Getting Teachers to Adopt Technology- What To and Not To Do

FETC 2011

Wed, Feb. 2, 2011

Notes by: Laura Hall, 3rd grade teacher

St. Luke’s Lutheran School

Session 4: 1:50-2:45

Getting Teachers to Adopt Technology- What To and Not To Do

Rushton Hurley - teacher, trainer, nonprofit guy

• Simon’s Cat video “Let Me In”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rb8aOzy9t4
• A Football Game Gives Hope - coach gets town to come cheer for convicted teens playing football

Free resources:

• xrl.us/NVnews (no www)
• shortcut to a sign up for a newsletter that he sends out once a month
• tinyurl.com/RHatFETC2011 (no www)

We need to tap into the talents that kids have that we might not even know about.

• Plus, it’s fun!

One teacher’s perspective on technology:

• It should help my students learn.
• It should make things easier for the teacher.

Part 1: Training Do’s and Don’ts

• Don’t: limit by requiring oneself to be a technology expert
• Do: remind teachers of their expertise
• ex: you don’t have to know how to do the video project yourself
• the point is that they can can convey their knowledge of the topic
• give them plenty of time (ex: give them 6 weeks to make the video, but have them turn in the script for the video by week 2)
• They’ll come up with a way to figure it out, even if they’re not the best at technology.
• Give them the opportunity to work alone or with a group of peers
• (IKEA lamp video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw
• a lot of us feel like the older lamp
• We need to remember that we’re not the lamp; we’re the light!
• Don’t: start with standards
• don’t use jargon
• Do: show something fun
• Tag Galaxy - connects to the flicker database
• puts the pictures on the “globe”
• Don’t: sit everyone in a lab for training
• Do: allow regular (and short) sharing time
• ex: what he did with Tag Galaxy - just a quick preview, etc
• shared story of history teacher having kids write letters “home” from WWI
• maybe to a 2 minute share time at staff meetings
• Don’t: limit technology to labs
• Do: show what’s possible with one or two computers in the classroom
• Ex: Wiki
• Don’t: buy expensive software a teacher has never tried
• It has to be personal
• Do: learn what’s freely available
• let them get comfortable with free things, then they’re more likely to use other stuff
• If you can use free things at school, then kids can go home and use it, too.
• Using personal things (the pictures of the cats) can help connect you to the kids.
• Don’t: blanket the campus with expensive hardware
• Teachers- allow yourself to play with the technology a bit.
• Do: use targeted spending to focus purchases
• You don’t have to get the same technology for every classroom!

What’s possible, part 1 (part of his nonprofit stuff)

www.nextvista.org

• Light bulbs: online library of videos made by and for teachers and students
• has a collection of Career videos
• Global Views:
• Seeing Service:

What’s possible, part 2

• Showed video that rival schools in Washington made -”You Make My Dreams Come True” Shorewood Lip Dub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TI-AJi2O8
• Kids had to actually say the words backwards!
• video done in one shot, not edited together
• EVERYBODY in the school was involved!
• edmodo.com/FETCeval session: FC0012