This post has been written by Lindsey Wright

As technology continues to make its way into classrooms, some
teachers and administrators push back and resist changes that in the
outside world have long been accepted. Advances in technology,
particularly the Internet, have made permanent changes in almost
every sector, mostly to nods of approval. With the exception of some
outstanding examples like online college courses, education is the
only sector that maintains strong resistance to these developments.
Why is this?

Traditionalists as Teachers

The education system is one of the last strongholds of a very strong
sense of traditionalism. While teachers new to the field are more
open to the integration of technology in learning, it’s important to
remember that these new teachers are part of a generation who grew up
with computers and digital technology in their daily lives. When they
graduate and begin teaching, they’re met by a vanguard of teachers
and administrators whose own first contact with technology may have
been chastising their own children for wasting time on video games.

Thanks to continuing cuts in education funding and elimination of
teaching positions, the newest teachers are often the first ones to
be cut, leaving older teachers who view technology as a time waster
rather than as an educational opportunity. These same educators are
likely to also put education on a pedestal, and see it as something
above and separate from all other sectors, something to remain
unsullied by the perceived taint of technological advance. No one
contests that teaching the next generation is an extremely important
charge, the reality is that with technology playing a crucial role in
every other aspect of our lives removing it from the education
process does our children a great disservice.

Researchers in Belgium recently conducted a study that looked at how
teachers’ beliefs impacted the use of computers in the classroom. The
researchers stressed that most teachers’ beliefs and attitudes are
established before they ever see pupils of their own. In fact, a
great deal of their attitudes about teaching and learning are set by
their own experiences as students. If teachers’ beliefs about
teaching are rooted 20 years in the past, how can we break through
and embrace the realities of today’s technological advances and the
potential they have as teaching tools?

Additionally, and partly thanks to cuts in education funding, some
teachers fear being replaced by technology. Some may have concerns
about promoting technologically facilitated learning for fear of
becoming expendable and even superfluous. After all, if learning can
be outsourced to a computer, what need do we have for human teachers?
Truthfully, these teachers have nothing to worry about. No computer
can replace human understanding and, while a computer may be able to
successfully administer a math test or proctor other simple quizzes,
it can’t help personalize math teaching to each student or grade
interpretive essays.

Getting Past the Traditionalist Mindset

How can we get traditionalist teachers onboard with technologies in
classrooms? As teachers who’ve been in the system longer retire and
are slowly replaced with teachers who grew up using technology, the
system will eventually even itself out. However, this is a slow
process and not one likely to benefit today’s children. Instead, we
need to focus on encouraging our current educators to become more
comfortable with the technology that’s already available. By
promoting workshops to give teachers a chance to interact with the
tools in a hands-on manner and present a strong focus on the benefits
these tools provide, we can convince more of today’s educators.

By demonstrating the positive learning outcomes technology can
facilitate and what benefits it can provide students (especially
those who don’t respond well to more traditional teaching methods ),
teachers may be persuaded to move past limiting traditionalist views.
It’s important to emphasize to teachers and administrators that
adding technological tools to schools is not simply for the sake of
promoting technology, but because students need the opportunity to
learn the skills that will be a part of their lives as beyond school.
The benefits of educational technological tools are countless and
traditionalism for the sake of traditionalism is just as problematic
as technology for the sake of technology.

Carolyn Marino, Principal of Westmere School, reflects here on the impact of e-learning upon the school and students as a whole in 2010.  In this discussion she raises some interesting points that will need to be un-packed in the weeks and terms to come.

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These two videos represent the final two interviews of 2010.  Jenny and Vashti have been integrating e-learning into their classrooms in 2010 and you an see and hear their reflections in these two videos.  Vashti has also recorded student reflections and once she has posted that video I will link to it here.

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This week has seen a flurry of videoing activity from me as I tour round all of the schools that I have been working with in 2010. At the start of the year I recorded the aspirations of each of these teachers for the year ahead and now they are reflecting on that year. I am asking them all the same questions, I give them no time to prepare and what I hope you see is the impact that the integration of some simple tools and a pedagogical sea change on behalf of the teacher and the effect is dramatic. Here is Maureen from Pukekohe Valley School reflecting on her pedagogical change, classroom management and student attainment.

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I have been working with staff from Westmere School since late 2009. Melissa is a Year 1/2 teacher and is in charge of e-learning integration at Westmere. In this video she shares how e-learning has impacted upon her pedagogy, classroom management and student attainment this year.

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I have already shared how Mel at Westmere has taken my suggested idea of class experts and has created her own experts wall.  She even went to the trouble of creating and sharing a template for others to use.  I have been promoting the great progress and innovation that Mel has been achieving at Westmere and it is obviously paying dividends. I was in Buckland School yesterday working with their lead teachers from the cluster and they took me to one of the rooms that is powering ahead with e-learning.  To my surprise and delight, there was Mel’s experts wall template and my experts idea thriving on a class wall that neither of us have had input into.  Proving that great ideas need spreading.  The slide show above shows the images from Buckland.

I am currently working with two schools to design and revamp their sites.  It is interesting work designing websites for schools as each has their own ethos and philosophy.  A website should be something that acts as a mirror, especially for institutions such as schools.  As such, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for schools.  I have seen several school websites recently that have been ‘templated’ by the same company and they look just that, die cast.  In fact the more you look at these sites, the more you see the company that built them than the school.