Technology Integration
Recent research indicates that although teachers are eager to use technology for professional and curricular activities, a lack of teacher development programs and time needed for experimentation hinder teachers' skills and knowledge. If teachers are to become the link between students and technology, they must be trained, not only in the technology itself, but on how to use these skills with students.
Staff Development
Education has always been slow to change. Technology use in the schools is no exception. Teachers give many excuses for not using technology. Not having enough resources, computers not working when needed, and lack of practical-based training are but a few. The most common heard grievance is that learning technology and how it should be used takes too much time. Others are not comfortable with the idea that technology is the tool that is being used to change their teaching methodology. At the source of these excuses is an underlying skepticism that even if teachers change their philosophies about teaching, technology will not be able to revolutionize student learning enough to make it worth the effort the change would require.
Teachers' personalities, their philosophies, their competence with using technology, the traditional model of education, and lack of resources and time all contribute to technology's curricular integration. Often, professional development workshops form their own achievement road-block. Like students, every teacher has differing needs and levels of expertise. Decisions on what type of workshops are needed by teachers become very difficult. A one-size-fits-all approach to specific needs is a common solution rather than a diversified program allowing individualized instruction and time needed to apply what the teachers are learning.
Integrating the use of technology into curriculum areas is the primary objective of Inverness Primary's Technology Improvement Plan. Realizing that goal requires creative and innovative staff development strategies. The new school year promises to be a challenging and a rewarding one. As the year progresses we hope to add examples of teacher successes on these pages.