Instructional Technology
Education in technology for teachers can take on many different forms. Training can be tailored to fit the needs of individuals or groups based on learning style or specific software and hardware.
The focus during training should be curriculum...not technology. Really, technology should be a tool for teaching, not something outside of content that needs to get taught in addition to everything else. Your students will learn to use technology you just get to help them think about how they use it.
Online training can be built to suit the needs of staff in a district. Content can be delivered as a hybrid course where the instructor spends some face-to-face time in the district and online courseware is used to enhance curriculum outside of class. Self-paced, completely online training is also available. Incentives or some type of accountability are recommended for this type of training to motivate people to stick with it. Even with online training, an instructor should be available to answer questions and provide support. Depending on the content, there are times when no instructor is necessary.
Face-to-face trainings where the staff is committed to learning the material and an administrator is present is most effective when it comes to technology and apprehensive learners. If you are planning an inservice, it’s best to survey the needs of staff. If content is randomly chosen simply to fill time, no one will gain.
Again, during technology trainings, the focus should be on students and curriculum, not technology. Learners in the 21st century should be required to pioneer their own learning in a project-based manner. Teachers merely guide this inquiry instead of driving it. Of course, this change in the way learning occurs is a stretch for many to most. Adult learners need many iterations and much support to make this shift.
