Tips for Technology Integration Educators For others that encourage teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum, I offer you some advice. Learn to live by the 3 P's. Patience, Persistence, and Practical Patience You cannot expect every teacher to integrate technology over night. It takes time. It takes lots of time. Teachers have about a bazillion other things that they need to do and now you want them to do what? Be patient. Once teachers recognize how technology can encourage student learning and even make activities fun, they'll use it. But until then, be patient. You can plan on it taking at least 5 years for someone to feel totally comfortable using technology. Work with the teachers that are more willing to use technology to advance their skills. Others will notice what they're doing and wonder how they might be able to do that. Persistence I said be patient, but don't give up. Sometimes you just have to be "pushy". Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some teachers just need someone to keep reminding them about how they could use technology in the classroom. Continue to keep your eye open for resources that relate to their curriculum and share it with the teachers to try to get the fire started. If you find a project that might be a possibility for them ask if they'd like to participate with your assistance. Keep asking when you might come into their classroom to show students how to use a particular piece of software. Once you have students hooked, teachers will be pushed to do more by them as well as you. Practical Remember it takes time to integrate technology. It's easy to install the equipment but expecting everyone to know how to use it and want to use it, is another story. Make realistic goals. Don't expect teachers to all have a class website, online units of instruction, student created presentations, video conferencing, edited videos, and their own collaborative Internet project all at once. Work in chunks. Let them nibble as much as they can and then move on to the next morsel. It may seem like baby steps to you, but to them it may be a giant step. Don't forget about training. For years, schools have been buying tons of equipment, but failing to train teachers how to use it. Another thing about training. It's not just about showing teachers how to physically use the software. Remember to train them how to incorporate it into what they already do. Show them what they can do with the software once they get past the nuts and bolts with the software. What's the final construction going to be? If teachers are starting a project with a particular software in mind first, then they're doing it wrong. They should first look at what they teach. A unit on the solar system or unit on the writing process... Maybe they are starting a new unit and just want something different than traditional paper and pencil assignments. After they decide what they'd like to enhance, now they select what type of technology will work best. Maybe it's a slideshow presentation or maybe just creating a hotlist of sites for students to research a particular topic or it might be creating a brochure or a poster. Let the curriculum be your guide and then decide what technology to use.

Barriers to Expect Time Teachers need time to learn how to use both the hardware and the software. Time to plan. Time to collaborate with other teachers. Time to prepare lessons and examples. Time to teach all the "stuff" that they do teach. Be creative on figuring out ways to give them time. See if you can't get a substitute to watch the teacher's classroom so they can get some time to work on a project. Offer time to get training and work time in the summer. Training Like I said above, teachers can't be expected to use the technology if they don't receive any type of training. Resources Depending on your school situation, you may not have all the latest gadgets and bells and whistles. Without the equipment and appropriate software it is difficult to integrate technology. Try to utilize what you have. Support Teachers need someone to guide them through the first steps. Maybe they want to do something in the classroom with computers, but don't feel confident to try it on their own. Offer support even if all you do is stand in the back of the room in case the computers don't work. Give them your support. You need someone to help them onsite. Administration support is critical. If the people who are your "leaders" for your district don't feel that technology integration has a place in education, then don't expect too many teachers to jump on your bandwagon. Let's face it, you may be the tech "guru" with all the cool toys but the administration is the "boss". If you do have support of your administration, work with them to develop ways to make this visible to your staff. Be sure that they are using technology and the staff sees it. Discuss whether evaluations can have a tie to technology use. Have conversation about how technology could be incorporated into daily routines or inservice meetings. CHANGE Just because you thought the mobile lab with 15 iBooks was the coolest thing since the LC580, doesn't mean all of your staff will think the same. When you ask teachers to integrate technology into their classroom, you're in fact asking them to change. Not only are we asking them to adopt a new tool in the classroom, we're asking them to change the way they teach their students, which might include changing the role of the teacher in the classroom and the way the classroom is normally operated and maintained. Many don't deal well with change. Some often refuse it, claiming what they currently do in the classroom has worked for the last 10 years, so why change now. Honestly, none of us likes change. It makes us uncomfortable and unsure of ourselves. But, change does make us a better person. Ask anyone who has gone through a change, and I bet they will tell you that they learned alot because of it.

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E-mail	Created April 15, 2002 Last Updated April 24, 2002	District Homepage
	© Luann Andresen 2002 -K-12 Technology Coordinator Manning Community School
landresen@manning.k12.ia.us	Manning, Iowa	Home