October 2005 — Special Reports
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Teachers Talk Tech
For 21st century children, hands-on computing is a must-have skill and an entrée to a decent job.“If the kids can’t use technology, you are handicapping them,” says Rex Wallace, a social studies teacher at Jackson County Comprehensive High School (GA).
It’s not that teachers don’t appreciate the timesaving advantages of using computers to take attendance, e-mail parents, or enter test scores, because they do. But they fret over skewed national priorities and classroom computer ratios that haven’t budged over the past school year.Moreover, three out of four teachers report that they still work in a classroom environment with only a handful of computers for all of their students to share.
“Two or three computers in the back of the room are not ideal for teaching purposes,” says David Lasky, a math and computer teacher at Olean High School (NY). “In today’s world, all students need to be connected.”Unfortunately, many of these back-of-the-room dinosaurs lack Internet access altogether.
Professional Development
According to the survey, the number of
teachers perceiving their computer skills as
advanced or expert nearly tripled this
year—from 6 percent in 2004 to 17.5
percent in 2005. Teachers attribute their growing technology comfort level to a
winning combination of hands-on experience
and sound professional development.
Teacher training is evidently succeeding—at least when it comes to proficiency with Internet,word processing, and e-mail software.Although 2005 saw no change in the amount of formal professional development, teachers told us that technology training is optional but generally available for those who request it.
A gratifying finding in this year’s survey is the embrace of technology by veteran educators.The old stereotype that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks—or persuade a tenured, successful teacher to adopt a new set of tools—simply isn’t true. If anything, the impact of technology on personal teaching style is greatest among veteran educators who did not grow up with computer technology. Younger educators, like the children they teach,may not see or fully appreciate the impact of technology because it feels so natural to them.
The present thrust of professional development is on administrative applications and activities.This includes the use of assessment software for NCLB reporting. And since slightly over half of the nation’s teachers remain skeptical about how technology can improve performance on standardized tests, enthusiasm for this software is guarded at best.
Let’s think about this:What really drives learning? Is it the lecture,the textbook,oneon- one tutoring,the chalkboard,hands-on learning, homework, the competitive need to be the best, parental involvement and pressure, or technology? I believe the answer is a combination of all these elements, depending on the student and the subject, because you can’t really isolate one thing that motivates a student to learn.
