Tech is Not The Monster Under the Bed

I was born in 1973 and learned how to type on a portable manual typewriter.  I had a rotary phone in the hallway and a record player.  My parents bought me a Sony Walkman for my 11th birthday and 2 cassette tapes; Cindi Lauper and Prince...I had one of the first Atari's, as my parents bought it in the Florida.  But the one thing I never had was a computer.  In fact, I got my first computer in 1998, and I didn't have internet at home until 2003...I was 30 years old...and it was dial up! 

When I began my teaching career, the most tech used was a photocopier...and in many classrooms that is still the case.  It's sad.  I am ashamed to say that I was one of those teachers.  I used worksheets and my kids sat in rows, just like I was taught in teacher's college.  My classroom was boring and very quiet.  That's why I'm here.  I guess I'm a late adapter...but not with everything. I love my iPhone and my Apple watch.  But tech in the classroom scared me.  It was my disorienting dilemma. The term disorienting dilemma is a life-event crisis that triggers  questioning of assumptions, resulting in transformed beliefs (Taylor, 2000). 

I think that's why many teachers avoid it...they perceive it to be hard to learn and don't know how to implement it.  There's a name for that...TAM (technology acceptance model).  If we perceive a technology to be simple to use and useful, it will be used more (Legris, Ingham & Collerette, 2003). 
This is all part of Transformative Learning Theory which is transforming your frame of reference (Mezirow, 1997).

The bottom line is some teachers don't use tech because they just are not interested in changing their program and are counting down to retirement.  Some don't due to fear of the unknown, and some
don't because of lack of instruction.  Have you sat through useless PD sessions?  Teachers need to be shown and given an opportunity to manipulate the tech. 

When I started this program in September, I knew how to use Google Classroom, but that was pretty much it.  I have learned so much in such a short time, and trust me if I could learn to use these tech tools, anyone can!  Don't fear tech...EMBRACE IT!

References

Legris, P., Ingham, J., & Collerette, P. (2003). Why do people use information technology? A critical review of the technology acceptance model. Information & management, 40(3), 191-204.

Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformation theory out of context. Adult Education Quarterly, 48(1), 60-62.

Taylor, E. W. (2000): Analyzing Research on Transformative Learning Theory. In Mezirow, J. & Associates (Eds.): Learning as transformation (pp. 285-328). San Francisco and Calif.: Jossey-Bass, Jossey-Bass higher and adult education series.