Innovative Digital Tech Reflections

 May 6, 2024

Today, on the first day of class,  I appreciated the overview of the Theories and Models that explain issues in EdTech integration.  The breakout room allowed for good discussion and consolidation of the theories in my mind and led to food for thought regarding my own openness to technology to adjust my teaching practices.

    Specifically, the discussion around the diffusion of innovation model helped me realize the importance of innovators and early adopters being the forerunners and models of a new technology.  As an educator who began teaching in 1999, I see the value of being paired with a "Tech expert" model, even today in my new classroom where every student has a Macbook and every teacher is expected to post and plan lessons using the given technology.  I also appreciated Rob's note that the barriers that need to be identified specifically in laggards, in order to overcome resistance to adopting new technology.

    Furthermore, I had a valuable discussion in my group (group 4) regarding TAM, the Technology Acceptance Model, and specifically the understanding that the actual practical use of a technology is different from its "perceived" usefulness.  People sometimes jump on bandwagons or join trends only to realize that the specific learning goals are not being met with that particular technology.    We also noted that when it comes to teaching in a new way using new technology, it takes the very innovative and loud "early adopters" to demonstrate usefulness to the laggards, which must be set up as a deliberate process by administrators.   In other words, laggards won't jump on board without very targeted modeling, scaffolding and ongoing support.

    Rob ended the class by showing the layered drawing of the different theories in combination with one another and specifically showing that the place where educators need help is the Pedagogy of using the tools to achieve learning outcomes.  That is, instructors need to know how to teach effectively using the tech tools to really achieve the intended educational goal.  I reflected on my own grade 9 English classroom where I have recently begun teaching.   As I taught my first writing class I asked each student to perform a diagnostic writing task using paper and pencil, only to realize that many were very uncomfortable, as they had already fully adopted the use of typing and word processing for most writing assignments.  Most of the handwriting I collected was illegible.  I found myself questioning how I could achieve my goals in such a classroom using the available technology while also preventing the use of AI and editing software.  I have never done a "blog" before, so this was an opportunity to use new technology for me immediately.  Overall, it was a productive, insightful first class.  I am realizing my own need to jump onboard as I am clearly a "laggard" or "late majority" when it comes to using technology in English class.