The school’s web developer echoed the overarching premise behind the workshops:

“Seriously though, I do know that unless the faculty becomes fluent in the technology, it will never be an effective teaching tool -- independently of whether or not it should be an effective teaching tool.”

The question is what is the best way for faculty to gain fluency, without spoiling the efforts of the web developers who are constantly shifting and realigning the focus of their efforts to give faculty the tools to enhance teaching and learning. Again, in the words of the school’s web developer: “My experience to date has been that faculty rarely, with a few exceptions, think out of the box and make suggestions, so I'm not sure where we end up; we can build this stuff, but do the faculty and students really want it and do they have the time and desire to use it?”

These are very real and valid concerns. He continues his thinking: “It is not unlike the diet book craze. If people acted rationally, there would be one diet book in the world because they all basically tell us to eat less and exercise more. But since people fail at that, they think, “Oh this new catchy title will fix all my weight problems” and they buy a new book. Technology operates the same way. If blogs and email don’t seem to work, then RSS feeds and Ning will solve all our problems, when in fact they won’t.”

The teacher led workshops, while broadly hitting on a variety of applications, such as Keynote and Electronic Mindmapping, whetted the appetite of faculty, but also crystallized how much work they still have to do. Also, the workshops occurred out of context, even though the workshop leaders shared how they incorporated applications inside of curriculum. For the amount of effort that went into preparing the workshops, there was little direct or indirect yield, other than a feeling of inadequacy among many of the teachers.

One longtime tech educator urged patience in dealing with faculty development: “You need to allow for organic growth, teacher to teacher. The most effective and lasting way for teaching to change is when one teacher shares with another, grows inspired, and experiments with a new application. Force-feeding technology through workshops can sometimes backfire and actually slow growth.”

The most dramatic example of a change in teacher behavior toward technology in the classroom occurred with one of our longest tenured faculty members. A year ago, at one of our early faculty meetings that dealt with technology in the classroom, this teacher stated that she would rather stick to pencil and paper instead of using laptops for learning. A year later, she has completed a 180. Her course is online, she uses blogs, she includes links, she meets with developers from CK-12, she invites experts to speak to her students about effective Internet research, and she takes risks in front of her students, confident that she can learn, but knowing that she does not have all of the skills at her fingertips.

When I asked her why and how she had changed her attitude toward technology, she explained: “I was stuck and I don’t like to be stuck. I like to take risks and I could see the possibilities of the library of knowledge. For example, I looked up Don Quixote on Google Books and found an 1854 translation. That’s just unbelievable.” She continued: “I can’t deal with the hardware and I don’t want to deal with the hardware. Let tech do that piece. I want to play with the software with kids. I like to change and grow. It’s what keeps things interesting.” However, she admits to her discomfort: “I don’t like it. It’s hard for me, but I’m going to do it and keep on doing it and I’m at a school that prides itself on innovation and risk-taking, so I’ll be okay.”

She still likes her little mini-notebook to keep track of her to-do lists, even though she owns an iPhone and could use the Notes application. “It’s too much work to take out the phone, click on the application and then peck on the keypad to type in my notes.” But, one of her students pointed out, she would use it if there were an easier to use version.

And, that’s the reality of technology. There is always one more level to go to. She likes to joke with her husband, “where is the anti-gravity machine?”

Her mantra with students is “Research is not a straight line.”

Another teacher, deeply embedded in the teaching of research skills to students, notes the challenges endemic to teaching research skills today:

“Although printed material is not necessarily accurate, there is a general belief that published materials have been vetted. The dynamic and open nature of the World Wide Web does not imply the same editorial review. With the mass proliferation of blogging, the lines have been blurred further, burdening the researcher. Students must discern trustworthiness, weigh sources against each other, and separate the scholarly wheat from the popular chaff.”

She goes on to explain the tools she needs to be a better teacher: “Depth, however, entails more directed follow up after a first look. Deepening research means more than clicking the links from Wikipedia.org article to another. To research objectively and accurately, teachers need to urge students to consult published works from several sources, both online and printed. The teacher’s role is still to teach critical thinking, but there’s a whole heck of a lot more information out there to distill.”

While teachers take stock of their own ability to digest the prolific volume of information at their fingertips, one click of a button away, they also have to figure out ways to make it more meaningful for children. It is a two-step process and teachers are all over the map in their attitude toward tackling the technology. Schools do need to clear the obstacles that can impede teacher progress. Slow servers, small bandwidth, printer failures, and projector malfunctions can torture teachers and turn them against technology. “I don’t want to have to deal with hardware issues. I just want to click one button and go,” one teacher stated.

My wife’s school switched over to a new web site and she was left to fend for herself to transfer the data to the new site. As she juggles lesson planning, parent phone calls, and attention to her students, she could not believe that the school could not manage this process for her. This is exactly the kind of bureaucratic mangling that can doom teacher attitudes toward technology. It felt like one more thing to do, instead of being an integral part of her work as a teacher.

Teachers are at school to teach students, and schools cannot lose sight of this fundamental aspect of education, even as they transition to new technologies and infrastructures. Teacher development is a field of dreams, matched only by the ability of schools to streamline systems management with vision and professional development for teachers.

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