And that’s really my goal: I want them to leave feeling empowered that they can tackle technology challenges when I’m not around, or when there’s nobody else available to help them.
It’s hard to put teachers in situations where they’re uncomfortable, anxious, or afraid. Many teachers come into a workshop with some trepidation, a lack of confidence—or even outright resistance. But some of those same teachers who at the beginning openly voiced their displeasure—I had one who told me I shouldn’t get paid for my workshop, because I wasn’t actually showing her how to do anything—have come up to me at the end and said, “Hey, that was a fantastic workshop. I learned so much.” And, “Yeah, that actually was a pretty good idea, making us do it by ourselves.”
By creating an experiential, active learning environment, where teachers are deriving knowledge and developing strategies by doing, I’m simulating an environment I hope teachers might emulate in their own classrooms. In other words, providing students with a challenge, giving them a time limit to complete it, and having them work in small groups is an ideal active and collaborative learning environment for using technology.
Presenting students with a question, a task, or some inquiry-based challenge, where they really have to think, reflect, and work with others, can develop their critical-thinking skills and help keep them on task. This kind of active learning environment also allows teachers to circulate among their students, providing individualized attention and just-in-time support, and it enables students to work at their own pace. For those who work through the challenges quickly, I’ve prepared advanced or bonus challenges, so they’re challenged at an appropriate learning level—and they’re not sitting idly by, waiting for others to finish.
The real challenge for teachers is not learning technology. It’s developing a mindset that they can progress and ultimately succeed in using technology. Though they’re bound to fail—at least occasionally—it’s understanding that the best technology integration specialists have failed early on themselves. It’s only by overcoming failure that you develop solutions and a growing confidence that you can tackle future challenges.
Tom Daccord is director of EdTechTeacher, a professional learning organization.
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