I was reading a news article about how a university just installed various types of technologies in 31 different classrooms but are having problems getting professors to use them. The article explained how the school has a number of different workshops and teams dedicated to helping professors learn how to use and incorporate these technologies in the classroom, however there are many professors that claim they don't have the time to do this. Other professors have a type of "if it's not broken, don't fix it" kind of attitude, meaning, they don't see anything wrong with the way they've conducted their classes so far, so why change it by using additional technology? I personally feel this is an ignorant approach to technology because, as we've been posting about, technology can really enhance the way we teach and learn. As many of us have also mentioned, when a professor is horribly disconnected from technology, it leads the students to be disconnected from the professor. I'm wondering what other people think about this subject, I personally think it might be a good idea for this university to implement some sort of requirement for professors to attend at least one workshop on the new technologies they have access to. I just feel it's absurd to not utilize the recourses provided by the university just because someone may not know how to use them, so I think a requirement like that may help improve that issue.
Here is the link to the article:
http://dailytrojan.com/2011/09/29/professors-still-adapting-to-classroom-renovations/
Saturday, October 1, 2011
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2 comments:
Kara I totally agree with you. As a future teacher there are certain things that have to do with technology, however I would never dismiss learning them. I think it's great that the university took the appropriate steps to provide professors with the opportunity to learn the new technology. If I was put in that situation I would totally take advantage of it. Think about it, technology is constantly changing and not only is there newer easier ways of doing something, but if we don't learn about it now then when it is convenient for us to learn about it we could have already missed out on so much. I think it's great that university's are starting to step up. Now it's up to the teachers to show how much they really "care" about education.
I agree with everything that has been said, for the most part. I don't know that it should have to be required of them, but...teachers are people too....they have faults, they don't want to do things they have to, on occasion. When our school requires things of us that we won't want to do, it is _required_ of us. Maybe it should be required of teachers to 'stay in touch' with modern technology.
Teachers should be _enthusiastic_ to learn newer, different ways to transfer knowledge to their students. More and more often as I observe and teach, I'm seeing that kids learn _DIFFERENTLY_. Class by class, student by student, year by year, each student is a different ballgame, with little or no indication of what will get through to them specifically. Maybe little Jimmy isn't a bad student, you just need to reach out to him differently. I know I made the mistake of talking to one of my marching band students about the band Muse, who I saw in concert. Not only did that student talk my ear off for the next hour, he was much more interested in rehearsal, once someone from the faceless STAFF showed interest in something they could relate to.
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