Dave Navis will join us for this week’s SOS podcast, discussing the essential question of “When not to use technology?”. Dave has an excellent post on the topic, so I will only mention a few points.

The most challenging aspect of my job as an instructional technologist is when I need to work with teachers who use technology that doesn’t support student learning or doesn’t teach the correct skills in using the various tools. Working as an instructional technologist means one must be a leader and a champion for student learning, no matter how uncomfortable the situation. When teachers use, and model technology ineffectively or have their students spend valuable time working on projects that don’t help their learning of the outcomes, they sadly can do much damage at that moment and the future use of the technology.

What makes these situations so tricky is that the teachers are trying something new and often get excited about the creativity of using technology. They are doing as we ask them to try new ways to support learning using technology. One needs to read these situations carefully to decide, in some cases, to remain silent but to be ready the next time the teacher wants to try something new. At other times, the planned project might involve days of student technology work that could be used much more effectively if the instructional technologist and library media specialist could get in and collaborate early in the planning process. Some projects would be better supported via analog strategies, especially when the technology involves students spending too much time on digital decorative aspects of the project.

We often devalue the teaching of technology skills and the importance of using good design and communication principles. Teaching technology skills is similar to teaching reading, writing, math, art, etc. However, with technology, users sometimes think just being about to put a project together is all there is to it.

A good example is that many teachers would say they know how to use PowerPoint and Paint, so they can see themselves teaching it. As instructional technologists, we want the technology to integrate and diffuse so that teachers model its use and teach it themselves. Yet, the dilemma arises when an untrained teacher needs to teach the needed basic design principles or, worse, models poor design skills. The following, for example, are some basic skills that must be taught with everyday tools such as PowerPoint and Paint:

  • the value of using white space
  • minimal use of but large enough and projector-friendly fonts
  • large single student-created images
  • when images used from the Web that they are cited
  • no clip art
  • no animation
  • no sound effects
  • simple, non-distracting backgrounds, the same for each slide
  • colors that are natural and complement each other

How many adult presentations of PowerPoint have you seen that do the opposite of this list? Plenty. We cringe at seeing the technology get in the way of the presenter’s lesson.

So, are we ready to speak up when teachers go as far as to model the opposite of what we want our students to learn regarding design and communication skills? This is what teachers of technology sometimes face. In many cases, they do so with the support of their administrators, who need to know themselves the discreet skills needed for 21st-century project creation and communication. 

Instructional technologists and library media specialists are peers with their fellow teachers, thus making it even more challenging to offer ideas and propose instructional changes during the instruction. This is the role of the administrator as instructional leader for the school to step forward and support the proper use of technology.

We can all read, write, do math, sing a song, and paint something 🙂 But in most cases, we know it takes training and skills to teach these disciplines. We are more comfortable in our schools stepping forward to work with teachers making mistakes in teaching writing, reading, art, etc. We value those skills much more than technology and information literacy skills. Our teachers and administrators must learn how necessary those skills are for 21st-century learners.

This means that our leadership efforts must also include the ongoing teaching and promotion of the value of using proper technology, design, and communication skills by teachers, administrators, and students. Besides the usual efforts for technology integration through professional development and ongoing work with teachers and teams, we must celebrate successful uses of technology via our school Web site, our blogs, newsletters, and any other available venue that models the proper use of technology.