Technology Facilitator Standard VII

Being in the classroom, this is an area of technology that is not seen by many, but you know it is there. I knew that a lot of time and money was allocated to bringing technology into the schools, but was not aware of the additional time and energy spent in deciding precisely which ones were best suited to the needs of the students in our district. "Without adequate infrastructure support, teachers are easily frustrated and prone to abandon technology, dismissing it as unreliable" (Sandholtz and Reilly, 2004). I have seen this happen early on in my teaching career, however not as much in recent years. Great strides have been taken by district and campus technology leaders to ensure the successful use of the technology brought into the campuses.
Due to a variety of events this year, I was able to participate in the implementation of this standard in a small way. We have had new technology come onto our campus, however much of it has been sitting in boxes due to lack of knowledge on how to use it. I have ventured out to different trainings offered by the district and played with some of this new material so that I could come back and train my staff on the products. This has been very minor compared to the work done by the district level facilitators and leaders, but I have been glad to have the opportunity to work on such a task. I have also helped my campus obtain some new technology tools that I have seen and used in other trainings, and will be working with the staff on these products also. The implementation stage of this standard is where I feel most comfortable. I love working with the teachers to troubleshoot and learn ways to bring new ideas into the classroom that can go beyond something they have complete control of. I have kept in constant communication with the district facilitators and my administrators for help in making sure I am presenting all of the material in a manner that is effective and beneficial. "Working with educators, faciliators ensure that the use of technology is aligned with the plans and policies developed at the district level" (Williamson and Redish, 2009, p. 162).
Just a couple of weeks ago, I learned that our district has made it possible for us to start working with more open source programs inside of the district. This has the potential to be great for us as it is "freely available to use and to modify, upgrade, and customize" (Solomon and Schrum, 2007, p. 134). Given the current financial worries of many school districts right now, I see this as a smart move to keep classrooms moving forward without the district pocketbooks being opened further than needed. I will be curious to see how quickly these tools catch on in the district. As of right now, there are very few in the district who know about these open source tools, and even fewer who know how to use them. I have gone ahead and started training a few others on my campus in these because I started using them in my classes through Lamar over a year ago.

Resources:

Sandholtz, J. and Reilly, B. (2004). Teachers, not technicians: rethinking technical expectations for teachers. Teachers College Record, 106, 487-512.

Solomon, G. and Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools. Washington, D.C.: ISTE.

Williamson, J. and Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards. Washington, D.C.: ISTE.