BLOG 6; Are the Technology Dinosaurs Really Extinct?

Are the Technology Dinosaurs Really Extinct??

Input? Output? Huh? Help!

By Sarita R. McGhee

The school location where I previously worked is where I decided to return to in order to complete my volunteer hours because I am very familiar with the media center and also the Media Specialist. However, I have a completely different approach and perspective as a SLM grad student and this has especially deepened my observations of the technological lacks at this particular high school. I have consideration for the reasons behind the lacks (budget, time and need for training to implement) because of the insights that I’ve learned from this program.

As an English teacher on this staff, technology development was always offered to us during in-services and seminars, but they were always far too brief. To be honest, I think that staff members usually would tune out because who were technologically savvy felt bored because they weren’t learning about anything that they were not already using and those who were not good with new technological advances felt overwhelmed with how brief and speedy the presentations would be. And this often left those particular faculty members hesitant about asking too many questions because they didn’t want to slow down the meeting.

I observed as a teacher that the audience of the entire teaching staff was too large for learning something new, and perhaps we should have been broken into smaller groups, by grade level, or even by grade level as well as subject content to keep our short attention spans engaged. Also, these meetings and seminars usually took place at the end of a long day and after school or on Clayton County’s famous early-release days when everyone is only pretty much repeatedly checking their watches and sitting anxiously with their fingers, legs and eyes crossed that nobody asks any questions at the end to hold up the process of being released to go home! So, I think that the way that technological staff development events were held were not fully effective simply because of how they were conducted.

The truth of the matter is that we must face is—yes—there is a great divide between those who love technology and those who avoid the technology dragon at all cost. People who are intimidated by technology, (and yes, there are still some of us dinosaurs out there!) never want to let others openly know, and usually don’t address that issue until it becomes an actual issue where we have to hook up or use something new and feel clueless and have to frantically seek help—and trust me, I am probably the Queen of this mad frenzy. But the bottom line is technology is somewhat like math—some of us are just not good with it and entirely gifted in that area. And even then sometimes us dinosaurs still don’t learn anything and come on out of the cave when we receive help, we just simply learn exactly who to ask whenever we need to use that technique or device. (I am definitely guilty of that!)

But all and all, there’s good news—I must say us technological dinosaurs do honestly aim to become extinct.  

So, what the solution? I think a good way to solve that problem, especially coming from someone who fits into the group of those technological dinosaurs, is to have optional in-services and professional development events that teachers can voluntarily sign up for and then have smaller groups so that everybody can feel comfortable to ask questions in the time allotted without feeling like they are holding up the entire group. This will help with increasing the confidence to learn.

This strategy of smaller learning groups for specific technology techniques that we are interesting in learning more about by choice definitely will make some of us become more open to learning as oppose to continuing to feel around in the dark when it comes to hooking up a new piece of equipment or trying to new device that students may already know how to use in their daily lives. And really, in the long-run, it benefits the entire school team to make sure that everyone is caught up on the most recent and innovative technological advances that our school communities can offer. It makes the whole team stronger in the academic messages that we deliver to our 21^st century technological-savvy students.

I’m sure we will all agree that the School Library Media Specialist is not the person who should be solely responsible for monitoring who knows what when it comes to teachers and technology, because that would be an unfairly, impossible feat, however, the Media Specialist definitely be a willing, patient, primary resource that teachers should be able to reach out to for assistance and guidance. I think it is our responsibility as Media Specialist to lend ourselves as someone confident that the teachers and staff feel comfortable coming to for help, and with this, we should remember that the more skills we equipped others with, the better we are as team to our investment—the students. It is a give-and-take process because learners (in this case, the teachers) have to be willing to learn and those who can do have to be willing to teach what they know to others, but in the outcome, everybody wins!

I would survey to find out what the teaching staff desires to know more about and what technological skills they seek to fulfill, then create informational and interactive in-services that serve those needs. I also would have more seminars that give teachers a chance to “do” after they are shown something new, because sometimes as a teacher I used to tune out and forget about what I was shown unless I had to actually show that I had learned something about the new application in a hands-on demo way. I would absorb the information more and also retain it in a more lasting manner that would actually translate to my classroom. As a Media Specialist, I want to be able to provide that kind of experience to the teaching staff that I service. I want the staff development experience to always feel like a two-way street that requires engaging, effective exchange between speaker and learner.

So, with all of these things combined, it is a definite that as a Media Specialist I will first make sure that I am patient and open with my teammates so that they feel comfortable coming to me with something technological that they make need help with. I also will collaborate with the technology staff member in my school to put together seminars for the varying groups of the teaching staff that we have based on their needs and technological levels. I think in order to remain engaged what a person is being introduced to must meet their level.

As Media Specialist we can fulfill our duties as technology coaches in our school environments by making certain what we have shared and solid vision and mission about what we are advocating for when it comes to technology. Ultimately, I believe meaningful implementation of technology should drive our goals because everybody knows that kids these days can really pick up on the method of using what I called “empty technology”, which in essence can be seen when a teacher has a bunch of upscale technology devices and fancy gadgets hooked up and handy, but it doesn’t actually add any more clarity to the assignments or instruction. We’ve all seen this at least once in our careers, and we all know the results—students still tune out.

So, as far as the ISTE standards go, I think the Media Specialist modeling and guiding teachers to use technology in a meaningful manner so that the message does not get lost in the sauce of the tech-geek sophistication is a great and simple notion. We don’t want our students to experience technology overload just for the sake of technology! Basically, don’t let technology substitute for good old-fashion teaching; instead allow it to enhance, accent and compliment the instructional message.