On Empathy, Culture, and Barriers to Making Technology Integral to Teaching - By Darren Draper
Jul
15
Written by:
7/15/2010 10:35 AM
When Alan November taught
his ISTE audience
about empathy, making a
strong case for its placement at the top of the list of critical
21st Century skills, he helped me understand why it's still still
difficult to persuade so many in education that the global,
technologically-driven approach to learning really can be the better
way. At this moment in time, I'm no longer convinced that it’s the
technology alone that so many fear. Sure, technology can be intimidating
in and of itself; but quite often, I think that it's what people might find on the other side of
that technology that likely seems so scary. When technology
means communication and collaboration with others outside of our
comfortable sphere, then barriers of security quite naturally arise.
Nevertheless,
these aren't new fears, far from it. In fact, these are the same
feelings of fright and apprehension we've been fighting as a planet for
millennia.
With the push in recent decades toward an increased
use of technology in education, scholars have been busy researching and
documenting its successes and failures, as well as the factors
inhibiting technology’s use as a pedagogical tool. Peggy A. Ertmer, for
example, has done substantial work in this area. Following Brickner’s
(1995) lead, Ertmer has described barriers to technology integration in
schools as being either first- or second-order. This is important.
Thus,
first-order barriers to technology integration are described as being
extrinsic to teachers and include lack of access to computers and
software, insufficient time to plan instruction, and inadequate
technical and administrative support. In contrast, second-order barriers
are intrinsic to teachers and include beliefs about teaching, beliefs
about computers, established classroom practices, and unwillingness to
change. While many first-order barriers may be eliminated by securing
additional resources and providing computer-skills training, confronting
second-order barriers requires challenging one's belief systems and the
institutionalized routines of one's practice. Thus, in terms of
technology integration, this may require reformulating basic school
culture notions regarding what constitutes content and content coverage,
what comprises learning and engaged time, and even, what behaviors
define “teaching”. (Ertmer, 1999, p. 48; see also Ertmer, 2005)
At
this point in the evolution of our field, I think there are many
teachers for which technology has
become integral to nearly every aspect of their job. However, for
those still striving to integrate
– or worse, for those still hesitant resistant to
integrate – I think that an additional second-order barrier lies in the
cultural differences that exist between teachers on opposite ends of any
collaboration that might take place.
"What will I find on the
other side? What if they're different? Can they be trusted? I think I'm
scared. Why should I care?"
Furthermore, until collaboration is a behavior naturally
included in every educator’s definition of teaching, then many of the
contemporary promotions of technology in education will continue to be little
more than spit in the wind.
To illustrate, take Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay as perfect
examples. I remember reading about their first Flat Classroom
Project together back in 2006. In that and subsequent Flat
Classroom Projects, students from different countries and backgrounds
work together to research, discuss, and envision the education and
society of the future, basing hypotheses on trends outlined in each
year’s Horizon Report (click
here to see K12 edition of the report for this year). Because the
students and teachers that participate in these projects come from
different countries – Bangladesh, Australia, Austria, China, and the
United States in 2006 – strong cultural differences become evident as
they learn to collaborate and work together to create successful
products. As a result, these projects can be exhilarating, to be sure;
nevertheless, they can also be challenging as the meshing of cultures is
rarely easily accomplished.
In surveying
the sessions that were offered at this year’s ISTE conference, it
becomes clear that collaboration and global participation has been a
common theme. Every
ISTE keynote focused on the importance of global collaboration and
working together as equal partners to solve the problems that plague our
world. As teachers from the East collaborate with students from the
West, each brings to the table the sum of their life experiences –
culminating in an exciting cornucopia of religious, ethnic, and
lifestyle differences.
My
experiences at ISTE this year taught me that technology now serves as a
critical thread that ties many of us together in learning. That, to me,
is exciting, fascinating, and scary: all at the same time. I’m happy
to see so many embrace the diversity that can and will exist in our
field – and hopeful that others more apprehensive will learn to overcome
their fears in realization that the global, technologically-driven
approach to learning really can be the better way.
---
Original
image source: Flickr user bench_30.
References:
- Brickner,
D. (1995). The effects of first and
second order barriers to change on the degree and nature of computer
usage of secondary mathematics teachers: A case study. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
- Ertmer,
P. (1999). Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change:
strategies for technology integration. Educational
Technology Research and Development, 47(4), 47-61.
- Ertmer,
P. (2005). Teacher pedagogical beliefs: the final frontier in our quest
for technology integration. Educational
Technology Research and Development, 53(4), 25-39.
Cross-posted on Drape's Takes. Let's learn together.
4 comment(s) so far...
On Empathy, Culture, and Barriers to Making Technology Integral to Teaching - By Darren Draper
The barriers might even be supplemented by a "third," which I might call "standing back to objectively decide what methods might help students learn best." I pause to think about this before I decide how I develop the means to get to to my goal. I am a user of technology, but I continually have to ask myself which ways of learning will help my students most to become critical thinkers. Sometimes learning can be fun, and technology can be part of the process. At oher times learning may be plain old hard work that involves a different kind of hands-on approach that might not depend so heavily on technology. Digital technology is an amazing revolution, but I still want to think the process through before deciding the best ways to help my children learn.
By mike on
7/20/2010 1:30 AM
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On Empathy, Culture, and Barriers to Making Technology Integral to Teaching - By Darren Draper
Clearly technology has become an integral factor for learning advancement.It really broadens the horizon for teaching.There might be apprehensions before but that has diminished rapidly as more and more people are inclined to use technology in teaching.
By cornerstone university lansing on
7/21/2010 7:00 PM
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On Empathy, Culture, and Barriers to Making Technology Integral to Teaching - By Darren Draper
With this innovating technology, most of us are craze on doing online activities, and we sometimes depend and rely on the information on the Internet. TaskRabbit is a new online service that calls itself "service networking". Individuals who need extra help getting things done are matched up with those that have extra time. TaskRabbit aims to be more reliable and safer than other online services.
By LourdesL on
8/8/2010 7:41 PM
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On Empathy, Culture, and Barriers to Making Technology Integral to Teaching - By Darren Draper
Good insight on the matter of integrating technology in the curriculum. I am afraid that second order barriers, the ones that are more difficult to address, will probably linger until the next generation of teachers who are digital natives. I still know people who refuse to accept America's friendship wiht the Japanese. These are mostly people who experienced the horror of Pearl Harbor. While their children still hold some resentment, it is nothing like the bitterness of their parents. The grandkids' best friend is a young Japanese American.
By Andy Sandiford on
7/28/2010 3:58 AM
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