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Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Teacher Training and Integrating Technology

I recently came across an article on The Town Times website titled "Integrating Technology Throughout District 13". This article is about a technology integration plan for a district in Connecticut.

As I read the article, I noticed that it described one of the current problems with integrating technology into the classroom.

What is the problem?

As the article states, there are two kinds of people when it comes to technology.

  1. Digital Immigrants - People who remember life before computers and e-mail.
  2. Digital Natives- These people are children. They have lived with technology all their lives, and it is a part of their every day lives.

Schools in this district (and probably in many other districts & schools around the world) are being filled with digital natives and they are being taught by digital immigrants.

Teacher Training

This district is trying to help teachers learn technology and how to integrate it in the classroom so technology can continue to be a part of the students every day life.

Some teachers integrate technology into the classroom more than others. The district hopes to develop a way to ensure that each student will have the same exposure to technology.

I thought this article had some great points about the importance of teacher training and integrating technology into the classroom.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This reminds of the joke: "There are two kinds of people ... the kind that segregate everyone into two kinds of people and those that don't".

It is WAY too simplistic. I teach in Dallas, and there are three levels of students in our high schools:

1) Use computers everyday, probably have broadband.

2) Use computers when they have to.

3) Don't have access one unless they go to the library and don't.

We have the same levels of teachers. Well, it isn't as bad as 3 because we were required to take a laptop test and should have been issued a computer (that part wasn't mandatory).

The ones that fall in 3) don't use a computer unless you force them to do it and they whine the whole time. The good news, is that 3) is a minority.

Most of our teachers and students fall in 2.

I happen to be one of the ones that fall in 1), though I do vaguelly remember life without email.