Experiences+and+Connections

= **Doug and Salima's Experiences and Connections** =

It is amazing how enthusiasm helps when presenting a new piece of software to instructors who may or may not be familiar with technology. It reminds me of being a salesperson; however, in this case the approach is how to provide training to instructors which helps them get what they want/need to set up curriculum and help students to learn. One of the things which I have observed is that acceptance falls on a Bell curve. You always have the innovators who are gung ho to try anything new. They will play with the software and start asking questions about why it can’t do this or that. When you help them, they start acting as lead hands as they usually want to assist their colleagues and either consciously or otherwise cements the learning by teaching someone else. They also find software entertaining and are more than willing to see if they can adjust the software to do something they would like to see for their students. Then you have the folks who get to it when they have time and will eventually learn how to use software. The last group is the folks who are resistive to any change and put a lot of energy into not cooperating or being downright hostile to something different. They appear to be blinded to any good that could come from software. I train instructors on how to use a learning management system called D2L (Desire2Learn). I also assist them in utilization of this type of system as the approach to online learning is different than the in class approach. Many instructors see technology training as useful once they can understand the pedagogy behind its development. They tend to respond much more favourably when they can see how it helps them manage their course but also when it entices students to become more engaged and learn more effectively.
 * Experiences:**
 * Doug**

As a 'Curriculum Technology Integrator' for my school system, my focus is to help teachers integrate technology seemslessly and meaningfully into the curriculum. This includes how to use the hardware effectively,but more so deals with how to think technologically when teaching a concept. I too beleive it's the 'enthusiasam' or 'passion' that is needed when presenting with technololgy. It's how you 'wrap the present' the approach you use, and how you 'sell' the product. Teachers want simplicity. They want to know that it will work, won't require extra time, and will be of benefit to them. Meaningful connections to the curriculum is usually where the technology buy in happens. Lately, anything that can help teachers with assessement practices I find is something I'm usually called in for. One thing to note however, is that even though my work is primairly with teachers, the first 'buy in' has to come from the administration that runs the individual school. If an adminstrator is on board, buy in is easier. If an adminstrator doesn't see the reasoning or the benefits to the teachers my job becomes harder.
 * Experiences:**
 * Salima**

** Budgets: ** The area in which I work is designed to research and (if useful) utilize and promote new software. The intent is that it be useful for students and can be utilized by instructors to help students learn. We aren’t at a loss for software or hardware; but, staffing losses become a huge functional issue very quickly in times of restricted funding. If budgets are tight, one of the first areas to take a hit is the information technology infrastructure. This also translates into less staff to ensure the system operates well. There is something to be said for improvising if you are on a tight budget and this extends to how an educational institute uses resources. Sometimes, the plan is to download the cost to the student which works well if students and/or parents have the resources but does little for equality of access for those who can’t afford the technology. Technically resourced labs or a library are other solutions where students can get access to computers and software on a regular basis. One of the most promising approaches is the use of handhelds to take advantage of access to course resources and the Internet. The move to mLearning, once totally functional, will make access considerably cheaper and mobile.
 * Doug**

Working in a school system, budgets are always dependent upon funding and are for the most part indvidualistic for each school. For the most part software and hardware purchases have been budgeted annualy. When unexpected costs come up such as doing an 'content provider' video conference that requires fees to be paid, this cost is worked into the students fees that can usually be linked to the field trip budget. Sometimes we run into an issue where one school likes the technology another school has. The time has not come for that particular school to be 'evergreened' and refreshed in their technology yet and so therefore they are dependent upon fundraising or tweaking budgets if they want to make a particular purchase. School council usually helps alot with funding and this is such a benefit to schools.
 * Budgets:**
 * Salima**

**Doug** One of the things that I picked up very quickly upon moving into the field of information technology was the constant need to stay on top of advancements. The first thing to which I acknowledged was that this was lifelong learning, which is something that I enjoy anyway as I find it tremendously stimulating. The more important thing is that technology constantly changes. Thus, it is more important to learn how to learn as opposed to only learning one type of approach to an existing piece of software. There is some effort by the work place to train the trainers, but the usual approach is something like, here is a new piece of software you will need to learn. I find the best approach is to get access to a new technology and work (play from my point of view) with it. As soon as one starts to experiment, one usually is asking questions such as can it do operate in a certain fashion or can I use it to for some learning purpose. Then it becomes a matter of researching, reading, asking questions, and getting hands on information from someone who is more proficient with the software.
 * Professional Development for Trainers : **

In order to effectively train the teachers, it is important that I also stay current in my professional development as well. I find myself regualar attending professional development sessions and webinars to keep myself up to speed. Training the teacher has taken 3 directions. The first direction is training the teachers in neccesarry skills, the second is to teach them to embed technology into their lessons and the third is to support them in the continous cyle use of using the technology seemlessly. I give many afterschool, during staff meeting and during PD designate days professional development and along with this I find that I also do alot of indiviual training. The hope is that through this approach we will be able to build capacity and thereby increase the proficiency of how technology is used within the schools.
 * Professional Development for Trainers: **
 * Salima **

There are certain skills which staff/instructors/administrators need:
 * Benchmarks:**
 * Basic computing skills (ie. how to access and store files, download and install software, use word and similar programs, avoid collecting viruses, worms. etc.)
 * Basic troubleshooting skills (ie. popup blockers, browser issues, software such as acrobat reader, java, or flash that affect operating functions,
 * A willingness to learn how to learn,
 * A willingness to become functionally literate in the software the institute uses on a regular basis,
 * A willingness to research and implement how to better utilize resources.