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In a 21st Century Learning Environment, how should educators learn about and learn how to use new tools?

Bucks IU's Answers

Category: not sure what was meant

• Make sure software UDL features for the “kids that fall between”
• Troubleshooting
• Adaptability
• Planning and communication
• Need to hire the people to apply the stuff
• Netsupport, netop
• self serve imaging stations.

Category: directly related to how assessment and evaluation of learning and teaching can occur, and impacts on the ways it can occur

• Rubric for expectations and degree of demonstrated mastery

Category: directly related to the responsibilities of higher education to support needs in education

• Needs to be supported with research

Category: Change in methodology

• scaffolding
• have the kids teach the teachers and the class
• need to learn together/collaboration
• Educators will learn collaboratively with their students
• Contextual Relevance

Category: changes to the roles/responsibilities of professionals involved in education

• delegation- get a teacher to spearhead an effort, a go-to person
• They’ll do it instinctively because they’ll be natives
• Flexibility
• Transition and then remove dependence on outdated tools; expectation of USE is universal and not optional
• Teachers expected to use tools, and monitored by admin
• Communication between educators and tech support to develop “what we need” into “what we have available”.
• Time to collaborate, not within a building, across schools, district, state, etc.
• Share what works

Category: directly related to the impact of interaction between students and the people with whom they interact as students and members of the community, including parents

• School Board must support and know investment will pay off
• Vendor partnerships.

Category: directly related to the technology available and/or support for the technology

• Adequate level of support is available
• Plan for backup contingency, spare parts, follow up.

Category: Training needed

• Try to make training meaningful, not always mandatory. When people feel passionate about learning or see the daily use and relevance of using technology, they will use it.
• in school support for technology in the school- pay people to learn
• Focus on teaching integration skills as opposed to new technology skills…
• Need multiple delivery methods to meet varying levels and learning styles of audience.
• Need to be taught how to apply the tools and applications to their teaching, not just the nuts and bolts.

Capital IU's Answers

Category: directly related the information that students need to learn

• Network tools show what students are downloading or accessing
• Responsible net citizenry
• teach ethics and responsible use
• monitor student use
• BE PROACTIVE. don’t spend as much time to catch the kids, but try to stop it from happening.
• Compare it to drinking, drugs education. It is our responsibility to the community.
• copyright? TurnItIn.com or educational tools

Category: directly related to the responsibilities of higher education to support needs in education

• Initial learning at the college level
• Higher Ed needs to do a better job on preparing teachers for tech integration.
• College preparation must mirror current thinking of integrating tech into the Curriculum
• College Instructors - should be classroom teachers or current experience

Category: changes to the roles/responsibilities of professionals involved in education

• How do you know what students are doing outside the classroom?
• Groups of teachers submit proposals for what they see as the NEED in their classroom
• Increase productivity: Better job with less effort!
• Ask the students what they are doing outside of the classroom; they are more than willing to share and show you how
• Attend PETE&C as a member of PAECT
• Ability to tap what students are doing with technology
• Unstructured time to play
• Tech integrator
• Learn about new tools through team teaching
• Learn about new tools by identifying mentors in a district and have them help peers (http://www.lmsd.org/staff/techmentor/)
• Improve the gap between teaching and technology
• Talk to kids to find out what they are using outside the classroom and how.

Category: Educational Governance, including PDE and school boards. Directly related to the support of education by society and the impact of education on society.

• Standardizing tools used across the state so colleges and pde could prepare stuff more relevant

Category: directly related to the technology available and/or support for the technology

• Send the laptops home with the students
• Redesign the keyboard

Category: Training needed

• Professional development - give the teachers time to create resources with someone in the room to help them
• Make the teachers learning more relevant to what they need
• The teachers need to maintain and learn new tools.
• Teacher integrator on staff to help teachers on a daily basis
• Flexible professional development aligned to teacher and district needs
• Instructional Integrators are as important as tech support.
• Use tech to learn about tech
• Learn about new tools through professional development - coaching
• Big Idea: Flexible professional development aligned to teacher and district needs

Edinboro's Answers

Category: not sure what was meant

• Need to be immersed in technology: In the next twenty years – the group that won’t touch technology
• Don’t push technology – it will work its course
• Technology – if it doesn’t do something new or good – do we use it? Is technology

Category: directly related the information that students need to learn

• Incorporate projects that require students to demonstrate their new technology in such a way that we can learn how they are using it and also allow us how else it might be used.

Category: Change in methodology

• Need to be immersed in technology – bring Ipods to teachers, show them the technology kids are using – but show them how to use them in the class
• Need to be immersed in technology: Don’t do it over summer then expect them to use it later

Category: changes to the roles/responsibilities of professionals involved in education

• It is an individual responsibility to keep up on their own. You can divide people up according to learning styles.
• Why not have students use the technology they want to bring in to school to teach us how to use it or apply it to a project based lessons
• The medical profession addresses new changes in their technology by going somewhere to see it in action. Maybe we need to address this in our own profession. Networking
• Cyber classes can help adults learn – they need to play on the internet and look at what the kids are doing
• Instant Messaging is a tool for communication
• By connecting with them through some of the technology they are using.
• Allowing them to apply it through projects at school
• IM
• My Space?
• Risk-taking and support from administration
• Positive media time to see what technology is being done in the classroom
• Technology mentors
• Common goals within school of technology
• Technology conferences attended by classroom teachers
• Advocates for technology
• There seems to be a trend leaning towards bringing in outside consultants and experts from companies and IU’s to teach professional development and what technology is out there and how to use it.
• An idea was suggested to open a computer lab after hours in schools for parents and students to use.
• 21st century has to break down walls of the 186 school year: Many teachers are done at 3 and June 21st
• 21st century has to break down walls of the 186 school year: Environment has to change – many times teachers are pushing kids out the door – use to stay after school
• Hopefully come to a point where teachers just stay after school to help or check out technology skills. Start to look for it because they see a use and want to use it. Know its important.
• Need: If you don’t change how to change your teaching in curriculum, technology is not going to make a difference.
• Need: Have relevant skills that need to be taught – how will we integrate it?
• Integrate technology: Use lesson plans/standards and tweak it by adding technology. Can add pictures or gadgets for different students.
• Integrate technology: Need a plan – before you get all the technology

Category: Educational Governance, including PDE and school boards. Directly related to the support of education by society and the impact of education on society.

• Involvement of parents and teachers in decision making process
• Motivation by the educators is important. Teachers will need to be motivated to learn as much as possible. One idea suggested is a teacher buy program. This would be special pricing for teachers on computers and technology that they might then bring into the classroom.

Category: Training needed

• Extensive professional development
• Technology support with grants to work with teachers one on one daily
• IU workshops would be helpful. Also, a different method of funding to support technology is needed.
• Need to be immersed in technology: Have conferences available - after school, during school
• Need: How do we spark the interest to learn the technology for the teachers.

Kings College's Answers

Category: not sure what was meant

• Features and benefits and applications
• Practical, not showcase

Category: directly related to how assessment and evaluation of learning and teaching can occur, and impacts on the ways it can occur

• Reporting system
• Clearly establish and monitor guidelines and rubrics to evaluate any new tool and use of existing tools

Category: directly related the information that students need to learn

• Student component to in-servicing

Category: changes to the roles/responsibilities of professionals involved in education

• Student-led/drive in-service
• Modeling, observing use of tools by other teachers
• Better allocation of time; ie. Faculty meeting time used to rehash info that could be handled in emails rather than brief presentations on new uses for tools and new tools on the horizon
• Better allocation of people and time: if you go to conferences, seminars, workshops, you come back and report to the school or the district
• Incentives to share, grow, use, teach
• Collaboration, consortia, local/regional/state level sharing
• Online learning experiences

Category: directly related to the technology available and/or support for the technology

• Access to learning tools outside of school hours- remote access to your school information
• Making resources available online. – for students and teachers, parents, etc. (anywhere) – constant reinforcement
• Resource Network – Educational Portal that could push relevant information out to districts
• Web based systems where teachers can monitor what students are doing outside of school

Category: Training needed

• Scheduled in-servicing
• Conferences
• Piloting programs
• Anytime and anywhere training
• On the job training
• Training that shows not only how to use the tool but how to use it as a practical instructional tool in the classroom.
• Hands-on, authentic, practical training.

Mansfield's Answers

Category: not sure what was meant

• contracts, contracts, contracts
• utlization
• change comes hard; it is a natural thing to find change
• Learning curve.
• You don’t know what you don’t know

Category: directly related to how assessment and evaluation of learning and teaching can occur, and impacts on the ways it can occur

• How to know what students are doing with technology: project-based assessments

Category: directly related the information that students need to learn

• allow students to plan how to train teachers on their language

Category: Change in methodology

• Student-Centric education
• Make technology available.
• create podcasts that anyone can access at any point
• showcase what avid users of technology have done to change their classrooms--team approach to teaching others on how they’ve used the technology
• How to know what students are doing with technology: showcasing
• How to know what students are doing with technology: informal questioning of students--surveys
• How to know what students are doing with technology: using software that tracks progress of students--”StudyWise”
• How to know what students are doing with technology: tracking websites accessed (502 errors that report blocked sites trying to be accessed)

Category: changes to the roles/responsibilities of professionals involved in education

• Experimentation
• Online learning for educators – more time than they have now
• Teachers will have to shift their view of education
• Technical evolution will force education hers to follow (Online Course)
• The more you know, the more you have to know.
• Educators must become more flexible and adaptable
• Teachers will have to be more competitive and current.
• traditional model needs to change from standard inservice days as we know them
• need to have both an IT director but also an IT trainer on staff
• team--highly specialized IT person and specialized technology
• need someone to coordina
• positions will evolve; Keystones are a beginning
• require teachers to integrate technology iinto their lessons
• we will all have to change the way we do things
• motivation; only works if a person wants to be there
• rotating faculty teams with extensive time devoted to technology training and integration--maybe a month at time; maybe a quarter a time
• teaching in a year-round setting
• Training model to change.
• Technology integrator.
• Send teacher to conferences to see what’s new.
• Teaching year round.
• offer “rewards” for encouraging teachers to attend training

Category: directly related to the impact of interaction between students and the people with whom they interact as students and members of the community, including parents

• provide parent training on internet security
• utilize outside agencies (human services, etc.) to provide information

Category: Educational Governance, including PDE and school boards. Directly related to the support of education by society and the impact of education on society.

• there has got to be a social and cultural change to allow this future to happen
• State fund state mandates.

Category: directly related to the technology available and/or support for the technology

• virtual in-services

Category: Training needed

• more one on one training

Seton Hill's Answers

Category: not sure what was meant

• Technology advocate in the schools - a fellow teacher, teaching/training other teachers who refuse or will not work outside of school time.

Category: Change in methodology

• Give assignments that will use the tools in a positive way

Category: changes to the roles/responsibilities of professionals involved in education

• Make technology training mandatory if it will work. ACT 48 credits available for all technology training hours.
• Survey, talk to students; have them come up and show you what they are doing with all the new technology.
• Videotape all classes, create podcasts available for e-mailing, downloading to iPods, etc.
• Superintendents and principals find the people to show others how to integrate this technology

Category: Educational Governance, including PDE and school boards. Directly related to the support of education by society and the impact of education on society.

• Make the PA Keystone programs more widespread

Category: directly related to the technology available and/or support for the technology

• How do teachers know how the students are using the new technology? See it on the news

Category: Training needed

• 30 minutes of ACT 48 training every morning for technology training. On-line training available anytime to any school district employee. Funding provided by vendors/tech manufacturers. Anytime/anywhere learning/training.

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