New technologies

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.