Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 27 (1999-2000) November (No. 3)

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Simply placing technology in classrooms or computer labs does not mean that teachers will know how to use it or that the curriculum will be better for its presence. Teachers already have so much to keep up with—daily lesson plans, classroom management issues, grading, new standards, assessment strategies, and more paperwork. Whew! Add a computer to the mix and what teacher wouldn’t feel overwhelmed?

Teachers want to provide the best learning environment for their students, but many do not have the time to figure out how to incorporate technology into their curriculum, let alone teach the technology skills that students will need for their future. Naysayers complain that computers cannot replace good teachers, while proponents know that technology is a tool that can motivate students to appreciate both the subject area and how it connects to the real world.

The goal for technology staff development is to help both the gung-ho and the more resistant teachers use technology as a dynamic part of the curriculum. If we don’t consider teachers’ needs, we will continue to get comments such as, “You technology people think you know so much, but you don’t understand what we have to teach.” As a staff developer, I have delivered full-day workshops that were not customized or relevant to most of the teachers there. They were well attended, and evaluations were positive, but, in my heart, I knew my approach was not effective. In fact, later comments showed that the teachers could not transfer what they learned to their classrooms. So, I decided to look for a new way to make a difference with technology in the classroom.

Eight Steps to Success

1. Create a team
2. Set your goals and vision
3. Identify your needs
4. Define where you are now
5. Develop a list of learning opportunities
6. Design an action plan
7. Design and support individual learning plans (ILPs)
8. Evaluate and address the effectiveness of your action plan

The team you create should have representatives from all academic areas and grade levels who—with information gathered from the entire school community—can design a vision of technology integration that will lead to attainable goals. Because teachers may not know what they don’t know, the team can provide examples of technology-enhanced curriculum projects to help staff assess more effectively where they are currently with technology use and what they need in the way of training. A list of learning opportunities offers the teachers resources to develop their proficiency levels with technology use and integration. Results of the needs assessments combined with the list of learning opportunities provides enough information to design an overall action plan for staff and for each teacher to have his or her individual learning plan to follow and revisit throughout the year.

To make the action plan successful, the school administration must offer support, time, and the appropriate learning opportunities to staff based on the ILPs. This requires more planning and time than standard “everyone must attend” workshops, but it can result in teachers who are highly motivated to use technology because they are learning what they need and want to know. With the appropriate training, accessible support, and sufficient time, motivated teachers can create exciting learning environments that include technology-enhanced curriculum projects.

Step 1: Create Your Team

A team of 10 to 20 members should design the technology staff development plan. All teachers should be represented and have a voice in the plan’s design. Encourage everyone’s input. Teachers whose opinions have been heard will accept ownership of the plan more readily. Invite representatives from each grade level for K–5 and each department for 6–12 in addition to an administrator, technology coordinator (if there is one), librarian, representatives from the classified staff and district office, business partners, and/or outside experts. It is important to have an administrator as the project leader, a champion for technology and professional development. If the administrator appoints someone else as the leader, the administrator must believe in that leader and support any decisions made. The leader works as liaison between the team, the administration, the staff, the school board, and the larger school community. The team needs to know that all decisions are supported and promoted by the staff and championed by the administrator at the site and district levels.

The members of this new team may never have worked together, so they must build trust as a team. The first meeting is the time to get to know each other. Ask members to introduce themselves. Explain the norms of working as a team. All members come to the table with their own knowledge and skills to share. Each member needs to support risk taking and each other.

Not all team members will know their roles. They know they are there to develop a staff development program involving technology, but they do not know what is expected of them. The leader can explain the following tasks at the first meeting:

• State charter or purpose of committee
• Define time commitment, what is expected of each member, and timeline for project
• Define subcommittees of smaller groups and have roles defined after first meeting
• Set a mission
• Create a project board (who does what by when?)
• Design visioning session with staff

Step 2: Set Goals & Vision

Why do you need a common goal? Any plan needs a goal: what the school will look like in the future, what the students will be doing and how they will be learning, and what instructional strategies teachers will be using. As Yogi Berra said, “You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going….’cause you might not get there.”

A technology staff development plan should not be separate from other reform efforts going on in the school. Review the school improvement plan or any recommendations from program quality reviews. At faculty meetings, team members can share videos of classes using technology as part of the curriculum (e.g., George Lucas’ Learn & Live documentary, available from www.glef.org). Group teachers by grade levels and share the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (www.iste.org/standards), which details what students are expected to know about technology use at different grade levels and gives scenarios of classes integrating technology. Put in teachers’ mailboxes or e-mail any articles on trends and the future of technology in education for discussion at future faculty meetings. As part of a visioning session, invite all stakeholders to brainstorm what your students and teachers will be doing in the future. Create a poster of what your school will look like in the future, and then post it in the faculty room for everyone to see. Talking about your school of the future will build excitement and increase teachers’ sense of ownership in the action plan.

Understand Adult Learners

Adults have specialized needs. They bring a highly developed set of beliefs about what is and what is not appropriate in a given situation. Over the years, they develop a comfort level and attitude for dealing with change. Teachers do things that work for them. If teachers seem resistant to using technology, find out why and work with them. Resistance usually results from fear of any change or innovation. Any technology use has to be relevant to what the teachers are doing or plan to do with their students. On the other hand, teachers may be excited about using technology, but a lack of resources, support, time, or a flexible curriculum can affect their actual use of technology. Workshops that try to reach everyone’s needs do not work. Even when you are doing a presentation or demonstration of a program, some teachers will be questioning why they are there and, in particular, “where does this fit in my curriculum?” and “when do I have time to learn this or create new materials that use this program?”

Adults progress through stages of concern as they learn and work with technology (Figure 1).

Teachers also go through levels of technology integration (Moersch, 1995). They may feel they are integrating technology when they are actually just using technology as a reward. Technology may not be a necessary piece of the lesson or used to understand the concept they are teaching. Integrating technology is a difficult strategy for many teachers because they may have been teaching for years, have a tried-and-true curriculum, and do not see the relevance or benefits of technology. Technology changes so fast. Some teachers may not know how to keep up. Moore’s Law states that technology will double in power and decrease in cost by half every 18 months. New technologies continue to be demonstrated or purchased before they are ready for use. Many of our teachers have still not jumped on the bandwagon for fear they will fall off.

Step 3: Assess Teacher Needs

Step 4: Define Where You Are Now

After surveying each teacher, have a brainstorming session to create your “where you are today” chart. This dialogue is important; no judgments are allowed. What technology is being used? How? How is instruction delivered? How are the students learning and interacting with each other and their teacher in the classroom? If everything is great the way it is, then rethink whether you need any changes. If changes are needed, post opportunities and constraints along with the “where we are today” and the “vision” charts on the wall in the faculty room for all to see and offer feedback about. Keep all challenges on the table so everyone can discuss how to overcome them. As they start to integrate technology into their daily routines, teachers can refer back to their “where we are today” assessment information for periodic reality checks.

Step 5: Develop a List of Learning Opportunities

Because teachers may not be aware of staff development opportunities available to them, it is important to create a list of on- and offsite resources. These may range from basic skills lessons to demonstrations of technology-enhanced projects for specific curriculum areas to hands-on, project-based institutes. Make sure teachers know what technology is available to them and which software programs are outdated. They may not know about programs such as PowerPoint that come with easy-to-use wizards or HyperStudio, which students typically learn easily. They need to know computer labs are not the only way to reach students.

Because staff development days may be minimal, you may have to become more creative about how to meet the needs of all your teachers. Provide examples of student work and how technology can support curriculum. Ask teachers at neighboring schools for ideas. There are many ways to build skills and to develop enthusiasm for technology as part of the curriculum. These are just a few:

• Schedule time at staff meetings throughout the year for “technology moments.” Teachers share a student project, something they created, or any success they’ve had using technology.
• Provide e-mail to all teachers and gradually shift most communications to e-mail. When teachers receive the important information by e-mail instead of paper, eventually they realize that to stay in touch means checking it regularly. This is a hook that seems to grab many teachers.
• Share articles, conference information, Web sites, newsletters, and more about integrating technology.
• Encourage team teaching. Pair a teacher more proficient with technology with one stronger in a curriculum area to play up their strengths.
• Ask teachers for their areas of expertise to share with others. If you are able to hire a roving substitute, have an expert work one-on-one with those teachers who sign up for assistance. Build a team of experts even from your students.
• Provide laptops or zero-interest loans for teachers who do not have home computers. Teachers need to have resources similar to those they use at school to be prepared to provide new teaching strategies, but it is difficult if they do not have the time at school. Give teachers the software so they can practice using it. Many software companies offer home licenses for teachers. Allow teachers to take computers home during the summer, weekends, or other vacations instead of having them collect dust at school.
• You may have to hire an outside expert to work with your on-site experts so they feel comfortable in their new roles. Working with adults is different than working with their students. Adults may need hand-holding, support material, and the knowledge that there is someone who can help them when they need it. If a teacher creates a lesson but needs ideas for classroom management, just-in-time help can be invaluable.
• Provide coaching that starts with planning, observing, giving feedback, modeling, experimenting, and giving more feedback.
• What teachers really need is time. Give them common planning time, especially now that schools are correlating standards with their lessons and asking teachers to include technology. All of this takes much more time than it used to.
• Look at your community to see what classes are offered for teachers. Some colleges, training companies, or computer companies offer vouchers so teachers can take skills classes after school and charge it to the voucher. Universities, community colleges, county offices, and regional centers offer classes for college credit. District offices may offer classes for free or for district credit.
• Many schools and districts are pursuing online training. The AT&T Learning Network Virtual Academy offers courses and has a list of other links to online courses (AT&T, 1999).

A variety of opportunities provides each teacher access to customized professional development. What works for one teacher may not work for another.

Step 6: Design an Action Plan

Step 7: Design & Support Individual Learning Plans

Now that you have created a list of the learning opportunities that are available for your teachers, help your teachers create their own individual learning plans (ILPs). (See Figure 3.) Using data collected about their stages of concern, their comfort levels and attitudes about technology, their personal visions, and their proficiency levels with different technologies, you will be able to point to specific opportunities that would best fit their needs. Because these are suggestions based on the information they gave you, you may find that their ILPs may need to be revised on an ongoing basis after they have completed some of their learning opportunities. I use a FileMaker Pro database to record teachers’ responses to self-assessment pieces and their ILPs.

Teachers can use the database to update their ILPs so they can see if they are reaching their goals. Figure 2 is an analysis of Bill’s growth by the end of the year. Have teachers in the same grade levels or departments meet and share their ILPs and their progress. If everyone is open and willing to share, the teachers in the department will realize that change takes time. Under the best conditions, most teachers will not be able to reach all of their goals by the end of the first year. Any ILP is a suggested list and guide.

Provide Support and Opportunities. So how do you get teachers to take responsibility for their own growth? Administrators need to become their champions by offering all the support they can including on-and offsite learning opportunities, required resources, and plenty of time for planning and collaboration.

Celebrate and Encourage Growth. When teachers start sharing ideas and projects, group or team projects may result. Individual learning plans take time, but you can see more results and have more buy-in if the teachers take responsibility for their own professional growth.

Step 8: Evaluate & Address Action Plan Effectiveness

After teachers start reaching some of their goals, they may realize that their ILPs need revising. Because the ILP was based on their initial input, they may realize after several months they didn’t know what they didn’t know and now they understand more. So approximately three to four months into the plan, present the existing action plan and ask for suggestions for new directions. Teachers can add any of the recommendations for new learning opportunities to their plans. Teachers like that their ILP is theirs alone, yet it is based on the school’s action plan.

Down the line, administrators will want some concrete evidence that technology is making a difference for the better. Plan on visiting classrooms, videotaping students in action, posting projects on your Web site, and discussing your successes at professional meetings. If the action plan is monitored on an ongoing basis and is working, you will find teachers and students alike staying longer at school, a higher level of excitement about course content, and more real-world projects.

Conclusion

As professionals, teachers want to provide the best learning environment for their students. They want their students to love reading and writing and to want to learn. If technology can make that happen, then they want to include it. Using and referring to ILPs will facilitate teachers becoming technology users and then transferring what they learn to their students and curriculum projects. ILPs take more time and money than traditional technology staff development because smaller workshops, coaching sessions, stipends for offsite classes, and one-on-one mentoring sessions are customized. But this is money and time well spent. If teachers get enough time for planning and focused, relevant learning opportunities based on their ILPs, then they will be more responsible for their professional growth. With this approach, the school becomes a learning organization where teachers feel they are listened to and valued and where students are exposed to a curriculum infused with technology and exciting projects.

Resources

FileMaker Pro is available from FileMaker, Inc. (www.filemaker.com).

HyperStudio (www.hyperstudio.com) is available from Roger Wagner Publishing.

PowerPoint is available from Microsoft (www.microsoft.com).

References

Moersch, C. (1995). Levels of technology implementation (LoTi): A framework for measuring classroom technology use. Learning & Leading with Technology, 23(3), 40—42.

Persichitte, K. A., Bauer, J. W., & Salazar, A. (1996). District-wide technology training based upon the stages of concern. In B. Robin, J. D. Price, J. Willis, & D. A. Willis (Eds.), Technology and teacher education annual (pp. 1009—1011). Charlottesville, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.