In this policy paper, I will discuss issues with the technology integration process in Rea Elementary school. After careful observation and interviews with teachers at Rea, I found the following issues: teachers are not fully equipped with using technology as an instructional tool and there is a no adequate technical support for them. Teachers are mainly using technology in the classroom as a visual aid or letting students do homework on their own. However, effective technology integration should include using technology as an instructional tool and engage students in such process. Therefore, I believe that more training and continuing professional development should be provided for teachers at Rea. It is a great way to keep teachers from improving and adapting their teaching methods and provide the best kind of education for their students. Also, teachers often do not have the needed technical support and they do not know how to troubleshoot when they run into technical issues in class. I suggest that Rea should provide seminars for teachers to learn more about troubleshooting in different applications that they use in class and have teachers share their experiences with each other. Rea could also invite companies of those applications to give info session for teachers. This is a cost-effective way to help teachers gain more technical knowledge without hiring a staff on the site.
Introduction
Rea Elementary School is located in Costa Mesa, California. It provides preschool to elementary programs to 491 students; 97% of the students are Hispanic and 100% of all students qualified for the free lunch program. Rea’s mission is to build an innovative community and promote creative, life-long learning students who can solve problems, are honest citizens, believe in acceptance, respectful, and knowledgeable. Rea is an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) school which provides a college readiness program. Rea is also a Project Success school which aims to provide diverse learning experiences for students and maximize their potentials.
I conducted my field study at Rea and I worked with the third grade and with the fourth grade during my stay. I noticed that students all have their own Chromebooks stored in the classroom and would use them for doing reading exercises and math problems in class. After careful observation, I found that after the class teacher provided a lecture and some discussion on the material to the kids, they would go grab their Chromebooks and do problems on their own. Usually, kids would either read or write on their workbook and then go do the Chromebook exercises at the end. It seems to me that the instruction and the use of Chromebook are separated into two different sections and are not fully integrated into one part of learning. Also, teachers and students often experience some technical issues that they did not know how to troubleshoot which was a huge frustration.
These findings combined and sparked a problem about Rea to me: the technology integration process in Rea is not well-implemented due to two aspects. Firstly, teachers are not fully utilizing technology as an instructional tool due to the lack of experience or training in this field; and secondly, there is no adequate on-site technical support. In order to solve the problem, I propose that Rea should provide ongoing professional development for teachers, offer opportunities for teachers to view examples of well-integrated classes, provide troubleshooting courses to equip teachers with knowledge about how to solve minor technical issues.
Literature review
According to McKnight and O’Malley, Congress made a nonprofit digital promise to support research and aim to provide Americans with sufficient knowledge and make them well prepared for the future competition in the global economy. In June 2013, the ConnectED was announced and it promised internet access in 99% of the schools across the country within five years. Soon after that, the LEAD Commission introduced digital learning into K-12 schools. (McKnight & O’Malley, 2016) Rea elementary school started 1:1 Chromebook for grades 3-6 since 2017. Before 2017, they had Chromebook carts that were shared between classes. In 2018, Rea canceled computer lab because students all have their own laptops in the classroom and the use of computer lab seemed unnecessary. Students also use iPads as young as in kindergarten.
Having 1:1 Chromebook in the classroom could help orient the learner-centered approach which aims to use technology to enhance and support the learning process. Students can make their own choice, take responsibility, and thus make the learning experience high individualized. (McKnight & O’Malley, 2016) In Rea, the learner-centered approach could be easily detected. I noticed that when students were doing math practices on their Chromebooks, they were working on the level that was a good fit for them. Kids received an individualized and differentiated experience when practicing math skills which were quite beneficial for those who had difficult times to follow up with the class.
Although the use of technology fulfilled the learner-centered approach, in this case, the use of technology was not very innovative. Other than simply using Chromebooks and doing assignments online, teachers should learn about facilitating more meaningful and deeper learning for students when using technology. Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich believe that knowing how to use hardware and software does not imply the teacher will be able to integrate technology into teaching and make the integration truly effective for the learning process. They claim that in order to successfully and effectively integrate technology into teaching, teachers need to “expand their knowledge of pedagogical practices across multiple aspects of the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes”. (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010)
Shulman develops a framework to explain teacher knowledge. He believes that there is content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Recently, researcher Harris, Mishra, and Koehler suggested that technology should also be added to this framework. They introduced technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and suggested that these three components should interact and work together to achieve a more effective teaching process. TPACK should “encompasses understanding and communicating representations of concepts using technologies”. (Harris, Mishra, & Koehler, 2009) Therefore, it is required that teacher have the flexibility and creativity to convey both pedagogy and content knowledge when using technology in teaching to achieve TPACK.
One thing that I noticed when volunteering at Rea is that not every teacher was on the same pace of learning new technologies and keeping up with the newest trend of technological tools. While some teachers are “tech savvy” and trying to use technology more often in class, some only know basic skills such as using a projector or a computer. Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich mentioned that it is hard for teachers to keep up to date with technological tools because technology knowledge is always in a “state of flux”. Therefore, it is important for teachers to have strong self-efficacy to keep learning and advancing in the field of technology. Research suggests that “self-efficacy may be more important than skills and knowledge among teachers who implement technology in the classroom” (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010). A study found that it is important to provide support to make teachers have more confidence towards using technology as an instructional tool in the classroom. The teacher should acquire more training and look for more examples and learn from others. (An & Reigeluth, 2011) It is also important for teachers to believe in the value of technology integration, in their own abilities, and their willingness to change in order to make the whole process effective.
The other factor that could greatly impact the technology integration process is the lack of technical support and technology education for teachers. Sahin, Top, and Delen surveyed teachers’ first-year experience with Chromebooks and their attitudes towards technology integration and received 553 responses from teachers at 30 schools. They found that teachers commonly complained about the lack of technical support and proper training for both students and teachers. In fact, this is quite an outstanding problem that I detected in Rea Elementary School. In my third grade class, there were times when students were trying to log back into their practice test for the state exam and they could not do so due to some unknown issues. The class teacher was trying everything she could do but could not figure it out because there were no formal guidelines about how to troubleshoot this specific issue. Therefore, she could only give up and ask the student to work on something else. I asked her if there is any specialized tech staff on campus and she said the tech people are teachers in classrooms as well. If the issue is not detrimental (and it usually is not), she often tries not to bother them and hopes the issue will eventually work out. Such issues also occurred in another class, there was one time in the fourth-grade classroom when the projector suddenly did not work. After turning it on and off for multiple times, the teacher just gave up using it. Besides that, students in Rea are not well-equipped with using technical tools in class. From my observation, they often need to spend extra time to learn about how to turn in their assignments online through Google Classroom or struggling with using different tools on the Google Docs. Teachers need to spend time that is supposedly designed for teaching to help students figure out all those little technical problems that they encounter. These technical issues often made the integration process more challenging.
Moreover, both teachers also mentioned that although the district has professionals that can help in fixing Chromebooks, they cannot help with minor issues. The fourth-grade teacher mentioned that the district does not provide fast-response regarding technical issues. She told me that she once “ticketed in” two broken Chromebooks to the district and still received no response after two days. The teacher stated: “I am lucky that I have extra Chromebooks in the classroom for my kids. Otherwise, they would not get to work for a couple of days.” Another common theme that Rea teachers mentioned is that since some programs’ companies do not “talk” to each other, it could make using technology more time-consuming for them. For example, the report card system that Rea uses is not synchronized with every education programs that students use, so teachers will have to manually enter in scores from one program into the report card system. The lack of cooperation between companies elicit problems for teachers when they try to integrate technology into the classroom.
Frustration could be easily caused by the lack of technical training for teachers and students. Both teachers mentioned that it would be great if there are lessons that could teach them about how to troubleshoot on Google Docs, the state exam website, and any other programs that they are currently using. According to McKnight & O’Malley, technology support and infrastructure are vital. “Educators wanted onsite technology assistance” and ongoing professional development (PD) is extremely important for teachers to grow more on integrating technology into their teaching. Levin and Schrum also found in their research that it is extremely important to provide high-quality and continuing professional development for teachers on both the technical and the teaching perspective. They found that teachers prefer direct tech support on sites. It would be ideal if the tech leader is familiar with the curriculum and know how to solve technical issues on sites. If that is not possible, Levin and Schrum mentioned that teachers would prefer quick-response from the district to provide the necessary help.
Methods
This paper examines the integration of technology at Rea Elementary School in Costa Mesa, California. Data is collected through naturalistic observation and interviews with school teachers.
Through naturalistic observation, I volunteered in the third and the fourth-grade classrooms to observe the amount of usage in technology (including Chromebooks, online programs, Google classroom, projectors, and computers) during class time. I wrote down field notes on this aspect and also looked at how these programs were run and used by teachers and students. I also observed if these programs integrated well with teaching and if they were convenient and user-friendly.
I also conducted semi-formal interviews with two class teachers and asked them about their opinions on the introduction of classroom technology and if they detected any inconvenience in this integration process. The interview collected information on the general background (socioeconomic status of students) of the school when the school started to introduce Chromebooks and iPads, the changes of the class dynamics after this introduction, teachers’ general opinions on in-class technology, and the benefits and disadvantages of such integration. The interview also asked about teachers’ opinions about future development/ training program on some technical applications that they are currently using in class.
I carefully analyzed the data and used them to determine what kinds of improvements could be done in the technology integration process at Rea Elementary School to maximize its potential benefits for teachers and students.
The Proposed Solution
To encourage teachers to utilize technology as an instructional tool, it is recommended that they should observe examples from others and pick up skills that they might need. Rea could develop a seminar where teachers can share their experiences and good examples that they saw from another school to help each other grow more comfortable with integrating technology into their teaching. The seminar should have shared vision and good planning for teachers. It should help teachers build more confidence and trust towards technology integration in the classroom. Videos of sample classes could also be posted online or played during the seminar. Teachers should be given plenty of opportunities to learn from others and adapt their teaching style towards technology-oriented. The school should cover the expense for teachers’ future education.
It is also important that the school offers continuing professional development for teachers to keep learning about technology integration in the classroom. I think the ideal is training teachers to be successful in the TPACK framework in which they are combining content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge altogether. Professional development should also be provided when new technology applications are introduced to teachers. It is important to note that professional development should be varied based on teachers’ skill levels and their knowledge in technology. Also, the professional development should be kept up to date and keep revising since the technological knowledge is always in the state of “flux”.
In order to solve the technical issues that occur, I suggest Rea use the following approach. It is understandable that the school may not have enough funding to hire a specialist to stay at school and solve minor issues for teachers. Therefore, I recommend companies of those programs provide troubleshooting classes or info sessions for teachers prior to introducing new programs to the school. The districts should initiate the contact between schools and companies and provide the necessary support such as holding meetings and workshops for schools. Also, companies should send staff to Rea and allow teachers to ask questions and practice how to troubleshoot potential problems during seminars or workshops. This approach will be better than only offering “Q&A” website for teachers to look at because my interviewees mentioned that they would prefer a training program on such matter. They want to know how to solve minor issues that occur and avoid spending class time on troubleshooting other than academic reasons. I also recommend teachers who are sophisticated in technology hold regular staff meetings to share knowledge and suggestions on how to use the new technology. Teachers should be encouraged to share what they know with each other and further improve their skills.
Lastly, it will be ideal if the school could provide a basic tech class for students to let them know how to use the laptop, the Google Classroom, the state exam website, and other programs that they will be using in class. It will be great to allow children to navigate through all these applications and acquire the basic knowledge on them. In this way, teachers will spend less time on teaching them how to use those applications in class and have more time for instructional teaching.
Summary
In conclusion, I believe that the technology integration process at Rea Elementary School still needs improvement in order to make it effective. For now, the use of technology at Rea is mostly as a tool for students to do homework online or for the teacher to project media on the screen. Teachers should be provided with more professional development on how to effectively integrate technology into the classroom and provide a new kind of learning experience for students. Rea can organize seminars for teachers to share experiences and help each other in this process. It is also important to offer on-site technical help and classes on how to troubleshoot for different applications. One of the biggest obstacles to the integration process at Rea is that teachers constantly run into technical issues without getting the help. It could cause frustrations over time and lower some teachers’ interests to try out new applications. Therefore, teachers should be well prepared prior to use of the new technology and they should be encouraged to keep learning along the way.
Further research could look into effective methods on how to combine and balance traditional ways of teaching and learning (using paper and pencils) with the use of technology in the classroom. While technology integration is encouraged, it is essential that students still have the chance to write papers and read a real book without solely using technology in the classroom. It is important to find the balance when using technology in class. Over-exposure of technology might not be healthy and beneficial for young kids in the long-run and therefore, more research should be done to help the teacher find the effective way for technology integration in the classroom.