Submitted by Brad Edwards (not verified) on May 8, 2008 - 08:30.
You wrote, "Technology also changes the way teachers teach, offering educators effective ways to reach different types of learners and assess student understanding through multiple means. It also enhances the relationship between teacher and student. When technology is effectively integrated into subject areas, teachers grow into roles of adviser, content expert, and coach."
It's been my experience that information technology is often a daunting area for most teachers. Why? Because no one teacher can learn all there is about a software program used for integration. Look at the thick, 500 page reference books in bookstore chains on the software being used in schools. As teachers have been traditionally been the containers of all information in the classroom save the encyclopedia and library contents, it's pretty unsettling to have an administrator observe when the teacher responds, "I don't know" to a question about the software the class is using. I'd often fake it, and say, "That's a good question, Johnny, who can tell us the answer?" Chances were, there was at least one hand that shot up that told us what to do; and that empowered the student while the experience empowered the class as having some control and understanding about what they were doing. This made the teacher the facilitator, a new role brought about mostly by technology integration. I still see this today in my classes in central Maine as I did in Vermont, and I see the discomfort still in the posture of many teachers who come into the lab as I ask them to be the voice in the lab.
The role of teacher has changed
Submitted by Brad Edwards (not verified) on May 8, 2008 - 08:30.
You wrote, "Technology also changes the way teachers teach, offering educators effective ways to reach different types of learners and assess student understanding through multiple means. It also enhances the relationship between teacher and student. When technology is effectively integrated into subject areas, teachers grow into roles of adviser, content expert, and coach."
It's been my experience that information technology is often a daunting area for most teachers. Why? Because no one teacher can learn all there is about a software program used for integration. Look at the thick, 500 page reference books in bookstore chains on the software being used in schools. As teachers have been traditionally been the containers of all information in the classroom save the encyclopedia and library contents, it's pretty unsettling to have an administrator observe when the teacher responds, "I don't know" to a question about the software the class is using. I'd often fake it, and say, "That's a good question, Johnny, who can tell us the answer?" Chances were, there was at least one hand that shot up that told us what to do; and that empowered the student while the experience empowered the class as having some control and understanding about what they were doing. This made the teacher the facilitator, a new role brought about mostly by technology integration. I still see this today in my classes in central Maine as I did in Vermont, and I see the discomfort still in the posture of many teachers who come into the lab as I ask them to be the voice in the lab.
http://penobscotriver.edublogs.org/