Teaching with technology

As Fiona pointed out on her page regarding opposing views to technologies in education,  there are many issues associated with using new technologies in the classroom. I predict that these issues pose a threat to the success of integrating technologies into the curriculum, and therefore need to be addressed immediately.  

•  Attitudes of teachers

 A major problem revolves around the attitudes held by existing teachers and school leaders towards the use of new technologies in the classroom. Many teachers are reluctant to embrace new technologies due to reasons such as: 

-Not feeling confident in using new technologies

-Not being convinced of the value of using technologies

-The “micropolitics of access” – i.e. having to compete with actual ICT classes for time and access to resources

-Feeling threatened by change (Watson 2001 p251,259)  

Studies have found that another major factor in the reluctance of teachers to adopt technology involves the fear of being embarrassed by students who appear to be more knowledgeable in the technology’s functions (Honey & Moeller, 1990; Kerr, 1991; Sheingold & Hadley, 1990 in Hodas 1993 ).  

•  Equity and access – private (advantage) and public schools

   The issue of access and equity with technologies is vital in both primary and secondary school settings.  Schools are now attempting to implement ICT policies which cannot be realistically delivered (Watson 2001 p258). Many schools, in particular government schools in Australia and in other parts of the world, are lacking in resources made available for both students and teachers.  Watson suggests that it is not the resource itself (technologies) but the restricted access to it that causes problems (2001, p257). The availability of computers and other new technologies greatly restricts how and when teachers can utilize digital resources in their teaching. Access is also limited to Indigenous Australians, and rural and isolated youth (Toomey 2002). Inequalities with respect to access to technologies are influenced by socio-economic status, gender and social capital (BECTA 2007 p71) . These issues of equity and access to technologies need to be addressed in order for ICT policies to be achieved.  

• Safety     

 Another major issue concerned with the use of technology in schools is safety. There is a great deal of inappropriate content on the Internet such as pornography and bad language (Richardson 2006 p10). As teachers, we must be aware of the dangers of using technologies which make use of the Internet, and also model and explicitly teach students appropriate behaviours. Strategies to address the issue of safety could include blocking and filtering certain sites such as myspace and some blogs (Richardson 2006 p10). We can also teach students ways in which to navigate safely, i.e. what not to click on and how to gauge website content in advance, limit the amount of freedom they have to surf and show them appropriate ways to react when certain situations occur (Richardson 2006 p10). It is also important to make students aware of the dangers of giving personal information out over the Internet and to ensure anonymity of students when publishing online (Richardson 2006 p12).       

•  Ict training for teachers       

Problems can arise when teachers are pressured into integrating new technologies into their teaching, but do not possess the knowledge, skills or confidence in such resources and teaching methods. Many existing approaches to teaching using ICT are mainly teacher-centred and emphasise skills only (BECTA 2007 p17). Many teachers thus focus on learning how to use the technology, but lack the skills and knowledge of how to use the technology on an on-going basis in the classroom, across their teaching methods. Teachers therefore need to be provided with relevant skill development in ICTs and also new approaches to teaching and learning using technologies (Toomey 2002).

• Plagiarism and moral conduct 

As students are increasingly making use of the Internet to assist them in their coursework, there is a strong need for teachers to be aware of the issue of plagiarism, and to encourage moral conduct with students’ use of technologies. There are now new ways that students can cheat, including purchasing essays from the Internet and copying and pasting information from websites. Teachers must therefore ensure that students are aware of what plagiarism is and how it can happen. Teachers could work collaboratively with students to create policies on the issue and regulations on the penalties of plagiarism in the classroom (Gajadhar 1998). We could also teach students how to acknowledge their sources properly to avoid plagiarising. As children are increasingly gaining exposure to the internet at young ages, it is important to make students aware of the issue in primary school, so that they are prepared when they commence secondary schooling. The use of ICTs in the classroom can also be the cause of new forms of disruptive behaviour, such as illegally copying software and changing or deleting other people’s work (Leask and Pachler 1999 p38). Teachers therefore need to learn how to detect plagiarism and also ensure that students behave appropriately in the classroom when using new technologies.

- Rebecca Manuel

References

 BECTA 2007, Condie R. & Munro, B, Impact of ICT in School: A Landscape Review [Section 5] , Coventry, UK: BECTA, viewed 24 February 2008, <http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/impact_ict_schools.pdf>

Gajadhar J 1998, “Issues in Plagiarism for the New Millennium: An Assessment Odyssey”, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec98/gajad1.htm viewed 24th February 2008 Hodas, S. (1993, September 14). Technology refusal and the organizational culture of schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 1(10). Retrieved [date] from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v1n10.html.Leask and Pachler 1999, “Learning to teach using ICT in the secondary school”, New York : Routledge p38

Watson, D.M. (2001). Pedagogy before Technology: Re-thinking the relationship between ICT and teaching, Education and Information Technologies, 6(4) pp 251, 257- 259