New
Technologies
It seems there are new technologies being introduced
in the world of education almost every day.
Due to our recent Title 1 funding in our school we have had a new wave
of technology programs and gadgets being delivered to our school. Sometimes teachers are not thrilled with
these new forms of technology because it means something else they have to
learn and attend trainings to figure out.
The entire process can be really demanding and frustrating. I have not had very many opportunities to
present new technology to the other teachers in my school. Recently all of my accommodation plans for my
ESOL students have been placed online and are now done electronically. Teachers have to log into the program and use
pull down menus to fill in the different forms of instruction and
accommodations they are using with the ESOL students in their classes. It is an easy process that should take less
than ten minutes to complete the entire form for their content area class. Using this technology made the process much
easier and no longer required the teacher to print out the forms and then get
half a dozen signatures. Despite a
step-by-step training session and a detailed e-mail with screen shots
demonstrating the process to use the technology, it was still met with
resistance, multiple questions, and frustrations. It seemed as if everyone was always
forgetting a step or forgetting to click on the proper links. Most of the teachers in the school just acted
like it was something else they had to do.
They seemed to get frustrated really easily despite the fact that the
technology was really easy to learn and was designed to make their lives
better. There were some teachers who
even refused to use it at all. It was
met by frustration and somewhat of a helpless attitude. Some people just refused to use it after it
didn’t work the first time and just gave up easily. There are many methods I could incorporate
using Keller’s ARCS model to motivate the teachers in my school. “Keller assumes that students or teachers
motives together with their expectancies will influence the degree of attention
and effort they will supply to a learning task.
Although effort then contributes to performance, so, obviously do the
individual’s current abilities, skills, and knowledge” (Driscoll, 2005). I would apply the four conditions of
motivation to the situation: attention, relevance, confidence, and
satisfaction. The teacher in my school
would need to be energized and motivated to use the technology in the
school. The best way to address the
problem using the ARCS system would be to have another staff development
session focusing on bringing the issue to the attention of the faculty by
telling a funny story that ties into the technology. Then I will explain the relevance of the
technology because it is a state law and it requires that the teachers use the
technology to complete the forms. I will
help the teacher build confidence with the program by showing them how to use
the technology and then having them work in the lab and use the technology
while I am there to help them. Allowing
the teachers to work in the labs individually to practice the technology will
help them build confidence and be satisfied with the program.
References
Driscoll,
M. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction (3rd ed.).
Florida State University, FL: Pearson Education, Inc.
