Technology Training for Teachers - The Right Way

Professional development is a requirement for most school districts in the United States.  This means that at various points during the year every teacher is sent to a meeting or someone is hired to come into the school to train them in some new educational strategy that the system feels is important to the school.  Some schools allow the teachers to pick their own training however even this training normally requires them to sit and listen to someone else doing a presentation about this new strategy. 

Today in education we have three different types of teachers.  The first is the Tech savvy individual which will take technology and play with it until they understand everything they need to and then figure out ways to integrate it into the classroom.  This type of teacher is a rare breed and in most schools you might only have a handful of them.  The second type of teacher is the one that knows how to use a computer and is not afraid of technology but does not have the time or desire to play and learn more.  This type is the majority of teachers in our schools today.  The final type of teacher is the one that is afraid to use technology in their classroom because they do not understand how it works and if something goes wrong they would not be able to deal with the situation.  This type is a dying breed in our schools as they are typically the older generation that is still clinging to the chalkboards.  Each of these teachers needs different types of professional development opportunities.

Professional Development for Educational Technology

Let’s look at each of the types of teachers and what their professional development should look like.

The tech savvy teacher needs time more then they need someone to come in and teach them a new topic.  Their professional development activities should be designed to give them time to explore a new technology and figure out a way to integrate it in to their classroom.  Collaborating with another professional on a new technology would enable both of you the time to learn how to incorporate it into a classroom environment. The tech savvy teachers should be given free range to create and develop these new technologies because they will be your go to people for training the rest of the staff.  The results of their professional development should be lesson plans and training materials for other teachers to use in the future.

The teachers that are willing to work with technology but has not made the leap to figuring things out for themselves needs a radically different professional development sessions then we have today.  Training for these teachers should involve multiple sessions with homework given in between.  For every new technology you are going to introduce there needs to be at least two sessions if not three sessions given to the training.  These sessions do not have to be full day or even a few hours long, they can be as short as thirty minutes to an hour long, however what is done in each one is very important.  The first session needs to be an introduction session, this is the type of session that is done today where teachers sit in a classroom or a computer room and are shown a technology by a presenter.  At the end of this session teachers should be given an assignment to go back to their classroom and figure at least one way they can integrate this topic or technology into their classroom.  The follow up session is what is normally forgotten in technology training and is the most important aspect of this model.  This session should be around a week after the first session and should be just as long if not a bit longer.  During this session teachers should be given the opportunity to ask questions about their integration and also be given time to fine-tune their plan with their colleagues and the presenter.  This follow-up session gives the teachers the confidence to implement their plan into the classroom and to get help after they have actually tried the technology or looked at how it could possibly help them.  If you can only do two sessions you should also give the teachers the option to present their idea for implementation to the group this will again give everyone more ways to use the technology that they might not have thought of, however if you have the ability to do three sessions use the third session for presentations after the teachers have had the ability to use the technology in their classroom with their students.  Think about it just like we do with our students we teach a topic, expect them to use what was taught   while doing homework, then come back in the next class and ask questions about the topic to get more information.

The teacher that is uncomfortable with technology needs more help and mentoring when it comes to using technology in their classroom.  This teacher needs to go to the same session that everyone else will attend however their training after this initial session needs to be more focused and in smaller groups.  After the initial session a follow up session should be created where the tech mentor will come and help them create that first lesson for integration.  After creating this lesson a time needs to be scheduled where the teacher can run through the use of the technology with the tech mentor so they get an idea on how everything will work and how to fix things if they go wrong.  After they do a dry run of the lesson they are ready to do the presentation with a class.  This also needs to be scheduled in advance so the tech mentor can be there during the lesson and help the teacher with any technical problems.   The final step of this process is to use the technology again in another class however this time alone.  After working with technology in this fashion any teacher should be able to use this again in their class and start to expand their knowledge about how they are using it.  This type of teacher should then be given an opportunity to share what they learned with the others in the school during the sessions that the rest of the staff would be attending.

Conclusion

This plan takes technology training to a new level which allows all teachers to expand their thinking and become more comfortable with technology.  The tech savvy teacher gets the ability to move on and learn the hottest new technology, the normal teacher gets to learn a new technology and find ways to integrate it into their classroom, and the teacher that is not comfortable with technology gets the support they need to become more comfortable with technology.

Summary of Technology Training Plan

• Tech Savvy Teacher
  • Time given to learn new technology on their own
  • Time given to collaborate with other teachers using this technology
  • Product produced at the end of professional development is a lesson plan or training material

• Normal Teacher – comfortable with the computer
  • First session is a basic presentation
    • Introduce technology
    • Give sample uses in the classroom
    • Assignment given to integrate this technology into one lesson or class
  • Second Session
    • Question and Answers based on how each teacher is integrating the tech into their classroom
    • Collaboration time given to allow teachers to share ideas they have come up with
    • Assignment given to run the lesson produced and use the technology with their students
    • If no third session give teachers time to present their plan to the rest of the staff
  • Third Session
    • Final Question and Answer session based on how the lesson went in the classroom
    • Teacher presentations of their lesson and student feedback on the integration

• Normal Teacher -  Uncomfortable with Technology
  • First session
    • Introduce technology
    • Give sample uses in the classroom
    • Assignment given to integrate this technology into one lesson or class
  • One on One or small group sessions
    • Meet with tech mentor to create a lesson to integrate technology
    • Do a dry run using the technology with a small group of teachers or just the tech mentor
    • Do the lesson with a class with the tech mentor present in the room
    • Do the lesson with a class on your own
  • Second Session
    • Question and Answers based on how each teacher is integrating the tech into their classroom
    • Collaboration time given to allow teachers to share ideas they have come up with
    • Assignment given to run the lesson produced and use the technology with their students
    • If no third session give teachers time to present their plan to the rest of the staff
  • Third Session
    • Final Question and Answer session based on how the lesson went in the classroom
    • Teacher presentations of their lesson and student feedback on the integration

Comments

[Cecilia Lemos Coelho]

Hi Tony,

Thank you so much for sharing this training plan. I was amazed when I read it, because your descriptions of the three types of teachers is perfect. It feels like you are talking about the teachers at the school I work at (I guess this serves to show you that people are people no matter where they are from ;-)). I actually took the liverty of sending a link to your post to my academic coordinator to give her ideas (and maybe some reflection on why all the tech trainings we've had so far seem to have very little effect on most teachers.

I think you hit that nerve in your post, so well. So I thank you!

[Tony Baker]

Thank you very much I have been thinking about this plan for a long time now but finally got it down on paper. Now the key is going to be how to implement it when time is at a premium. I think the first thing all schools need is a technology trainer that is a teacher that has time given to them to carry out this plan. Then all it takes is an administration that is willing to think forward a few years instead of till the next day.