technical support and technology integration. There are lots of
universities with programs for technology integrators. The curriculum for
these programs is education heavy not hardware heavy. The programs offer
classes in staff development, curriculum design, the philosophy behind
technological tools, and hands on experience using these tools with an eye
for the tool's educational implications.
Schools make huge investments in technology, but if it is not implemented
well, it is a waste of money. Business gets this. There are programmers,
system people, project mangers, implementators, trainers, etc. in
corporate America. They don't do this because it looks good to their
customers or that everyone else is doing it, they do it to capitalize on
their resources and investment.
An Educational Technologist is teacher/co-teacher, a staff developer,
curricular resource, an information designer. He/she works with teachers
one-on-one and in groups (preferably small groups) to develop technology
skills, help select software/hardware right for the educational goals,
plan implementations (including training and support materials). Except in
rare cases, technology should not be integrated into education, technology
should enable education and a ed tech can offer a curriculum
expert/teacher insight on how learning can be enhanced/made easier/etc. by
the use of a technology. Also, kids are very comfortable with many
technologies (web 2.0) that we can use to enable learning.
Schoolwide initiatives like student information systems, course management
systems and intranets need training and curricular support. Teachers can
make more effective use of these systems if they can get the right support
that comes from someone who is an educator. The single mindedness that
digs out networking conflicts is not the same mindset that figures out how
to best enable students to do a colloborative project online or design
resources that support a particular learning goal.
Having an educational technologist who also teaches an academic class
(technology or otherwise) give the person street credit wih teachers and
better perspective on how to use technology to support education. In many
schools, ed techs get bogged down in technical support and fixing hardware
and systems so a clear job description is important.
so I guess in summary, an Educational Technologists
- teaches classes with students
- creates and manages schoolwide tech initiatives
- run workshops, small group instruction with teachers on schoolwide tech
initiatives
- encourages and supports curricular projects enabled by technology
- keep up to date in the zillions tools avaiable and pluck out the good
ones
- plan schoolwide policies about school tech use, information management,
and professional dev.
- evaluate tools used by the school and the communities ability to use
them - create plans to affect this.
Tim Cooper
LREI
A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>Over the last 8 years, we have had an Educational Technology Department
>with three full-time faculty to support students (about 1070), teachers,
>curriculum, vision, etc. We have a separate Technology Information
>Services department to support hardware, software and the network. We
>have found this to be an excellent model for support.
>
>Please contact me if you have any questions.
>
>Jill
>
>Jill R. Brown, PhD
>Director, Educational Technology
>Albuquerque Academy
>brownj@aa.edu
>(505) 858-8831
>6400 Wyoming Boulevard, NE
>Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109
>Fax (505) 828-3320
>
>
>Note: I am on Jury Duty Friday Nov. 30th - Friday Dec. 21st. My
>correspondence may be slow through this period of time.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: A forum for independent school educators
>[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Bill Knauer
>Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 6:37 AM
>To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>Subject: Re: Technology in Curriculum Integration
>
>Hi Allyn,
>
>We're a PK-12 school in our eighth year of a 1:1 program that begins in
>grade 5. We have three full-time academic tech specialists, one in each
>division (LS, MS, US), whose responsibilities include teaching computer
>skills/science courses and working with faculty to integrate technology
>into their classes.
>
>Let me know if you have any questions or want more details.
>
>Bill
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Bill Knauer
>Director of Technology
>Packer Collegiate Institute
>170 Joralemon Street
>Brooklyn, NY 11201
>718.250.0273
>bknauer@packer.edu
>
>
>
>A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
>writes:
>>How many of you have or are considering hiring instructional
>>technologists/ academic technology coordinators/ technology integration
>
>>specialists / technology curriculum integration coordinator positions?
>
>>We are in our tenth year of a 1:1 laptop program and have yet to have
>>clearly defined expectations for faculty and students with regards to
>>skills and integration. With both ISTE NETS standards, NAIS Principles
>
>>of Good Practice, and 21stCenturySkills.OR there is a lot of good work
>>that has been done outlining very specifically what we all need to be
>>implementing to teach global citizens that are capable of, and
>>responsibly using the tools of their generation and beyond. Any input
>>with what you are doing at your school is much appreciated. Hopefully
>>this will generate some interesting conversation.
>>
>>Allyn Bushlow
>>Director of Technology
>>Stevenson School
>>3152 Forest Lake Road
>>Pebble Beach, CA 93953
>>831-625-8395
>>abushlow@rlstevenson.org
>>
>>[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ] Submissions to
>>ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution,
>>non-commercial, share-alike license.
>
>[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ] Submissions to
>ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution,
>non-commercial, share-alike license.
>
>[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
>Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution,
>non-commercial, share-alike license.
>
Tim Cooper
HS Computer Coordinator
Ninth Grade Dean
K-12 Tech Dept Chairperson
LREI - Little Red Schoolhouse and Elisabeth Irwin HS
40 Charlton St.
New York, NY 10014
212.477.5316 ext 364
tcooper@lrei.org
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
