Creating Buy-in

With all that teachers have to do on a daily basis from lesson planning to managing an ever more active classroom, technology integration can easily fall to an insignificate slot on our list of priorities. I could list a number of legitimate reasons that I have heard from many teachers about why they are not using technology. It is up to the Technology Specialist in a school building to find a way for teachers to really buy-in to the benefits and model the use of technology.

Teachers have to see technology used on a daily basis in and around the school and by the administration. Every professional development should include a technology component, even if the topic is not technology based. Reluctant teachers need to see other teachers be successful with technology. Teacher should be encouraged to share best practices in small settings like grade level or course team meetings. Teachers need individual and group planning time around technology integration. They need to know that they will have the support that they need if things go wrong, as they occasionally do. Lastly, the technology has to fit and be easy. If something is too difficult to coordinate, or use, that is all the more reason for a teacher to choose not to use it. Enough class time is wasted on management issues, we don't need technology to provide another black hole where into time disappears.