Beliefs vs Usage: Teachers and ICTs

In a richly layered and researched paper,Peg Ertmer, points out some factors which are central to the successful and wide spread implementation of Technology as a vital tool.It analyzes the central concept of the teachers attitude towards teaching per se and beliefs in general.It finds that teachers essentially hold educational/pedagogical beliefs towards Teaching through technology as barriers.Thus a big gap in the full scale implementation and utilization of Technology.Research shows that in spite of wide availability of funds, resources and agreement of authority usage is not optimum.Moreover the teachers were trained to use the facilities and by 2003 had attained minimal technical comfortability.However the gap in the dissemination of ICTs in actual classes led a new research on the attitudes of the teachers.

It was found out the the teachers held some essential beliefs,for example they used the technology to do teacher centered task which were easy,given the fact that the ICTs hold vast potential.Thus the high-level uses suffered and in turn did the students.This usage of technology to limit the child-centered usage was probed further.Thus the comment founded on research that,"Teachers use technology in ways that are consistent with their personal beliefs about curriculum".Teachers were found to reflect their beliefs into how they operated in classes.It was found that it took time,about 6 years, for the teachers to progress from low -end/ teacher centered usage to high-end/constructive usage.Thus,continued usage was the key for correct implementation of the resources.Though,being an assumption,common sense shows us that continued usage leads to habit formation.In view of such a scenario it seems teachers hold prejudices and hold personal beliefs at the forefront rather than follow the set reforms.Is is so,the paper suggests,because teachers are autonomous individuals and any implementation lies in the domain of the teacher.The opinions of teachers are final in relation of the integration of technology and a resolution of core values.

The paper lists five beliefs held by teachers,
a)Beliefs about oneself and shared beliefs
b)privately held beliefs
c)beliefs on which authority to trust
d)beliefs derived from authority and subject to change by authority
e)unimportant beliefs bor matters of personal likes

These beliefs inform the appropriation of new methods such as full scale integration of computers in classroom.However,it is possible to change knowledge based beliefs than personal beliefs.One suggestion proposed is that technology novices must be given good opportunity to implement,practice and integrate new information systems into old belief systems.This creates an integration of the practice and belief,where practice precedes belief.If by practice teachers engage themselves in the domain of ICTs they would find that it is a useful methodology,then this would result in a change in the past belief system that ICTs are nominal.This fact is also supported by research which reflects that peer-effect is more of a motivator in understanding and honing the efficiency of ICTs than just ideologue.The quote;"....confidence and competence must be built before changes to beliefs can be expected.."reflects the simple fact that through diligent practice the teachers will find the efficacy of the ICTs and once this is done the old.traditional beliefs would collapse getting the teacher to embrace and use technology to the fullest maximum it can offer in the Learning process.

Interactive White Boards

Imagine walking into a class of 30 Digital Natives students with a hand drawn teaching materials,handwritten notes and chalk.How would they respond?They probably would feel helpless and try to engage with the lecture.The teacher would use the materials to lecture on the subject matter as students listen,respond and finish tasks.

The teacher returns to the lesson plan and writes on the reflection sheet,It was a good lecture on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.Students know about Coleridge as a writer of this poem.The annotation exercises were handed out as homework.

Another hard day at work done the teacher feels the lesson was O.K. and feels happy.Ten days later the teacher asks Peter to talk about Coleridge in class.Peter retrieving from memory,racking the whole lot of stuff in there goes,"Coleridge ,Whats that".I heard it somewhere".The teacher then comments that Peter has not been diligent enough to read and refer the lessons at home and hence cannot remember Coleridge.Few others feel the same about Coleridge and the lesson.The teacher decides that the lesson must be reviewed again and goes again.The reflection sheet of the days says,students can remember the lyrics of Eminem but not a taught poem.They do not like Coleridge,he must be boring or difficult for them.Must revise because it is an exam question.

More talk and more chalk and Peter remembers the teacher as Coleridge after 10 years but actually nothing about Coleridge.

The same teacher gets to class with ICTs based teaching plans and links up lesson to the real time resources on Coleridge;pictures,list of works,biography table etc as warm up. Introduces a learning federation object url of the Antarctic letting students see slides of the cold continent and know about famous expeditions and explorers.Then with a click on the mouse displays the poem,Rime of the Ancient Mariner and presents the poems structure,linguistic devices, critical appreciation.Interactive board exercises then will consolidate that learning through tasks and the lesson closes with a clip of sounds from the Antarctica for students to contrast the feel of the poem.The reflection sheet will then read, Peter wanted to know if Coleridge has ever been to Antarctica,Shane wanted to develop a piece of music on his synthesizer and wanted info. on copyrights,Jack will never want to go to Antarctic because his health suffers in cold climates but Sam would try and develop a thermal suit for Jack.

It is very probable that after 10 years Peter and others would have made progress and gone on to do what they set out after the one Interactive lesson on Coleridge.

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The above scenario mirrors the ideas of Sara Bradshaw and explicates the transition effort from chalk to tech and compares that effort with the end result of constructivist application.The students are not passive agents but active contributors to society.The emphases on simulated situations,multiple perspectives,active learning and collaboration in the above lesson has made the transition effort from chalk to tech fruitful.It is evident from the teacher reflection,student comments and implied ideas that the Global community of learners is a reality not idle talk.
It only requires us to discard the chalk and take up tech, facilitate than teach,collaborate not challenge.Peter will then have a name of the teacher etched in memory.

Getting there with the mindtools

An intresting aspect of mind tools are that they break down the process of knowledge construction vertically and horizontally around a concept.It also blurs the line between the learner and learnt,thus making them both teacher/student designers because they are learning all the time.Critically there is am emphases on Knowledge construction and not reproduction. This is the Pandoras box.To ensure that actual knowledge Construction happens and not just cut and paste from the widely available resources is a special task.Special because creativity seems to be bordered more on the spatial dimension of the knowledge construction process.Thus,creative instincts must also be developed by getting the learners create something or to exhibit what they have created.If creativity is harnessed it will reflect in their using the mindtools for developing higher skills.

Let us get in there with the mind tools and catch the lerners reflecting and thinking critically.

THE DESIRE TO EXCEL

It is not really surprising that Elliott is critical about the pace with with ICTs are being integrated into the teaching time. She identifies and pinpoints two reasons,the first being underplaying the role of ICTs as understood and used by the teacher and second the role of the immediate decision makers at schools.She conveys the image of most teachers being reluctant to get out their thick skins of the past and somehow disregard or regard lowly the integration of ICTs as a much needed thrust as part of a national Australian education plan.Though her paper is informative and reflects the research findings of ICTs and Education,it nevertheless conveys a grim picture of teachers being the villains in the theater of Modernity.She seems convinced that unless the teachers take upon themselves the task of reinventing themselves with ICT no plan,grant or availability of resources would ensure that the classrooms are truly modern.

However it is worthy to note that teachers do also have a desire to excel,and do pick up tools of modernity based upon experience.Unless teachers are given the expertise and the tools of ICTs,they will continue to believe that traditional methods were better.Let examples be set by the torchbearers of the ICT and the rest are bound to follow.To blame reluctance and conservatism is to be critical of the past.

Is ICT just another tool?

It is relevant to question the paradigms of new ideas to gain an understanding of the flux between the processes of the past as compared with the present.The present age is characterized by the widespread use of technology.It is the age of ICTs when linked to effective teaching.Therefore there is a urgent need to adapt ICTs for teaching. It is so because this is the age of the Digital Natives.As Prensky suggests, these Digital Natives are seeped up in technology.They respond with eagerness to tools which are familiar. Thus, ICTs based instruction is interesting for the learners and of relevance to their mindset.


On the other hand, processing of education is multi-dimensional and involves the dynamics of development.To begin with there is the person to person contact for teaching and teachers have not changed their essential nature of being guides or facilitators.Secondly, curriculum is largely text based; so are the methods of assessment. Thirdly, we have not yet seen the outcome of being completely dependent on Technology so are cautious in exploring.However,using ICTs as a valid tool for teaching can help us, the Digital immigrants, to cater to the real needs of the learners.It can be first used as just another tool,with diligent professionalism and care as THE teaching tool.It can thus be tested in the real classroom climate.This application can not only test the veracity of the claims and counter claims of the supporters and critics of ICTs, but also give teachers another teaching tool in their repertoire of methodology . It is only by serious consideration and diligent application that we can debate with conclusive evidence the applicability of ICTs in this Digital age.