Teacher/ed. tech person at a high school. Is that a real position?

I am wondering if there are districts out there that have teachers who also serves as an ed tech specialists. Someone who might help other teachers integrated classroom 2.0 tools or even just other basic technology.

I am trying to convince my district that we need that position but I need to show them that there are people out there who do that. Have you heard of any? Thanks!

Tags: ed, instructional, job, tech, technology

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Permalink Reply by Dave Hohman on November 3, 2008 at 6:25pm

Thanks everyone for all the feedback. I've heard that there are rumors of adding this type of postion at the school. It will help to have an idea of what is going on in different schools when the job description is worked out.
Thanks!
Dave

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Permalink Reply by Wendy Camper on November 3, 2008 at 7:27pm

Yes and no... I interviewed to be a ed tech specialist. To guide teachers toward incorporating technology into each subject. My Master's Degree - in this area got me the job. But when I met my principal my job became the full time technology teacher - for the students. I love what I am doing - but I do not have the time to help the teachers as much as I would like to.
I am expected to do both - educate the students and work with the teachers. As we all know the issue is time. I am sorry this response might not help you much, however, I truly believe an ed tech specialist is vital! As school districts invest thousands of dollars in technology - where is the commitment to use all this technology?! Having a 'how to' session for an hour or two after a long school day does very little to inspire and encourage teachers to change what they do! That is the difference a dedicated ed tech person can make!
Good luck on your quest!

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Permalink Reply by Tom Daccord on November 4, 2008 at 8:44am

I served as an "Academic Technology Advocate" for my school for a number of years before I became an edtech consultant. A former history teacher, I was assigned to work with humanities teachers and we had an ATA each for the science & math departments the and fine arts and foreign languages department. I spent the bulk of my time working with teachers and only taught one history class, though many instructional technology specialists I meet at other schools have more classes to teach and less time to work with teachers than they'd like to.
My school obviously invested heavily in humanware, but most schools invest in hardware and have little money left over to help teachers integrate the tools. As an edtech consultant I know many schools/districts don't have the budget for a full-time instructional technology specialist and one client is a district that sends me a few teachers from its different schools for training. With our national economic recession and increasing budget cuts I wonder how quickly and deeply school districts will cut instructional technology expenditures from their rolls.

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Permalink Reply by Amy Hess on November 4, 2008 at 2:06pm

I am one week on the job as a Tech Integrator, serving 6 buildings (K-8)..

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Permalink Reply by Scott Beiter on November 5, 2008 at 3:34pm

Hi Dave. I've thought about this topic a great deal. I'm the ed tech specialist in my district, but officially I'm a science teacher. I get an administrative period instead of a studyhall but no extra pay. At least I stipend would be nice (since I'm head of the tech committee too). I'm curious to hear if there are other responses. Its nice to hear of so many positions out there and district integration going on.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Hohman on November 5, 2008 at 6:16pm

There have been a few so far. Check out the first page of responses.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Hohman on November 5, 2008 at 6:15pm

Tom I am also worried that the current ecomomic meltdown will put this type of position on the back burner for the district. I think the only chance would be if the schedule worked out where a teacher could drop a class and spend part of the day as an ed tech specialist like Scott. I'm afraid it would end up like Wendy's situation where it would turn into a classroom hour anyway.

Maybe I should wait a few months to push for the postion. The economic crisis might not be so much a crisis at that point ;-)

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Permalink Reply by kathleenn on April 27, 2009 at 4:31am

After six years, my tech integration position has been eleiminated for next year just as our new "forward thinking" administrators are getting onboard with web 2.0 and 21st Century Learning!