How Technology in the Classroom Can Be Improved

In his 1980 book, The Computer and the School: Tutor, Tool, and Tutee, Robert Taylor foresaw the computer taking on the three roles mentioned in the title. Now, in 2007, it is safe to assume that technology has taken on little more than these three roles. In classrooms across the nation, computers, SmartBoards, ELMOs, and Air Slates are installed and, allegedly, being used. However, I have been in classrooms where the ELMO laid disconnected gathering dust, the Air Slates have been tucked away in storage lockers, and the fantastic SmartBoard has been relegated to little more than a glorified computer screen. By glorified computer screen, I mean that SmartBoards are rarely used for more than displaying Word documents, showing off PowerPoint presentations, or showing an internet website or Between the Lions videos. Needless to say, this is not what the manufacturers of the SmartBoard intended. It is on the SmartBoard that I will focus.

What I see as the problem is a general fear of technology. Teachers are genuinely afraid of their SmartBoards. The SmartBoard is this great technological wonder that teachers are not comfortable using, and, thus, do not. What is the root of this fear? I believe it to be a lack of training. In Baccalaureate teacher education programs across the nation, little more is offered in the way of SmartBoard instruction than how to power on/off the unit, how to scroll a page, and how to write on the screen. Students are then expected to take this rudimentary knowledge and fashion masterful lessons using the SmartBoard to its fullest potential. Yet, without training students how to really use the SmartBoard, one cannot expect anyone to use it as it was intended, either as undergraduate students or as classroom teachers.

If districts would offer the training the Universities are not, we would see technology take its rightful place in education and we would see bountiful fruits of its labors. The district's technology center should be the hub of such training. Districts need to start forming training committees strictly for technology and offer training at in-services. If the committee were made up of a couple of employees from the district's technology center, district curriculum team members, principals, teachers well-versed in state and district standards, and teachers well-versed in the use of technology as instructional and learning tools, a training curriculum could then be produced to help teachers use the technologies they have available for maximum educational benefit. Such a committee should have no problem developing and implementing a curriculum that would adequately train teachers to use their SmartBoard as an interactive, educationally-rich, student-benefiting tool.

Alas, I foresee that it will take some time for such curriculum to be developed. So, what can teachers do in the interim? A good place to start is the SmartTech website (www.smarttech.com). At this website, teachers can find PDF files to download and print that details the SmartBoard's many functions and uses. This might aid in eliminating some of the fear. In addition, teachers can navigate to http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/Ed+Resource/ to find educational resources and lesson plans. Until we, as teachers, are able to fashion and receive the training that we need to effectively use our SmartBoards, this may be a good place to start.