When undertaking any major school change initiative, the research is
clear that the teachers — and what happens in the classroom – are key to
success. If teachers are not
onboard, change is a nice idea that won’t get traction. This means considering
their needs and views, and developing Professional Development that helps their
practice and is not just about technology. Here are some ideas on getting
teacher buy-in.
Giving teachers laptops
or tablets first means teachers have an opportunity to explore, research,
experiment and get comfortable with the possibilities before students have the
resource:
“Peck [School] knew that for technology to be integrated successfully
into the classroom, teachers had to be on board with the program first. To facilitate this, teachers were given
laptops a full year before students.” Livingston,
P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 31
“Teachers at The Urban
School [San Francisco] were first given laptops in 2000, and laptops for students were provided on mobile carts” Livingston,
P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 41
“The program [Whitfield School] was launched in the 2004–2005 school
year, when laptops were provided to all Whitfield teachers and a limited number
of students.” - Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs
That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 43
Remembering
that your teachers are adult learners as you plan Professional Development is
important as adult learners have a wealth of previous knowledge, want time to
reflect and consider possibilities, are self-motivated and self-directed:
“To
adapt to the needs of adult students, these definitions of technology-based
learning must be utilized to make its design interactive, learner-centered and
to facilitate self-direction in learners.”
– Andragogy and Technology: Integrating Adult Learning
Theory As We Teach With Technology — Dolores Fidishun, Ed.D. Head Librarian, Penn State Great Valley
School of Graduate Professional Studies http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed00/fidishun.htm downloaded 11/27/09
Making Professional
Development relevant to everyday teaching is key to ensuring 1-to-1 learning is
not an occasional add-in but is real classroom infrastructure as basic and
relevant as electricity.
“Offer training for both curriculum-specific and cross-curricular
applications. At the same time that teachers are learning about technology
integration, technology coordinators need staff development about school change
processes that support the key goals of the laptop program.” Freedom to Learn Program, Michigan 2005–2006
Evaluation Report, Prepared for Freedom to Learn and the One-to-One Institute, Center
for Research in Educational Policy, The University of Memphis, 325 Browning
Hall, Memphis, Tennessee 38152 http://www.projectred.org/uploads/2005- 2006_Evaluatio_Results.pdf
downloaded 11/22/09
”Finally, like teachers in this study, school administrators and
policymakers would need to adapt “different mindset” about teacher
professional development, which would compel them to put more emphasis than
they currently do on pedagogy before technology, rather than technology before pedagogy, to help these teachers constructively re-envision both material and
social spaces around laptop technology in their classrooms.”http://mitesol.elc.msu.edu/dmdocuments/call_sig/McGrail.pdf
– Language Arts Classroom, Ewa MCGrail, Georgia State University, Atlanta,
GA in JI. of Technology and
Teacher Education (2007), 15(1), 59–85
downloaded 11/22/09
Some schools have found
great success involving students in professional development with teachers:
“Students were hired as tutors and paired with teachers, shadowing
them and helping them complete projects.
The only thing these student tutors were told, says Levin, was ‘don’t
touch the keyboard or mouse, just be the guide’” Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE
2009, pg. 45
“Student tech teams called iTeams help teachers with technical support
and lend a student voice tothe project” Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning:
Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 51
“Students can plan
and deliver training on many topics that new laptop users will find invaluable.
You can have students do some teacher training as well. Teachers will see that
students have skills and passion about the laptops and you may find that they
actually respond better to students as technology mentors than traditional
professional development.” http://genyes.org/media/freeresources/student_support_of_laptops.pdf downloaded 11/22/09 © 2009 Generation YES Corp.
Generation YES, GenYES, and TechYES are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Generation YES
Some 1-to-1 schools have
found success setting up mentorships with teachers helping one another:
“In the pilot schools, one teacher was
designated as a RIM (Regional Integration Mentor), and was responsible for
providing support and professional development to teachers in the pilot school
as well as in other middle schools in the RIM’s superintendent region.” Pg. 28 http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/pdf/mlti/MLTI%20Phase%20One%20Evaluation%20Report%203.pdfdownloaded 11/22/09 Trading Roles: Teachers and Students
Learn with Technology, Maine Learning Technology Initiative, Research Report #3
Report prepared by Janet Fairman, Assistant Research
Professor, Maine Education Policy Research Institute, The University of Maine
Office, May 2004 –Pg. 28
Pennsylvania
required all their Classrooms for the Future PA’s Classrooms for the Future
schools to have an onsite coach.
Coaches attended boot camps and other state-sponsored “train the
trainer” activities. http://www.edportal.ed.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/classrooms_for_the_future/475/about_cff/202788downloaded 11/22/09 — And all about
coaches http://www.edportal.ed.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/coaches/482 downloaded 11/22/09
To paraphrase Lance
Armstrong, it’s not about the technology.
Helping teachers embrace 1-to-1 in their everyday practice takes
multiple levels of planning and support, but is the key factor to making 1-to-1
work.
