Are You Tech-Effective?

                Our orchestra program recently received a generous sponsorship from SmartMusic (makers of Finale music notation software). After about four hours of delving into the software, I was ready to load it on every iPad and computer I could find. However, I couldn’t quite harmonize how to best fit SmartMusic in with the units I had prepared, and I politely postponed the sponsorship until this summer when I have time to build the lesson around the tech, not the other way around. Fortunately, they will renew our complimentary educator subscription in June, and the students’ subscriptions go live in the fall! I’m excited to really build meaningful lessons around this constantly evolving and well-supported technology.

                The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has a series of standards for education stakeholders. Several salient bullets surfaced when I read the standards specific to school administrators.  ISTE Standard 2 in general encompasses the responsibility administrators have to implement technology at their site. “Ensure instructional innovation focused on continuous improvement of digital-age learning” (2a), “Model and promote the frequent and effective use of technology for learning,” (2b) and “Ensure effective practice in the study of technology and its infusion across the curriculum” (2d) seem challenging as our schools continually serve a wider audience. From tech-resistant career teachers, tech-savvy millennial teachers, and of course, our digital native students, the most important strength an administrator can demonstrate is to model and steward what s/he views as most important in technology. Ironically, what continues to be most important is what always has been: we want all of our learners to leave with the ability and passion for finding a solution (notice…not a right answer). What becomes harder to teach is the know-how to sift through the world-wide-web of solutions that grow exponentially by the second.

                The significant points of ISTE Standards 3 and 4 address the implementation and financial considerations for an administrator. “Allocate time, resources, and access to ensure ongoing professional growth in technology fluency and integration” (3a) is perhaps the most valuable. A frequent concern of educators is that we do not receive adequate training on new technology, and it goes underutilized, or worse, dies out before it was given a fair chance. “Collaborate to establish metrics, collect and analyze data, interpret results, and share findings to improve staff performance and student learning” (4b) is often overlooked on the back end, and the technology, again, remains underutilized or misdirected in its use because we do not concretely evaluate and adjust for its effect on student and teacher learning.

Teachers and administrators have a great responsibility in how we wisely invest every ounce of time, energy, and money in our students. These basic questions give a starting place before adopting/investing in new technology:

1. Is this technology truly innovative or a lateral-move version of technology or other methods that students already know how to use?
2. Does the technology promote Bloom’s higher functions of learning (evaluating and creating vs. remembering and understanding)?
3. Does the technology connect and loop back to prior knowledge.
4. Does the technology have value outside of your classroom/curriculum/subject?
5. Are students active or passive when engaged in this use of technology?
6. If a guest educator walked into your classroom, would the technology use be something they share with other educators?