The Year Ahead 2011

The Year Ahead 2011

In this reflection I will speak briefly on the events of the last two weeks in the role of an acting team leader. I will start of with thoughts that stems from the same belief that led me to advocate the use of technology in the teaching and learning. The final part contains my sense of the future after the last two weeks events.

Why Should a School Become involved in technology?

There is so much criticism of technology use in education. In our classes, we all see little use of technology in the teaching and learning and formal curriculum seems a ready focus for blame. In my view, I have met the enemy and he is us. Teachers have for many years divorced themselves from the opportunities to use some of these technologies as part of the education. This means that we conceded entirely the preparation of future students to people with limited confidence and competences in using technology. If we want to pluck the ripe fruit from the tree, we really should spend some time watering the roots. Some technology research practitioners are beginning to influence curriculum and standards at the national level. But there continues to be a need for individual schools to work on at the local level.

Persuading the Team

Convincing the team to commit to technology involves building confidence in the members by means of support through individualized training, technical help and admitting the possibility of hiring external specialist. I have a small advantage in that the teachers are themselves inclined towards technology use in their teaching and learning. Perhaps the strategic goal of the school mentioned was a factor too. In any case, the vast majority of the team supported ICT integration in their curriculum. Yes, there were some objections and questions. It isn’t that we have not already many things on our plates. But in principle they saw the need for and advantages of becoming involved in technology integration in their teaching and learning.

On the other hand, there were questions as to exactly how a technology integration curriculum should look like? Should it be implemented for the whole level? Should we insist on implementation for all teachers? There was discussion – a very healthy event. The prevailing opinion was to concentrate on the requirement of each department and invite teachers to participate in the implementation through their individual department professional learning teams.


The Future

I see some encouraging developments connected to technology implementation in the various departments in our school. The professional learning team is making good contacts, and we are getting feedback form a variety of sources (teachers and students). I am learning some background in technology-integrated programs and becoming acquainted with people on and off school who have a role to play in such technology implementation. They have already begun what I feel will be an extremely important part of education: facilitating the involvement of the various departments in technology integration.

There are more demands for the time for us. I also worry about teachers spreading themselves too thinly and I intend to raise a cautionary note periodically. Technology integration only serves as support to the actual teaching.

I will have a more complete picture of the state of technology implementation in a few years. In the meantime, I will try out different programmes. The road is not smooth, straight, or well laid out. There are risks, but the payoff for success is enormous.