Talking to a number of American teachers last evening as we debriefed about NECC, I was interested in knowing whether or not school boards in the United States have the same difficulty encouraging teachers to use technology in their classroom. Bingo! Despite weaker unions in certain cases where there may be more pressure to toe the line, many in the profession remain recalcetrant to embed technology in their teaching. So this conversation with American colleauges centred around the question WHY?
There was a concensus that integrating technology can often be extremely time consuming. We know that good prep of any kind can often call on several hours of work. In the ccase of technology, the time reqirements may be much higher. For example, debutants would need to become more comfortable with the interface and how to use it, understand how the school board's network functions, learn the basics of software they wanted to use, plan out how to create an enriching, meaningful learning experience for kids that is solidly linked to the curriculum. Then there is the actual preparation of the lesson and assessment. This a,ll takes time and not all teachers are willing to invest the time to integrate technology. ArcView GiS is an excellent example. It takes many hours to be comfortable with the program. ESRI does provide great lessons, but it does not mean that they always fit in with the curriculum.
So the $100 question is how to convince colleagues, often with many years of experience under their belt, that the time investment is worth it? No easy answer. Should we tell them that they are selling kids short? Should we encourage them to take baby steps? Should we somehow get them to read some literature on the imperative of digital fluency in the 21st century? Should we petitions teacher training institutions to add more meaningful content and courses that will prepare them to teach in the 21st century? Should a tech ABQ become mandatory for all teachers already in the profession? Should we offer more inservice? Should we set up mentoring partnerships between colleagues? Should we just go ahead and purchase more computers and place them in classes so that students can lead teachers to technology? (ironic eh?) All of these are viable solutions to a certain degree. None is a panacea. The truth is that it is a complex issue that will probably only be resolved as the digital world itself continues to evolve. Time is obviously not the only factor limiting tech integration in schools, but it is not our friend in 2008!