments, but I'm not done, so here I am with a follow-up post as well. You may want to go read the original post to gather some context for what you are about to read below.

Cutting to the chase, I believe technology trainers are still needed in education. Of course technology training is part of my day job, so I am obviously not unbiased. But I think some insider bias is ok in this case, because it is my investment and experience in my work that gives me insight into this question. Read on for my reasons that tech trainers are still important in education.

Facebook Fallacy

In my previous post, I related a story about a CTO who implied that the fact most of us learned to use Facebook without ever having taken a training class on it is a perfect example of why teachers don't need technology trainers. In his example, teachers have proven by independently learning about Facebook that they can train themselves. 

I'll grant you that teachers (really, most members of Facebook) have learned the basics on their own. Filling out your profile, making posts, and adding friends are pretty easy to figure out independently. But without any formal training, how many people are using Facebook well? Consider these points:

• How many of your friends have ever dug deeply into their privacy settings and/or frequently check their privacy settings? Several of my Facebook friends do this only occasionally, usually when I or another one of their connections takes time to post something to Facebook about privacy concerns or changes.
• How many educators have lost their jobs because they shared unprofessionally on Facebook?
• How many of your Facebook friends have created strong passwords to keep their information, and ultimately your information, safe? (Corollary question: How many of your Facebook friends have ever had their accounts hacked or clicked on links that started sending spam out from their accounts?)
• With credit to Ann Witherspoon's comment on my previous blog post, how many of your Facebook friends "have created groups, fan pages, or events within Facebook"? In other words, how many of them have used Facebook at a deeper level?

These questions regarding self-taught users of Facebook, who have not received or sought further training resources to help them understand safety measures or dig deeper into the platform, can be asked of any program or platform an educator uses for productivity or instruction. The answers to those questions when applied to educational applications are far more critical. How many people dig beyond the surface of technology tools on their own? How many of them are ultimately encouraged to do so because they receive some basic level of training?

Learning Styles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/langwitches/4094918145/
Used Under Creative Commons License

In the education field, we recognize that our students are individuals and that each of them has strengths and weaknesses, or at the very least preferences, in the way they learn. Likewise, adults in all areas of education from the classroom to the administration office have different learning styles. If we ignore all we know about learning theory for the sake of expediency or because providing in-person training is more expensive, we begin to ignore the heart of our mission - to reach people where they are and facilitate them moving to the next level in their learning, regardless of whether they are a student or an educator. Whenever possible, we should offer online or print materials on using technology tools for those who are able to learn in this way, but we should also offer in-person training on technology resources as well.

Some people learn better in in-person settings. They need to be able to watch someone else or have a chance to ask questions on the spot as they experiment with a new program or tool. The face-to-face training can give them the start they need to explore a technology tool further on their own.

I know people who feel intimated or even "stupid" when they are reading a manual or watching an online demonstration, but in a show-and-do Q & A session with an experienced trainer, they pick up everything they need to gain a little confidence and get started. When the trainer has more experience in the tool being taught, they can also save the teacher the hassle of getting stuck on tricky parts because they can steer the teachers around those spots. And there are always going to be people who won't make an independent effort to learn something on their own because it is not in their area of interest; requiring a face-to-face training is the only way to ensure they will be properly exposed to the material.

Support the Mission

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heycoach/1197947341/
Used Under a Creative Commons License

In educational technology departments, there is usually a mixture of staff whose background is on the education side of things with teaching experience as well as staff whose background is more technical without teaching training or experience. The "educator vs. technical" background is not a distinction I like to play up much, because in my mind no matter what your background, we're all on the same team with the same mission - to support educators and students in teaching and learning. If there is something technical I need to understand to help with the mission, then I rely on the technical people on the team to help me understand it. And I hope that if the technical people need to understand an educational purpose or practice behind something we are doing they will rely on me and my teaching background as well.

Teacher training is an area where I hope CTOs will rely on the experience of the educators on their team. When I hear of statements like "It's just part of their job to know how to use the tools" without the follow-up statement "So let's design the training to teach them," I become concerned that the lack of teaching/training  experience in some members of the technology team is impacting the quality with which a new program or tool is rolled out and implemented. If your school or district acquires or upgrades technology for the purpose of positively impacting student learning, then I believe it is the responsibility of the school or district to provide appropriate training in meaningful use of the technology.

Students Deserve the Best

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shareski/2942564830/
Used Under a Creative Commons License

Yes, this post is about teacher professional development, but ultimately, it's about impacting learning. Just as you and I expect our peace officers, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, and lawyers to be "up to date" on all of the latest techniques and information for performing their duties to the best of their ability, and therefore impacting our lives for the better, we should expect teachers to be well informed on the latest instructional practices so they may provide the best educational experiences possible for the students in their charge. In today's classroom, being well informed includes being versed in the use and integration of technology.

I think this quote from an Edutopia article sums it up best:

It is critical for veteran teachers to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn from each other. Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the classroom, new curriculum resources, and more. The best professional development is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students and understanding their culture.

"Learning from each other" includes learning from dedicated specialists in instructional technology. It is a given in our personal and professional lives that technology evolves constantly and rapidly. For the sake of keeping student learning relevant and having our pedagogical practices benefit from the latest technology infused approaches, I believe it is critical that schools and districts place an emphasis on technology training for teachers, and that part of the training menu includes opportunities for face-to-face staff development experiences.

Face-to-face is how the majority of educators still teach. It is not unreasonable for educators to continue to expect similar opportunities for their own learning, with a healthy dose of online learning experiences thrown in. Keeping instructional technologists on staff is a valuable investment in bringing multiple opportunities and styles of learning to today's teachers, which is ultimately in the best interest of today's students.

Are Technology Trainers No Longer a Need in Education?

I have to start this post with a disclaimer.  Please note that in this post I am referencing "second-hand" information from a meeting/workshop I did not attend.

I was conversing with a colleague today and he shared that at a recent gathering of K-12 Chief Technology Officers, the topic of training educators on new technology came up. There seemed to a prevailing tendency reported among the CTOs to roll out new technologies without setting up formalized training for the end users. My take on this new trend was that it was not out of necessity that formalized training was not part of the equation, but rather part of a new "process" for introducing new technologies to educators.

As an example of how this works, the presenter asked how many people at the presentation were on Facebook.  Almost every hand in the room went up. The presenter then asked how many of the Facebook users had taken a training class in how to use Facebook. All of the hands went down. His point was they had all learned to use Facebook without participating in a formalized training event.

The presenter did not advocate for leaving educators completely on their own. Training resources that can be accessed when needed would be made available in this approach.

These ideas relayed second-hand to me were intriguing. As I ponder this method/possible trend, I have some definite thoughts and questions. But before I share mine, I'd like to see how readers of this blog post might react.

What do you think of this approach?

Have you used this approach or something simliar to it in your school/district? If so, how did it go?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts you share. I will share my thoughts in the comments later, or possibly in a follow-up blog post.

Post image from Flikr user superkimbo, used under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/superkimbo/5131434958/

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NOTE: Please continue learning from the comments  below, and also my follow-up blog post of July 26, 2011.

Teachers' Hierarchy of Needs

If you’ve been around education for very long or ever taken an educational psychology course, you’ve probably heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. His theory, in a nutshell, contends that human beings have levels of basic needs, and until the needs at the lower levels are met, we don’t even feel the needs at the next level.

Teachers in my school district report back to duty for the new school year on Monday morning. As we have been making preparations for their return, I’ve been struck by the thought that educators also have a hierarchy of needs, and meeting the needs at certain levels is important if we want to set up teachers, and ultimately their students, for a successful school year. Certain basic needs must be met before teachers are even “aware of” or ready to move to the next level of planning for student learning.

Class Schedules, Rosters, and Gradebooks

Take, for example, class schedules, rosters, and gradebooks. Now, this might seem pretty obvious as a basic need. But you might not have a real idea of how having access to those lists is truly, truly essential for teachers to be able to mentally “move on” in preparing for the upcoming school year. You’ll catch an idea of that if you're ever involved in a new student information system implementation as we are now. The number one questions in my school district at the moment are “When will I get access to my gradebook?” and “Is the new gradebook/attendance/student information system easy to use?” Teachers need to know their schedules, the number of students they are going to have, and they just want to see the names of the young people who are going to be in their charge for the next year. Having those basic facts in front of them, and knowing they are going to be able to easily access data on their students, provides a sense of grounding. Once they have access to the information, they can focus more effectively on their next stage of planning.

Time

When I was a classroom teacher you probably could not have given me enough time in the world to really get ready for the school year. And because I knew I wouldn’t have enough time, I spent “my own” time in the week prior to the official report-back date as well as late into the evenings during that first inservice week getting my classroom ready for my kids. It got even more complicated when Open House was moved to before the start of school. My classroom had to be ready for learning (or at least look ready for learning) before parents and students came to see it for the first time. So my focus in any unscheduled time I had was on the physical classroom with no brain cells free to think about the quality learning experiences I wanted to have with my students in those critical first days and weeks.

Sitting through meetings under those circumstances was torture. I tried my best to focus on the important information that was being communicated to me usually by my principal or department chair. Hard as I tried, I’m fairly certain I discovered the backchannel before I even knew there was a name for it. I had a “backchannel” conversation going on in my own head with myself for much of the time I was in those meetings, thinking of all the things I still needed to get done in the little precious time I had before the kids came. Later, when I became a campus technology facilitator and was given an hour each year of the teacher’s time to update them on technology resources on our campus, I tried really hard to keep things simple and to the point, giving them only the most important information – and handouts which covered in detail everything I was saying. I was fully aware that everyone in that room had a backchannel going on in their heads as well, even if they were making eye contact and nodding. The handout could be referenced later when they had settled into the year a bit. And I gave my best effort to not get frustrated when they came back later and asked me about something I knew I had covered in that meeting.

Those of us who are charged with sharing back-to-school information with teachers should keep all of this in mind. Yes we have agendas and important information, but does all of it have to be communicated NOW? Or in two solid days of meetings? Could we give teachers work time in the morning and meet in the afternoon? (They might listen better if they can knock some things off of their lists first.) Can some of it wait for the first few faculty meetings? Can some of it be communicated through email or a website or blog? If you think about it, you are wasting your own precious time as well if 50% of what you are covering isn’t making an impact because your audience is distracted. Be mindful of your teacher’s needs, focus only on what is of critical importance for getting school started, and then give them the valuable time they need to plan for quality instruction.

Being Valued and Encouraged as Professionals

“I am a professional educator and I am good at what I do.” I do not think we can reinforce this for teachers often enough. Teachers who are confident in themselves as professionals are going to approach teaching with more enthusiasm and be more open to new ideas that will help them grow in their practices. Teachers have plenty of opportunities to hear that they are not good enough – “The test scores were not where they needed to be at the end of last year.” “Here’s a new program/lesson delivery method/planning system and if you aren’t using it you are short-changing your students.” Implied in both of those types of messages is “You aren’t good enough because you aren’t doing ____________.”

I’m going to point the finger a bit at my own educational technology community and say that we can be very guilty of this whether we mean to or not in our excitement over the latest new technology tool or research. When sharing this information with teachers, we can easily come across as “If you aren’t using this tool/method/etc you are not giving students a quality education.” Do we honestly think they are not educating their students at all? I don’t think that. I know teachers who are behind the curve when it comes to technology but who are still giving their students excellent skills in their subject areas. Teachers whom those students love despite the reports that kids are turned off by having to “unplug” at school. I am, of course, an educational technology advocate. I recognize, however, that quality teaching existed before technology hit the classroom and as a result quality teachers from “BC” (before computers) still exist in our schools. And I’ll venture to say that just because you are using computers doesn’t mean you are teaching in a quality manner.

The bottom line is this: If you want to take those quality teachers, or even those ones who aren’t so “quality”, and help them develop into better teachers, you should to give them some strokes for the things they are doing well. And you should present your new idea/strategy/program as an opportunity to add a tool to their pedagogical tool belt to increase the learning that is already going on in their classrooms. Couching it this way helps increase the receptivity of the teachers to new approaches. The old saying “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” should be applied far more often in teacher professional development.

New Possibilities

In education we are fortunate to be able to make a new beginning every year. The start of school is the best time of the year in my opinion, because the possibilities are wide open. As administrators, department or grade level chairs, technology specialists, providers of professional development, or anyone who has anything to do with helping teachers launch a school year, I hope these thoughts on basic needs will help us frame the first experiences we are planning for our educators. Let's set them and their students up for success! Here’s to the possibilities that are before us…

 
 
 
All photos used with permission under Creative Commons License Agreements:
Teacher & Gradebook
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83955435@N00/2803559483
Clock
http://www.freefoto.com/preview/11-22-18?ffid=11-22-18
Teacher & Student
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40838054@N00/3545797
Lockers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofsims/2732604677/

Common Sense Tech

Ken Royal of Scholastic Administrator Magazine recently wrote a blog post which resonated with me. As much as I love the world of social media and all of the benefits it has to offer education, I, too, worry about educators who run headlong into using free web resources with K-12 students. Are they really thinking about all of the possible implications of what they are doing?

We really do need to look at consistent solutions, as Ken points out, for multiple reasons including providing quality professional development for teachers as well as student safety and liability protection for districts and teachers.

Below are some of the points that stood out to me in Ken's blog post. I encourage you to click the link and read all of his thoughts for yourself.

• The Royal Treatment: Common Sense Tech
  Remember to be selective, safe and smart in the technology you incorporate in K-12.
  tags: edtech, edtech_leadership, EdTech-Professional, socialmedia
  • 
    
    Use of Twitter or Facebook by educators is one thing, but when I see articles and posts about using social media in classrooms, other than higher ed—it makes me cringe. Any adult using these online options knows how difficult they are to control. Hacking, porn, language, and just the constant updates—by the nanosecond—from all over the world are too uncontrollable for most classrooms—and from what I see, many adults, too.
  • 
    
    Sometimes administrators and educators get so caught up with the cool, that they forget the bigger picture
  • 
    
    At their best, they are the few in each school, or district, pushing the tech envelope. Some do that envelope pushing while working closely within the district, but others work outside that safety net. Today, the latter scares me. Relying on free downloads, cool online sites—with most of those requiring logins—can be unsafe. We need to move beyond the rogue-educator, and support consistent school or district solutions.
  • 
    
    Experimenting with new online tech ideas is one thing, but forcing all into the classroom is not using common sense.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.