School Perspectives on ICT

I recently created a staff development plan for the integration of computer technology at a school level. To view the plan please click here. Through each level I noticed some reoccurring themes/considerations. 1)  Education and Practice- after a piece of technology is introduced, staff members need time to practice. They should be first given education on what the tool can do, then some time to play around with it themselves. The staff members should set some goals for using the technology. They should be given some time to use the new piece of technology in their classrooms and then reflect on their goals and experience with the tech. 2) Developing goals: at each stage, it's important to set goals for what you are trying to achieve- group, school or individual goals, it doesn't matter they need to be set so that as you work through the stages you can see what changes need to be made, which leads me to the next consideration- reflection. 3)  Reflection- it's essential that as you integrate computer technology into your schools, you reflect on goals, achievements, failures and successes.

 While creating a development plan there are some barriers to consider. Timing- it takes time to teach students how to use the different tools. We shouldn't expect them to be evaluated and assessed using programs they have never used before. A few ways to overcome them, is to create flipped lessons showing them how to use the tool. To have them experiment with the technology for homework and then ask questions in class. Incentive- let's be honest, not everyone has the time, energy or mental capacity to learn how to use a bunch of different tools and then teach them to students. Throw in a little incentive and maybe that time and energy would be easier to obtain. This could be in the way of release time for planning and technology use, or monetary incentive, subsidy's for courses that cost money (much like they did with the ICT AQ's!). Student engagement and learning is obviously a priority for teachers but it can't hurt to offer them some incentive!  OSSTF offers a lot of free training surrounding technology. There are a lot of workshops listed on their pages which can be found here.

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