Here in Vermont, we were recently asked to fill out a survey for the VT Department of Education about technology in our schools for a variety of purposes. We had to determine how many teachers are meeting the NETS for Teachers and how many are not. There was another question about the percentage of technology integration happening in different subject areas (The Arts, Literacy, Math, Health, etc.) and we have to reply with Low, Medium, or High technology integration.There were other questions as well.
I shared this information with the teachers in our middle school to ask for their assistance in answering the questions. I asked them to self-assess on whether or not they met the NETS for Teachers. And, depending on what they taught, they replied about the % of technology integration happening in their subject area(s). I’ll be doing this with the elementary level teachers next week as well.
As I look at the results that are in thus far in preparation for submitting the overall survey back to the state, I am faced with a conundrum. It appears that many teachers who use technology themselves felt that meant they integrated technology into the curriculum. There’s often confusion about the two: integrating technology and using technology.
How do we help teachers accept that while they are using technology (and we need to applaud that), they may not in fact be integrating technology? Using technology is certainly a step toward integrating technology, but without the content and pedagogy. I’d like to sensitively work with the teachers so that it’s a learning experience and not demeaning to great professionals.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
[...] get more teachers to integrate technology. Do we want them to stop using it? This reminds me of a previous post where I pondered the difference between using and integrating technology. I don’t think we [...]