What will take to make IT happen?

Lately, I've been thinking about of the depressing number of teachers that I know and see who simply refuse to use any or all of the Information Technology resources that have been made available to them. It bothers me. Recently, I visited a school where the county has installed ceiling-mounted projectors and interactive whiteboards in nearly every classroom. You'd think the educators in this school would be grateful enough to use their IWs from time to time. To my dismay, only 10% of the staff does anything with these powerful learning tools. Of the scant few that do use their IWs, I'm sad to say that boring PowerPoint slideshows comprise a majority of the cognitive bill of fare. I know that we can do better than this for our children. It's getting to the point that I am ready to quit begging and cajoling teachers. I'm beginning to think that maybe I should start educating parents as to what their children's teachers should be doing. Maybe, if I cultivated a vocal group of parents who were wise to the ways that technology could enrich their children's learning potential, teachers would have to face reality and begin using the IT resources at their disposal. I believe if enough students, parents, and community members got together practices would change.

What do you think?

Comments

[Graham Wegner]

It sounds like that school has had the IWBs installed without a training program or maybe consultation and they are showing this through their inaction. At my school here, we are inmplementing IWBs in stages with boards being installed in rooms where teachers want them and they have to apply to be the next in line. We had a very informative meeting last night where we met with our pioneer teachers to reflect on whether they were ready to take on a mentoring role with the next wave of teachers. What support structures are in place for these teachers? Are they just not seeing the potential? Maybe they need a visit from some innovative, experienced teachers who can come in and run some lessons that showcase the potential. Maybe some sweeteners for the 10% would help, give them release time to plan exciting lessons and units of work, then have them "adopt" a buddy to assist them in better use.