TF V - Educational technology facilitators apply technology to enhance and improve personal productivity and professional practice.
"Although student technology use may always take center stage-and appropriately so-educators also need modern technologies in professional practice and enhancing professional learning" (Williamson and Redish, 2009, p. 101). There are so many resources out there for educators to use, but educators just have to take advantage of them. I just recently sat down with two colleagues of mine that wanted to know more about Edmodo, a educational social networking site. I had been telling them for months the benefits of this site and how I have implemented it into my classroom and made my classroom more productive. Not once did they sit down on their own to investigate this. They waited until I gave up my own time to teach them the basics. Why do many people do this? I found out about this site by being curious and playing around with it, why couldn't they? It reduces time spent on grading and retrieving student files. This is a prime example of Standard TF-V. However, you as an educator must be willing to learn and then apply the technology.
"There is delay productivity during the implementation of new technology. Yet after the delay typically follows enhanced productivity" (Williamson, 2009, p. 103). I will agree with statement in that when I have taught new technology to educators, they at first seem quite perplexed about it. Yet after some careful practice and implementation, they usually get the hang of the technology and eventually become comfortable with using it. To integrate new technology in my district and get them comfortable with it (and excited) we have something called Tech Camp every summer. There are sessions on emerging technology that can be used in the classroom. Having this type of training available to educators, in my opinion, aids them to integrate technology easier and faster into the classroom setting.
To me, e-mail is the number one tool in the workplace that enhances and improves productivity. Its quick, easy, and convenient. "In one school, the teachers found that 92 percent of parents had an e-mail address they could access at home, work or both" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007, p. 37). In my classroom, I don't have access to all email addresses, but when I do, I find that I get a quicker response from parents, or atleast a reply about their child. Whereas when I call a parent, I have to find time to actually call them and then I may or may not get in contact with them.
Although not currently used with my department, I can see where a wikispace would be a great collaborative tool to enhance both productivity and personal practice in the classroom. I have 3 other ladies in my department and we often share ideas with each via email. Why not create a wikispace to store our ideas, websites, etc ? This would save each person some time on emailing and sharing ideas helps everyone overall. "When teachers become collaborative with school improvement practices it correlates to to student achievement" (McClure, 2008, para. 4).
McClure, C. (September 2008). The Benefits of Teacher Collaboration. Retrieved from http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1682
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., and Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria: VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Williamson, J. and Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
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