Technology has the potential to assist teachers in meeting the literacy needs of diverse populations of students by contributing to student-centered teaching and transforming the role of the teacher from a direct deliverer of instruction to a facilitator of learning (Askov & Bixler, 1998). Complex views of literacy are currently emerging as people use new media to make meaning, express themselves, and communicate and work with others. As a result, various forms of information and communication technology (ICT) are redefining the nature of literacy (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004). The development of these new literacies have presented challenges for teacher educators as they prepare teachers to teach a wide range of literacy skills to culturally, linguistically, and academically diverse students. Teachers, like myself and teacher educators, the role I will soon play as reading specialist are now expected to integrate new technologies into their curriculum, reflecting standards developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). According to the International Reading Association (2002), students and teachers are now expected to become proficient in new literacies in order to become fully literate in today’s world. As new literacies and new technologies are being integrated into classrooms, however, research has revealed that the majority of teachers have not moved beyond mechanistic uses of computers (Bruce & Hogan, 1998). Innovative and transformative uses of technology have become the exception rather than the rule. Sadly, the research has revealed that teachers stay with what is traditional and therefore comfortable. It is left up to individual teachers to use their professional development to enhance their pedagogy and become current.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Hesitant technologists
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Getting teachers to do formal Teacher Training such as Dip Ed. has been quite a task from the past.Teachers some how saw it as unnecessary and useless. What i can tell you is that i have benefited from the training and it does make teachers aware of new forms of teaching and the use of technology. It may seem unbelievable but some teachers today have never used a computer. Typing remains a problem as many teachers even at my school still type with one finger. It is as if the world has gone on and left them behind. As students and technology continue to change it is imperative that teachers change and adapt to the ever changing landscape of education. Literacy is a problem world wide, but how students learn has changed. They want to do things not just sit and listen. They want graphics, color and all the things that they are bombarded with through daily advertisements. Teachers now must become technologically competent and embrace technology so that the children they educate can buy into their teaching and learning practices.Lets hope that Reading Specialists can influence content area teachers and foster a relationship which will allow them to assist teachers in becoming technologically literate and embrace web 2.0 technologies.
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