Digital Frustration-The Balancing Act
As a teacher I admit to loving most things digital. I see digital tools as an enganging way to get and hold students attention, and the fact they relate to them so well makes teaching and learning very natural. As I am often the cheerleader for technology I also get to listen to fellow teachers express their digital frustrations.
Just recently some teachers were informed that they would not be able to change grades or drop students, by way of the IT department locking out their computer grading program. Without getting into grading policy and all those things better left to school boards- my concern was the distrust in technology that resulted from the action. In one move the computer changed from being a tool to help teachers record and average grades to a teacher monitoring device. I bet you can guess what the teacher's reactions were!
Teachers all over the place are experiencing digital frustrations of their own. As Bill Ferriter reported in his blog, "Teachers are frustrated when, district firewalls are blocking every service that they want to use, their tech contacts are no where to be found, and their access to critical resources is insufficient to meet the demands of their digital efforts. " It is easy to see how teachers could become discouraged and the promising uses of technology remain unexplored because of a districts well intentioned oversight.
In the case of our first example a teachers grade book, spiral bound and carried loving between home and school was almost a personal extention of oneself. If an adminstrator asked to see a grade book you located it, copied the page , and the book was still your own. With a networked computerized grade book program-the grade book becomes the districts, to change and modify as they please.
Firewalls and district access policies are real---and they pose challenges for teachers who are working with digital tools for the first time. There is nothing worse than investing hours into the perfect lesson only to have those tools blocked when you are half way through the lesson plans.
Too often schools IT departments are run by IT professionals with no classroom experience so their perspective is somewaht different from an educators. To many of them -using PowerPoint is just the same as using Animoto. Just as often we educators do not realize the security and virus concerns the IT department is protecting district resources against.
One thing I do know is that if technology is going to be able to affect student achievement we need to have better working relationships with IT departments! When you look at the success the UK has had in integrating ICT across the curriculumn the major factor seems to be an overall tech friendly policy implemented from the top down. In the case of the Uk they have not blocked sites-instead they have created many wonderful interactive tools to support curriculumn.
Just recently some teachers were informed that they would not be able to change grades or drop students, by way of the IT department locking out their computer grading program. Without getting into grading policy and all those things better left to school boards- my concern was the distrust in technology that resulted from the action. In one move the computer changed from being a tool to help teachers record and average grades to a teacher monitoring device. I bet you can guess what the teacher's reactions were!
Teachers all over the place are experiencing digital frustrations of their own. As Bill Ferriter reported in his blog, "Teachers are frustrated when, district firewalls are blocking every service that they want to use, their tech contacts are no where to be found, and their access to critical resources is insufficient to meet the demands of their digital efforts. " It is easy to see how teachers could become discouraged and the promising uses of technology remain unexplored because of a districts well intentioned oversight.
In the case of our first example a teachers grade book, spiral bound and carried loving between home and school was almost a personal extention of oneself. If an adminstrator asked to see a grade book you located it, copied the page , and the book was still your own. With a networked computerized grade book program-the grade book becomes the districts, to change and modify as they please.
Firewalls and district access policies are real---and they pose challenges for teachers who are working with digital tools for the first time. There is nothing worse than investing hours into the perfect lesson only to have those tools blocked when you are half way through the lesson plans.
Too often schools IT departments are run by IT professionals with no classroom experience so their perspective is somewaht different from an educators. To many of them -using PowerPoint is just the same as using Animoto. Just as often we educators do not realize the security and virus concerns the IT department is protecting district resources against.
One thing I do know is that if technology is going to be able to affect student achievement we need to have better working relationships with IT departments! When you look at the success the UK has had in integrating ICT across the curriculumn the major factor seems to be an overall tech friendly policy implemented from the top down. In the case of the Uk they have not blocked sites-instead they have created many wonderful interactive tools to support curriculumn.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Candice Walsh on
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Our district has purchased a program called Integrade Pro that is installed on our network and is able to upload information from a student data base.
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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on
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"So the IT department 'locked' out the program with no direction from the central office? I ask because it sounds more like the method of enforcing a district policy was via technology and not that IT forced a policy on their own. "
The IT department was just following orders...and they ended up with all the frustrating phone calls- because the powers that be ordered IT to lock out changes and never told the teachers. My point was even though Central office ordered it-it lead to an overall mistrust of technology-and more teachers deciding to keep their own grade book offline and then post at the end of the term.
"Are these same teachers submitting professional requests for access to these critical resources? Far too often I have experienced teachers that made requests asking for resources with no pedagogical plan nor with sufficient time"
Teachers report that requests often sit for weeks and months in IT department for review. Most requests are ignored, and if you ask too often you will get a NO. In other cases if you get a site unblocked by the time they get around to it-you no longer need it. Mostly they just give up.
"The key is for teachers and IT staff to work professionally together to produce workable valuable solutions. Teachers can not stomp around making demands nor can IT folks refuse to listen to the 'needs'. Far too often I have seen teachers make the "I am a professional" claim in reference to what they believe they need from IT while at the same time not recognizing that the IT person they are making demands of is a professional as well."
Totally agree with the above. As districts struggle with finances teachers are faced with overcrowded classrooms and using more and more of their own money to buy basic learning materials. IT departments are short staffed- and most simply do not have the people they would like. Our IT directors nick name is Trex-basically he decides all technology use with BS in Business Administration. His vision is that all systems are uniform.
Here is a response from the MACUL Ning I also belong to as we have been discussing the same issue there.:
by Dave B. 1 day ago
We deal with these issues in my district too. We've gone through 4 tech directors in the past 4 years, and find ourselves now with a tech director who has no background in technology or education. In order to save money our board appointed our business director (first year in that role, coming from the corporate world) as tech director. We, as teachers, don't have much say in the decision making process and often find ourselves reacting to decisions made by the IT department, which has no one with an educational background. Looking at the NETS Essential Conditions, the first one listed is Shared Vision (Proactive leadership in developing a shared vision for educational technology among school personnel, students, parents, and the community). I agree with other posts that IT Departments do have a difficult job, but I think it would become easier, and more productive, to include teachers in their decision making process. Doug Johnson, on The Blue Skunk Blog, seems to understand this balance. As Director of Media and Technology for the Mankato, MN schools, he lists his Library and Technology Laws, among them; Johnson’s Policy Mantra: Technicians do not make policy. Technicians do not make policy. Technicians do not make policy.
I am fortunate that while I work for a public school district I work in the non-public schools and I serve as network manager. I use a rating system and if a site is blocked all the teacher has to do is grab me during the day-I check it over and grant access to her local workstation. However the IT director at the District levels nickname is T-Rex because he sets all educational policy useage. Teachers are not consults nor even informed of any pending or possible changes., One day you can use a site the next day the district has it blocked. You then get to email-fill out a form and then wait to see if you will get any type of response at all.
Here are some of the Work-arounds I have shared:
My advice is never fall in love with one particular tool-always have a couple you can use for the same projects. Download favorite open source software tools to pen drives, that way students can use them and there are no install issues. Keep one computer off the network-you can put all your favorite stuff on that one and hook it up to the projector. Download and convert the instructional videos from You tube you want to use, get permission from the orginal authoir and then upload to teachers tube. Get preapprovl for any wiki page ot site where you are uploading pictures or video too.
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In no way am I saying "Blame IT professionals." All I can do is share the digital frustrating experiences I hear about, and have to work with. . I agree completely that a shared vision is best. In fact that is clearly my hope. The digital frustration that I shared in my two examples are real and trust me- examples like this are listed on many of the blogs I read weekly.
I am sure there are wonderful IT directors that work with teachers in their school districts-and unfortunately you are not hearing from them-(Often the case in education-when people are happy -you hear nothing! ) And from all you've written about having a shared vision and communication you would be a welcome addition to any school system.
Please note I also stated: "
The IT department was just following orders...and they ended up with all the frustrating phone calls- because the powers that be ordered IT to lock out changes and never told the teachers. My point was even though Central office ordered it-it lead to an overall mistrust of technology-and more teachers deciding to keep their own grade book offline and then post at the end of the term. Again an example where IT was following orders- - CLEARLY NOT THEIR FAULT-the action -regardless of who ordered it- resulted in digital frustration. Not an example of blame-but rather an example of what happens when a policy is implemented without any advanced notice.
The point I am making here is actually very similar to your own point. If we want to incorporate the use of technology as an effective teaching tool we all need to work together to decrease digital frustration. Johnson's point is also very similar to yours-he does not make policy-school boards make policy. Teacher's do not make policy either. However articulating the policy and implementing how the policies are put in place would be better served by a more collaborative approach. On ths fact I believe we are in agreement.
Here are a couple of other blogs on this issue you might like to read...so you can see I am not alone in my concerns.
Teachers Leaders Network
http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2008/06/surv...
Another Teachers Perspective
http://ssik12.com/2008/05/30/challenges-and-obstacles-of-integratin...
District technology departments are expected to be superheroes. As a short example, look at this article from ISTE. District CIOs need to understand:
Leadership and visioning
Planning and budgeting
Team building
Systems Management
IT
Business Leadership
Education and training
Communication
SOftware Digital Frustration
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E0DD1F3EF937A157...
I apologize if you took personal offence or felt I was being disrespectful to IT personal. That was not my intention. My intention is to highlight how interconnected the area of teaching and technology is-and to point out that in many cases when digital frustrations set in-they turn people away from using tools that could enhance student learning and stretch them as professionals. Many on the blogosphere are concerned that digital frustration could detail the web 2.0 efforts. By dicussing it-we are hoping to make sure that doesn't happen. Please do not forget my orinigal point was,"One thing I do know is that if technology is going to be able to affect student achievement we need to have better working relationships with IT departments! "
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Amen tot he team effort- now go forth and spread the gospel to your people as I will to mine:)
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Permalink Reply by Harriet on
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Unfortunately, sometimes tools to help students achieve better educational outcomes can actually become weapons used to create an "us" versus "them" mentality. The big thing here is trust. However, if an administrator approves a technology request from a teacher then pulls the rug out from underneath them, this violates the principle of that trust. How can we create that trust? Do we all have the same goals? Maybe not. Perhaps that's why we have a hard time trusting each other.
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