Not Always Picture Perfect

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Technology initiatives can be ineffective for a variety of reasons, including the descriptions described in chapter 3 regarding the technologies implemented throughout the 20^th century.  In our hypothetical situation of giving students and teachers constant access to laptops and the internet, the first possible reason that came to mind was lack of proper training, both for the students and especially for the teachers.  I have seen it happen many times in schools (and have experienced it myself) where new technology is pushed out before everyone is fully prepared, and the tools are used only for the most basic functions as a result.  Proper training is needed all around.

            Another reason that came to mind is the quality of the product.  In my own experience, I have worked with tools such as digital versions of textbooks and have been underwhelmed by their quality and complexity.  From what I have seen, many textbook publishers are still placing the vast majority of their efforts on the hard copy editions while not dedicating much time to the digital version.  Some use the fact that they have a digital version of the textbook bundled with the hard copies as a marketing tool to influence potential buyers, but, so far, most of the digital textbooks are just digital images of the hard copy.

            The resistance to change is another issue that has plagued many advancements in education, not just regarding technology, and my guess is that is what happened in our hypothetical situation as well.  Teachers work hard and spend a lot of time developing their curriculum to best fit the learners’ needs.  Pushing such a drastic change on teachers is not always well received, especially by those who do not want all of their previous work to go to waste.  As a result, many teachers simply use technology to present the material in almost the same way they always have, just now with some more visuals.  This is really quite a small overall change considering the huge amount of possibilities for incorporating modern technology into the classroom.

            Two possible strategies for mitigating such issues are additional training and additional time.  As noted above, it is important for all users of technology, meaning both teachers and students, are properly trained so that their uses go beyond just the basics.  We have been able to do the basics for years, and if we are not doing more than that, we are underutilizing our resources.  In terms of time, easing into such an initiative, even more so than just limiting it to four teachers in the 7^th grade, is preferred.  Such quite and drastic changes make it hard to adapt quickly, even with proper training.  My recommendation would be to use the laptops only for a few hours a day at school to start, and gradually incorporate it more and more as the year goes on until eventually allowing 24/7 access.