5 tips to avoid frustrations in the educational integration of technology

Adopting technology in education is easier said than done! With good planning, however, it is possible to decrease frustration and encourage adoption. Here are five tips to achieve this.

Although we do not all use it in the same way, technology can bring something positive to us, both personally and professionally, especially if its integration is well planned. However, let's face it, change is almost always a difficult step ...

Our world Wide Web was created in 1991 and Google in 1998. As a result, all children under the age of 16 were born into a world where the Internet existed. They haven't known a world without the ability to go to a search engine to find information. For them, technology is simply there. They don't need to “integrate” it into their lives.

If many of them use it only for fun, and not productively, they still have to learn this facet, but this classroom integration is much easier for them than for the teacher who writes on it. a blackboard for 25 years!

Precisely on this subject, Justin pie, director of programs at Union R-XI School District, Missouri, recently wrote an article titled 10 Tips to Avoid Technology Integration Frustration.

Here are 5 of Mr. Tarte's 10 tips that, in my own experience, can reduce the frustrations of an educational team. Indeed, a frustrated person is more likely to abandon a novelty than to adopt it!

1) Establish an educational goal!
The worst mistake to make is to integrate technology without any educational purpose. Technology is not a lifeline for increasing the number of students in a school ...

2) Have a solid infrastructure
The establishment's wireless network must be efficient and the equipment must function. The worst thing for a teacher to go through is the constant worry that the Internet connection will drop him and that the computer will not start up or connect to the projector, for example.

3) Have a serious internal conversation with all stakeholders about device management and internet access
Deploying technology in a school while blocking access to this and that is not the best solution. At the other end of the spectrum, opening everything up and not controlling anything can end up costing dearly in bandwidth and crisis management. Technicians must work as a team with teachers, and a rigorous control system must be in place. To do this, act as a 21st century technology leader is capital.

4) Don't just focus on technology and support teachers
Many say that technology is simply a teaching tool like any other. This is true in the context where the only technology is a laptop and a projector for the teacher. On the other hand, it is false if all the pupils have a device in their hands at all times. Technology amplifies what works as much as what doesn't in a classroom. It is therefore important to properly support teachers, for example based on a proven integration model. The model SAMR is a good place to start.

5) Offer personalized training to teachers
Everyone agrees that teaching in one way in front of a large group of students does not promote learning for all. Everyone learns in a different way. This is also the case for teachers. It is therefore important to personalize support for teachers.

To continue thinking, read the 5 other tips from Mr. Tarte in his article 10 Tips to Avoid Technology Integration Frustration.