Why I am a Tech Coach

Being a helping hand to those who have been passed by the techno-revolution is what being a tech coach all about. There is a dualism in today’s educational faculty, those who have technology skills and those who have not.
While the technologically adept teacher embeds technology in their instruction and creates an innovative classroom, the teacher who has not made the switch is commonly branded as old-fashioned, behind-the-times, and ineffective.
While there is no doubt that times have changed, there is a doubt about this population’s ability to adjust to the new technologies that are flooding the instructional community.

What are the factors holding these teachers back from jumping into the “edu-tech” pool?

• Fear of Humiliation- for a teacher that is used to being the expert and showing others the way, it can be a humbling and frightening experience to try something their students do better than they can.
• Lack of Equipment - if the school district has not invested in the equipment, the teacher has no resources to learn and teach with technology .
• Lack of Training - many teachers have learned and taught themselves the basics of using technology simply by playing around with programs and computers, they have taken courses, and some have even asked their students for help. However teachers currently lacking technology skills do not fit into this category. They are individuals that need a guiding hand to competently and compassionately show them the way.
• Lack of Recognition - some simply do not recognize technology’s applicability to their situation, they see technology as a non-constructive way for their students to waste time.

All of these factors can be overcome with time and a dedicated group from within the teaching community that can bring training with compassion. They can share from a teacher’s point of view how technology can be used in a multitude of situations to positively affect instruction.

When this approach is paired with district support to push-out technology resources into the teachers’ hands, a radical change occurs.

Wiki Spaces

Wiki Spaces is a free wiki hosting site. We used it to plan our meetings, write lists of ideas for trainings, create our wish list for supplies, and I’m thinking of authoring a potluck luncheon with it too! Potluck aside, this is a seriously simple way to get ideas going among a group of people that may not be able to get together in real space, but with a wiki they can get together in cyberspace.

Other uses for wiki spaces:

• classroom site to share information and post homework
• classroom site for discussion, each student can post their thoughts
• school site to post faculty opinions
• school site to share resources and communicate committee progress
• department sites to plan and research
• research repository that can be accessed from any location
  

Wiki’s are fun to play with and have a lot of practical purposes.
The Wiki Spaces site is user friendly and has simple functions. It’s not too fancy which is a bonus for teachers who just want the basics.

Not sure what a wiki is? Go to this site.

Happy Wiki-ing!
To get your free wiki at wikispaces go to: www.wikispaces.com

Schoolkit, edClass, PdPoint, and all that Jazz!

SchoolKiT is a web based technology integration program with a lot to offer. SchoolKit has two sections which we are testing in our demonstration schools; student lessons with technology integration and teacher lessons on applicable uses of technology for their classroom. ScoolKiT also has a program called tech-steps which our district chose not to use.

The lessons on EdClass are for students. Teachers can chose a lesson to work on as a class, or create a student log-in for independent work. The user simply chooses a lesson, opens up a “book” which contains step-by-step directions for completing the project. Everything the user needs is contained in the book, templates and action buttons which will automatically open the neccessary programs while keeping the instruction book open on the side. Users are then able to read and follow the directions without awkward toggling between windows.

The teacher lessons in PdPoint are interesting and based on practical projects to be used with students. The method is the same as for EdClass, users open a book that contains everything they need to complete the lesson, and every lesson is based on common programs that are used to create teacher materials (spreadsheets, power-point, paint programs). There are three types of classes available, self-paced books, anytime workshops, and instructor-led classes. There is a feature for creating a personal technology professional development plan with a tracking tool to help the user manage their personal goals in developing 21st Century Skills. They even have an option to apply for academic credit through several universities for the instructor-led classes.

I worked with PdPoint extensively before our training schedules became more rigorous and limited my time to complete the books. I like School Kit’s straight forward simple directions and clear use of technology to imrove students and teachers proficiency with 21st Century Skills. There is a goodly amount of lessons to browse on different levels and subject areas.

The one draw-back for our use was that we are not at the point where our teachers only need help embedding technology into their classroom. I wish that were the case, but we are struggling with the basics of getting teachers to become friends with their computers and become more proficient in their personal use of technology. This system is great if you are trying to break your school out of the “power-point rut” and offer them ready made lessons in an easily digestible format.

Captivate

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways:
1. You create simple movies of my movements on the computer screen.
2. You let me add sound via a microphone so that my audience may have verbal instructions and the opportunity to appreciate the melodious sound of my voice.
3. You impart instant understanding and world peace.

Well, two outta three ain’t bad.

Captivate is a software program that is simple to use. In one hour we were able to install it and start recording files of our movements on the computer screen. First we had a lot of fun, then we got down to the nitty-gritty of creating something practical for our teachers. Our district has a help button on the computer desktop that one of our technicians created. It gives end users the ability to notify the I.T. department of technical difficulties. It’s a wonderful tool, chock full of useful links.

But how do we get our not-so-savvy computer users comfortable with the application and help them understand it’s use?
Instructional sheets are a super idea, but teachers don’t read their mail.
Instructional emails are good, except we have a large population of teachers that don’t know how to check their mail, and others who don’t read their mail.

Going door-to-door and showing teachers would be fabulous, except we are but a simple band of five small technology coaches in a district of 140 schools.
However with Captivate, we can create a bank of common trainings and post them on a website, wiki, or blog and then teach teachers how to click and learn!

I’ll have to share some here on the blog once we really get going.

Fabulous
=^)