Getting There

A professor at out large university requested some information from me over the holidays. My quick replies are here:

1. How receptive is your school to the way you approach technology and learning?
It has been slow to catch on. Many faculty are reluctant to move into a true technology environment (meaning that they are using the tools for more than simply electronic pencil and paper activities). We have mostly teachers who went through college using the card catalog in their libraries and taking notes on index cards. I believe the thought may be that it worked for them then and must work for their students now. I do not believe that teachers deliberately want their students to continue doing things the “traditional” way, but just do not think about what is “traditional” to students in the 21st century who grew up with technology. It is still a new and confusing tool to teachers who graduated in the mid 90s and before. Of course there are those who are early adopters and have embraced how the tools make their work and their students’ work, easier. However, other than with researching information topics, I am still seeing true integration of meaningful technology use elusive in our curriculum. By “true technology integration,” I mean using the tools to obtain and show results in a way that cannot be accomplished without the technology, including broadening the curriculum to embrace theglobal society. We do not see much of that. I speak all over the country to groups of librarians and teachers, and see that my school is not alone in the struggle with truly integrating technology in the curriculum. For a variety of reasons, many schools still lag in true technology integration. Also, we need to revisit and rewrite curriculum to this effect. With that said, we also know when teaching and learning are best done the “old” way, such as reading from a book. There is a time and place for pencil and paper, too!

2. How receptive are the students?Oh, very receptive. Technology is a matter of course with kids. It is the way they do business. There are those students who are used to our traditional way of work, as that is how they learned in elementary and middle school and are comfortable with it. When asked last year to compare a technology based biology assignment with lecture/reading/test, 95% of the freshman class overwhelmingly and insightfully preferred it, stating that they would remember the material better, as they learned it collaboratively and through a variety of sources, instead of their teacher delivering it in a lecture that they would soon forget.

3. What are the advantages to building “integrated assignments” online?  Is it working?
Oh, yes, the integrated assignments are extremely successful. We now use wiki technology to plan and deliver the assignment to the students, as the teachers and I can collaborate online and build our own parts of the assignment (see http://library.sasaustin.org/integratedAssignments.php). Students have “one stop shopping” for all aspects of the assignment. I introduce the assignment alongside the teachers and teach the information and communications technology skills portion to the students. The students have the online assignment to revisit and review, as well as get the specifics of the assignment. We can attache rubrics and other evaluation documents so that to demystify the expectations of the assignment. Nothing is left to chance, even if a kid was overwhelmed in class or just spaced out.

In many cases, I host virtual office hours during evenings and weekends so that kids can IM or email me with information needs. I also grade my part (usually the notes, resources, and bibliography) so that I can see where I need to continue teaching the next time I have the students. I may see them in biology, then history and English. I have a broad picture of their ICT skills need, where as the classroom teacher cannot possibly keep up with what their students have had in other classes. So the integration and collaboration work to bring the best minds together for the benefit of the students.