Reflection+on+Standard+2+Original

Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences
Now we are ready to plan for our integration and design the lessons using technology. This is not to be just use of technology by teachers; it is to totally incorporate use by the students. This use is not to be sporadic, or to be a ‘reward’ or a ‘pacifier’ for the hyperactive student. No, it is to be as natural to the students as writing their names, or as natural as playing video games at home, or for the middle/high school students, as natural as texting. As with the introduction of any new program, the key to successful technology integration by the teachers is training, training, training. Once the teachers have been trained they will need time for planning. But even before either of these two things is the need for purchases of hardware and software. This can become an issue in some school districts as stated by Williamson and Redish (2009), ”professional learning opportunities, necessary instructional materials, and time for instructional planning are often limited” (p. 37). Creating the environment for the total integration of technology into a classroom is not easy, although school districts can overcome many of these issues with the support provided by the inclusion of technology facilitators and leaders. “Facilitators accomplish this support function by providing options, strategies, resources and feedback in the planning process. They model strategies, consult with teachers, assist teachers, and support teachers during instructional design.” (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 43) Technology leaders are not usually located directly in the buildings with the teachers so their participation is different. “While local facilitators work with teachers, leaders scan best practice examples and the professional literature to identify, research, locate, and evaluate information that would be helpful to their building-based colleagues.(Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 44) The leaders and facilitators will be coaches for the teachers, helping them shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning. For the school district I work in a full time Technology Facilitator would make a difference in the amount of in time teachers could devote to integration with the students in the classroom. During the last school year I had 2.5 hours each day to help K-12 teachers (30 classrooms) with anything related to technology. I spent so much of my time working with hardware issues that there was no use of technology by the students other than the whole class going to the computer lab to do “TechKnowledge” or look up current events, or create presentations for a classroom project. There was no collaboration among the class or with students from another school, and no “discovery’ by the students facilitated by the teacher, no inquiry-based instructional model in the classrooms. Although we are to be striving for this type of classroom instruction, I feel that we need to be the Tortoise to the Hare. It is easy to rush in, buy the equipment and put it in the classroom, but the teachers in the classroom are the ones who ultimately have to make a paradigm shift. A Technology Facilitator/Leader can help that happen. As Williamson and Redish (2009) put it “technology facilitators and leaders are likely to find themselves in the most difficult type of change initiative—one that challenges teachers’ long-standing beliefs about teaching and learning (p. 38).”