EDUC 7105 Module 5: New Technologies...

Responded to Valerie Mitchell-Stevens and Laine Pagan

New Technologies....Where do I begin? There have been so many new technologies that I’ve introduce to teachers in my workplace, one being the use of Discovery Education’s United Streaming. When I first introduced about the tool, about 3 years ago, teachers seemed to be very excited and really wanted to incorporate the use streaming video in their lessons. However, once we paid for our subscription and launched the use of the product we encountered some resistance from other teachers. Of course I offered staff development, modeling the use of this new technology, how it helps with core curriculum, how to download and save files to play back later, etc. Attitudes went from excitement to “I don’t have time to search for videos for my class”; “I don’t have time to plan for this”. Needless to say I’ve had to do a series of these trainings, in which most of the same individuals attended. I can safely say now, the majority of our teachers do use United Streaming and are having some great results, there are still a few who’ve never set up an account or sought to use the resources it provides.

When I think about Keller’s ARCS model, motivation that I’ve used to encourage teachers were tactics that involved recognition for the use of technology in their classroom, or one-one assistance in which I served as a coach, assisting them in the planning process, offering the additional resources and extra time and attention until they felt confident with the use of the tool I’ve also groomed and trained teachers to teach others how to use the tool and share testimonials about their experiences and lessons they’ve successfully completed with the students using United Streaming.