Classroom technology: how long does it take a teacher to come to grips with it?

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013 | training | Comments Off

This question is the same as asking: “How long is a piece of string?”

And the answer is the same: “It depends …” Yes, different factors determine the length of time it will take a teacher to come to grips with classroom technology.  For example, a teacher who is already digitally literate should find it easier to make the transition from traditional classroom teaching to one where technology is harnessed.

Not easy to measure when there are knots and curves …

When technology training programmes are developed for teachers, bear the following in mind:

Training teachers in the use of classroom technology takes place in stages; it is not a once off event.  Short training sessions over a period of time is better than one intensive course.

The more time teachers spend trying out newly acquired technology skills, the sooner they’ll become proficient.  Allow enough time after a training session for the teacher to practice new skills.

Just in time (JIT) training works better than training a teacher now with a view to applying the knowledge much later.  When teachers are trained, but technology only becomes available in their classrooms months later, some of the skills would have faded.

Each teacher – like learners – will acquire skills at a different speed; the important thing is to practise each new skill often.

Teachers should not despair when they battle to acquire classroom technology skills; from experience they know that fast learners are not necessarily the best learners.

Tags: classroom technology, teachers, training

How much effort should go into teacher ICT training?

Monday, November 12th, 2012 | training | Comments Off

The short answer to this question is: a lot of training.

At least the same amount of money that schools spend on hardware and software should be devoted to ICT training of teachers.

Most ICT tools were not specifically designed for educational purposes; teachers must be helped to discover their classroom potential.

Being computer literate is only the first step for teachers who want to use ICT as a teaching tool.

For teachers to succeed with ICT they need a paradigm shift – this means thinking differently about teaching and learning.  This process can only happen if training takes place over an extended period.

ICT training of teachers is labour intensive but, without it, technology in education has no chance of success.

Tags: teachers, training

ICT skills make a teachers’s life easier

Thursday, March 1st, 2012 | training | Comments Off

Basic computer skills are of great use to teachers.  The more of these skills you develop, the more productive you’ll become.

Touch typing is an example of such a useful skill.  Once you’ve acquired the ability to type without looking at the keyboard you’ll type faster and more accurately.  If you are using a computer to type things, such as test papers end memorandums, or if you have to enter lots of data, your life will be so much easier if you can touchtype.

Touch typing is a valuable skill for teachers

Knowing all the features of a word processor will likewise make working with text easier.  Word processors have so many features specially designed to help you when you are creating any type of document.  The more familiar you are with these features, the easier your life will become.

The use of a spreadsheet can save you many hours of calculating and recalculating learner test marks.  It can work out averages for you and the possibilities of producing statistics and other valuable information are endless.

Invest some time in developing ICT skills.  It will relieve you of many admin burdens and allow you to focus on what you’re good at and what you are really there for: teaching.

Tags: ICT skills, internet, spreadsheet, teachers, touch typing, word processor

I am not so young anymore – won’t it be difficult for me to become skilled in the use of classroom technology?

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 | technology, training | Comments Off

If you are a senior teacher you may be concerned that your ability to acquire new skills – particularly technology skills – is not what it used to be.  “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks – I am too old to learn modern technology,” you may say.  Don’t allow clichés to control your destiny!

Do you really believe that you are too old to learn – or is it just an excuse? 

How did you feel a few years ago when cell phones were introduced? 

Some said that they would never use them … but eventually they capitulated and agreed to carry a mobile phone.  “But only to receive calls,” they said.  Soon they were making calls too, and it did not take long before they started sending text messages – now they can’t imagine how they managed before without an SMS.  Over time these older folks discovered other functions of the phone – taking pictures of their grandchildren, browsing the internet and even becoming active on social networks.

Does this sound familiar to you?  If you conquered a cell phone, you can conquer classroom technology.  The technology available to you for teaching is not much different from a cell phone – you will be surprised how many functions are the same.  In fact, you will discover that cell phones are powerful teaching and learning tools!  It all depends on how willing and eager you are to learn.

Many teachers in their fifties, sixties and seventies have already mastered the use of different classroom technologies and now proclaim that they can’t imagine life without them.  If you are a life long learner, this is what you will do – continue to learn new things as they come your way.  Your age is not the limiting factor when it comes to becoming skilled in new technologies, but rather the extent of your willingness to move outside of your comfort zone.

While you are still able to teach, you are not yet over the hill.  The education system needs your experience, passion and commitment – and above all, your example.  When you master the use of technology, you are setting an example to the new generation of teachers.

For more technology tips for teachers click here.

Tags: cell phones, learning, teachers, technology, training

Avoid jargon …

Monday, December 13th, 2010 | Cartoons, training | 1 Comment

Created by Kobus van wyk, using http://www.makebeliefscomix.com - use this program to create your own comic strip.

Tags: cartoon, jargon, training

Teachers and learners swap roles

Monday, November 22nd, 2010 | training | 4 Comments

“[Learners] want more technology in the classrooms. That’s how they learn. They don’t learn like we did when we were growing up…getting lectures. We did it and that was fine, but the kids today want the technology, the visual support, the kinesthetic learning.”

When a school reaches this conclusion, but the teachers don’t feel comfortable using technology in the classroom, what do they do?  The solution is simple: let the learners teach teachers how to use technology!  This suggestion was made in a recent posting on this blog, but can it work?

It worked in a school in Hereford in Texas, where teachers and learners swapped roles for a day.  Are you willing to give it a try in your school?

Tags: learners, teachers, technology, training

How much will interactive whiteboard training cost me?

Friday, January 22nd, 2010 | IWBs, training | 3 Comments

When technology is introduced into a school, school management must budget for adequate training.  As a rule of thumb, the amount earmarked for training must not be less than the amount spent on the technology.  This principle also applies to interactive whiteboards.

“But then interactive whiteboards will cost us an arm and a leg!” a school manager may lament.  And this is not an understatement.
 
Fanciful stories are told about the origin of the expression “an arm and a leg”.  One of them is that, in times past, artists based their charges for portraits on the number of arms and legs that appeared in the picture.  This is a fallacy. The idiom was coined during the last century – it is used to stress how outrageously expensive something is.  A similar saying is “to give one’s right arm”, indicating that you are willing to sacrifice your dominant limb – something very valuable – to reach an objective.  It follows that paying an arm and a leg for training means that you are making a considerable sacrifice to gain the required skills.

Your school, or education department, should be prepared to make a financial sacrifice to empower you to use your interactive whiteboard.  During the planning phase of an interactive classroom, training costs must be factored into the total cost of ownership.

But what about you – the teacher?  Is it expected that you also sacrifice an arm and a leg?

It may not be required of you to pay for training courses, but when training is available it is expected that you should sacrifice time to benefit from the opportunity.  Often training is offered after work hours, over the week-end, or during vacation periods.  You will also need time to practise.  This is where you need to make a sacrifice.  Time and effort are the two things you should be willing to sacrifice for the sake of your professional development.

It is difficult to put an exact price tag on interactive whiteboard training – circumstances differ.  But don’t hesitate to make a personal sacrifice when you have to learn new technology to become a better teacher.

Click here for more information about interactive whiteboards.

Tags: cost, IWBs, training

Do we value our facilitators?

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 | training | 6 Comments

In the Western Cape we call them facilitators – elsewhere they are known by other names, such as instructional technology integrators. They are the people visiting schools, helping teachers to make sense of the technology that is available to them.

The value of these facilitators is not always appreciated.  Training sessions are frequently cancelled and at times appointments to meet on a personal basis are not honoured.

The article Technology graveyards: Why schools need instructional technology integrators should make facilitators feel good about themselves and the service they render.  And it should make teachers and principals think twice before they dodge their facilitators.

Viva, facilitators!

Tags: facilitators, teachers, technology

Am I not too old to learn how to use a laptop?

Sunday, May 17th, 2009 | laptops, training | 2 Comments

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks – I am too old to learn modern technology,” you may say if you are a senior teacher.  When you say that do you really believe it?

Are you using a cell phone?  How old were you when you learned to use it?  Perhaps you felt the same way about a cell phone a few years ago as you are feeling about a laptop at present.  But you learned to operate a cell phone – at first just to make phone calls.  Later you discovered the value of a text message (SMS).  Now you may use it to take pictures of your grandchildren, or many of the other features your mobile device offers you.

Think about a laptop as just a bigger cell phone.  If you conquered a cell phone, you can conquer a laptop.  It all depends on how willing and eager you are to learn.

Many teachers in their fifties, sixties and seventies have already mastered the use of laptops and now proclaim that they can’t imagine life without them.  If you are a life long learner, this is what you will do – continue to learn new things as they come your way.

An extract from The Khanya Story may be of encouragement to you:

There are some teachers who may feel
  Too old for a new trick
Old dogs rebel – protest and squeal –
  Their painful wounds they lick

The opposite is often true
  – Life is not always grim –
Old ducks sometimes learn new things too
  And dogs can learn to swim

Oft older teachers do excel
  And learn an IT skill
All apprehensions they expel
  Not yet right o’er the hill

While you are still able to teach, you are not yet over the hill.  The education system needs your experience, passion and commitment – and above all, your example.  When you get the better of your laptop, you will be setting an example to the younger teacher generation.

Click here to find answers to more laptop related questions.

Tags: laptops, learning, training

Where will I find time to learn how to use my laptop?

Saturday, May 16th, 2009 | laptops, training | Comments Off

“If my school does not allow me time off to learn how to use the laptop, I will never be able to learn,” you may say.

Wrong attitude!

If your school allows you time to learn to develop laptop skills, perhaps by arranging for training sessions, you should accept the opportunity with gratitude and make the best use of it.  But if no such provisions are made, it would be in your own interest – and that of your learners – to make time to master this tool.

“But I am too busy,” you say.  It is true: teachers are busy people.  But so are all professional people.  Yet people in positions of specialization make time to develop skills required by their profession.  You should do the same.

It may be necessary for you to take half an hour here, and twenty minutes there, to learn and practise new skills.  Don’t think that you always need long stretches of time to be able to learn.

Take a lesson from the baboon in the African fable.

The baboon came across a field of pumpkins that were ripe for picking.  He took a stone and knocked a hole in the largest pumpkin in the field – just big enough to put his hand through.  Scraping around the inside of the pumpkin, he filled his fist with seeds –his favourite food – but then discovered that he could not get his hand out.  He pulled and thrashed until he realized he was stuck.  A wise old baboon came by and said to him: “Be satisfied with half the quantity and it will be easy for you to pull out your hand.”

The moral of the story: do not attempt too much at one time.  Create opportunities to learn whenever you can, such as:

break times

free periods

TV time that you could sacrifice

weekends

school vacations

any learning opportunity that comes your way.

Don’t try to devour the whole pumpkin in one go – be satisfied with a few pips at a time.

Click here to find answers to more laptop related questions.

Tags: laptops, learning, training