Dr. McLeod presents a great question for the minds of educators to ponder, "Are we doing what is best for our students or Are we doing what is most convenient for us?" I would be more inclined to give this question more of my attention if I thought this was the root of our problems within the classrooms today; maybe 3-5 years ago, yes! The question we should be answering is:
Is it out of our hands?
According to a recent survey done by CDW-G (a provider of brand-name technology to educational institutions and government agencies) of more than 600 k-12 teachers, 51% of them claimed the most challenging obstacle in the classroom was there was not enough computers. The teachers that participated in this "teacher talk tech" survey were:
- 40% were between the ages of 35 and 49
- 45% were between the ages of 50 and 64.
- The teachers had an average of 17 years teaching experience
Even if the classrooms were filled with the technology "hardware", 76% percent of the teachers said that training is the key to increased technology use (Starr 2003). Even though this survey was almost 10 years ago, we still face the same problem today. So I propose my question again:
Is it out of our hands?
Through my short experience of teaching and knowing people in the education system, I found the most problematic issue with technology was lack there of. My first year teaching, the school I employed by was a TITLE 1 school in the ESE department. Title 1 funding is given to schools with low economical status to "provide additional academic support and learning opportunities to help low-achieving children master challenging curricula and meet state standards in core academic subjects" (U.S Department of Education 2011). The Exceptional Education Program is funded through the Florida Education Finance Program and the ESE Guaranteed Allocation which gives students the resources they may need based on their disability (Florida House of Representatives 2011).
Why was I still teaching old school?
Why was all the teachers, who wanted the technology to incorporate in the classrooms, teaching like the "stone age" in that school? It was not because they were too old or afraid, it's because they did not have access to it. Where was the funding going?
Another example I would like to use was at a school I was interning at. They had technology galore; white boards, smart boards, clickers, and they were getting ipads. They raised there funds through Smoothie Tuesdays. The school was in partner with Smoothie King and sold smoothies for $2 in order to keep up and add technology.
The following year a new adminstrator came in and demolished that custom because she did not want the students "eating in the classrooms." This was a large part of the technology funds in order to up-keep, purchase, and allow teachers to attend the proper training. Shameful.
I do believe the amount of teachers who think technology is "inconvienent" to their teaching styles is rather low and the main factor we have issues with is not having the proper funding to get the technology we need or want. Do you think:
Is it out of our hands?
Florida House of Representatives. (2011). How is Exceptional Education Funded?. In Exceptional Student Education (n/a). Retrieved from http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/FileStores/Web/HouseContent/Approved/Web%20Site/education_fact_sheets/2011/documents/2010-11%20Exceptional%20Student%20Education%20(ESE).3.pdf
U.S Department of Education (2011). Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies (Title I, Part A). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html
Starr, L. (2003). How Teachers View Technology. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech180.shtml
