Perceptions

Romano, in his book Empowering Teachers with Technology, shares several perceptions about technology, information, and the teaching and learning process. In this post, I will discuss several of these perceptions and their relevance to my experience as an educator.

1. “All human activity is driven by information; the more demanding the activity- the greater the need for information. Thus information can be termed the fuel that powers the teaching-learning process.” -As one who has grown up during the early information age, I can see the need for information for the increasingly varied tasks of the world today. I would prefer to flip the emphasis and say that the potential for accomplishing extremely complex tasks will be heightened due to the increased information availability.

2. “At the fundamental level it can be assumed that all learning is initiated by information perceived by the senses: specifically, what you see, hear, taste, smell, and feel.” -We are always learning, in everything we do. We are gaining information in every experience. The ability to relate and connect experiences and to construct new meaning is the capacity to learn.

3. “Information technology empowers teachers by amplifying their capacity to readily provide their learners the heightened sensory perceptions of multimedia.” -The majority of student acquisition of knowledge outside of school comes from the television. Students can absorb and retain information at a very high level of accuracy. Why are teachers not increasing their effectiveness by integrating the available technologies? A shift in educational thinking and training must take place.

4. “For centuries, the teaching-learning process has been primarily fueled by words- the lecture and the book- mainly because up until now, teachers have found words easier to use; not because it was determined that words impact learners better than the combination of words and images.” -Why are we continuing the educate children the way we have always done it? Is it the most effective process available? Is it easier? If we want to assist our learners in their information acquisition we need to be about doing what is best for them, not what is easiest for teachers.

5. “A verbal description alone of anything that can be seen must be considered a compromise; a compromise that takes place every day in classrooms in an age where technology makes it unnecessary.” -A picture is truly worth well more than a thousand words. Why spend the time on thousands of words when we can share several pictures? We only need to be willing to find the pictures that will tell the stories.

6. “In great part, the effectiveness of the communication phase of the teaching-learning process determines the outcome” -The manner in which information is communicated makes all the difference. Use tools for effective information communication and wait for increased achievement. TAKS prep question and test taking strategy are not the tools needed.

I am constantly looking for ways to improve my teaching. I have been given a new tool for tool belt just about every time we meet for this course. The learners I interact with are benefiting daily.

*All quotes taken from Romano (2003)

Hopes and Fears

My worst fears and best hopes for technology integration actually tie together and are closely related. My best hope is to see teachers and students partnering side by side in the learning process. As stated in our texts, our students are far more advanced in technological skills than most teachers. I hope that teachers will realize this and see the importance of teaching critical thinking and problem solving in the application of the technology without having to know how it all works. This goes hand in hand with my worst fear. The traditional role of teacher is changing and as is the case with any change, resistance is inevitable. My fear is that teachers will not be willing to give some of the power and responsibility over to the learners. I agree with the following sentiments of Dr. November (2001), “Students young and old have an unlimited capacity to add value to their communities when given the opportunity.” Why should teachers be the only ones with knowledge to be shared? I am always learning from my students, especially about technology. I found the analysis of the Apple classroom of tomorrow project that is outlined in our Romano text to be very interesting. After ten years with the top of line technology, the roles of teacher and learner remained unchanged and the technology was not used to its fullest potential. It will take a shift in teacher thinking and training to accomplish meaningful technology integration and implementation.

I can really identify with the second barrier to the effective use of technology stated by Romano (2003): “Teachers have not been provided a convincing explanation of how technology would empower them. It has erroneously been perceived by some as a threat to their professional security rather than an amplification of their capacity to function.” As a teacher, I can only communicate how little true technology use has been validated and explained to me. As a future administrator, I know that my staff will be given ample resources and understanding how the use of technology will help empower their teaching abilities. I know that the skills I have acquired and developed from this course will help in this shift of control.

Reflections from Chapters 2

I am totally on board with making meaningful connections to the world outside of the classroom. This makes learning real and helps students apply meaning. I have enjoyed using skype and other communication tools discussed in this class to enhance connections around the world. Working overseas in our international school in Rwanda, global connections are going to be key in our learning experiences. I am going to help our teachers and students with the basics of critical thinking online and then they are limited by only their own imagination. I want students to create their own inquiries into the world of information and assist teachers in developing lessons that will challenge students to make connections and gain information from around the world. As far a technology plan, I believe it will be more important to establish learning goals that are integrated into technology. More emphasis on how technology will be used as opposed to what technology will be used. We will look more at the process of putting the puzzle together than the size and shape of the individual pieces. I see loud and clear that our school system for the most part is behind, but the answer is not one swooping revolution that changes education. The answer is an integration that slowly stimulates an evolution in the system.