Design Project Reflection

This blog entry is based on the Learning Design Project that addresses this problem statement:

Educational technologies offer transformative learning experiences, yet educators face numerous challenges with implementing digital tools with fidelity. Because of fixed mindsets, lack of funds, lack of time, and a plethora of similar tools or services, educators find it difficult to adopting meaningful processes with good pedagogical practices that positively impact student learning using educational technologies.

While there are many roles that require someone to wear many “hats,” there is none quite as unique as that of an educator. Many of the other “hats” required in other professions at least indirectly connect to what your job duty is supposed be. However, as a teacher that deals with students, the line between teacher is blurred to the point of recognition. This is especially so in primary and secondary grades because not only are teachers having to teach, but they also must work with a variety of stakeholders – administration, coworkers, parents, board members – and all at the same time. Increasing this burden is from new processes like educational technologies. And if that wasn’t enough, the over-saturation of educational technologies exponentially compounds this challenge. This is why it is so important to find the best way to achieve time management in lesson planning implementation, and teaching.

Rationale Behind the Decision-Making Process

The best way to achieve efficiency (and peace of mind) is to prioritize the key aspects of planning. To do this, a new project design for educational technology was proposed, that ironically focused less on the technology and more on the implementation and accountability of it. The project idea was focused on addressing the core issues in educational technology – the people behind the planning. For all the different teachers that are out there, educators still tend to be cut from the same mold. They desire learning, changing and growing yet also crave routine and predictability. It’s a fantastic dichotomy that is ever present. Not only this, but educators tend to be isolated in their own little “world” (aka. their classroom) and so it is vital to nurture peer collaboration and support. It’s the same thing we would desire of our students, so why would we not desire it of our teachers?

Challenges & Effectiveness

The beauty of this proposal is that it encourages educators to do the same things they would do for their own student and their own data-driven instruction. Though it, teachers will establish consistent norms in their own planning and work together to achieve similar goals between one another. What worked well with this idea is that it creates a baseline for lesson planning and educational technology. It requires teams and coworkers find a common balance between what they will utilize and cooperatively work with one another to not only keep each other accountable but help one another in the process. The most difficult part of this process is the teachers themselves, which already tend to be resistant to ideas that are not their own. There are also different personalities and temperaments, which will only work if everyone has a growth mindset and school leadership follows through with fidelity.

Based on previous experiences in education, this is exactly why this was so important and the focus of this project. It’s not that teachers can’t utilize new technologies with proper pedagogy, but rather that it’s harder to change a teacher’s process that they are comfortable with. The other consideration is that this issue is ever-changing, and even establishing a norm today will likely be outdated within a couple of years. This creates a vicious cycle because it’s part of the reason educators are so closed minded and resistant. They know that no matter how much they strive to make an improved process, it will always have to change.

Takeways & Future Approaches

Looking ahead, improvements to the proposal could be made in the process or the timeline. A three-month span seems to be a good data point for evaluation, but sometimes a full school year cycle could present a more encompassing view of actual effectiveness. The process of shared, digital data collection and note-taking is beneficial in that they allow for collaboration in-person or while working from home after hours. There are ways to make this process better, for example by using the most convenient platforms (i.e. those already purchased within the school).

Even though the project proposal was a bit idealistic, it was still practical. The idea was to create an achievable goal to address a typical issue with educational technology implementation while combating a common hinderance to teaching - isolation. It seems simple in practice but has profound implications on becoming an effective teacher. Cooperation, collaboration, and technology are all pivotal components to education, so it only makes sense that it would be leveraged just as much for educators as it would be for students.