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.