Leading Effective Technology Integration

This was a workshop I attended and it was sponsored by Intel's Innovation in Education.

The workshop defined the integration of technology as:
“Technology integration is the process of teachers and students routinely and seamlessly using technology resources and technology-based practices to enhance learning.”
The key words of the definition being routinely, seamlessly and technology-based practices the factors to moving technology integration into the future.

We spent time discussing how personal beliefs impact results when it comes to technology integration. This is not only true at the teacher level, but also at the administrative level. It is one thing to say technology integration matters – but if you don’t know how it looks then the results will also be unclear. So it is important that everyone knows what technology integration looks like so they can envision the end results.

We discussed the issue of how to shift priorities and time to support technology integration. What evidence will be accepted as proof of technology integration? Are use and integration separate? The importance of “just-in-time” training came up as an important way to help teachers and leaders assimilate technology into daily use – leading to integration. Having someone available on the spot to trouble-shoot and help incorporate technology is an essential element in technology integration.

We also reviewed the NETS-A and created our own individual action plan.

The final part of the workshop was focusing on the next steps and how we can achieve them.
1. Reflect on Learning
2. Complete your action plan
3. Continue to explore resources
4. Take action
5. Evaluate progress
6. Adjust action plan.

I found this workshop useful because it allowed for a lot of discussion with the other people at the workshop. People were from all different roles – principals, superintendents, technology specialists and professional development. It was interesting to hear how other people are integrating technology and the importance of creating a personal action plan.

I also saw the value in knowing what the end state of technology integration looks like so that having a clear vision can help create an effective action plan.

Resources:
An Innovation Odyssey at http://www97.intel.com/odyssey/index.aspx?i=1 has strategies and best practices to explore. There are also unit plans and lessons to try.

http://www.profilerpro.com/ - this site allows teachers and administrators evaluate their technology skills, attitudes and knowledge. There is also learning resources available on the site.
http://caret.iste.org/ - research and articles on research in educational technology.