In the article Why Ed Tech Is Not Transforming How

Teachers Teach Benjamin Harold tries to list a few

reasons why teachers arent using Educational
Technology in their classrooms.
Benjamin quotes a professor at Stanford who said The
introduction of computers into schools was supposed to
improve academic achievement and alter how teachers
taught, but it didnt. Rather, only a few early adopters
that have embraced the Ed Tech approach, and have
made it a part of their daily classroom. From an outsiders
perspective its hard to understand why technology
hasnt taken the classroom by storm. The only initial
hurdle that educators admitted existed was a lack of
funding for the equipment. Steve Jobs was quoted 20
years saying that you can bring the computers into the
classroom but there are no programs to use. Was Steve
Jobs correct?
The first reason that Ed Tech isnt as successful as youd
think, is due to problematic School practices and policies
and school based factors. Even with the most devoted
teacher trying to pave the way for Ed tech, if a school still
measures success by how well a student does on a test,
then how can a teacher expect to utilize a technology
that is meant to change that type of learning?
Secondly, teachers dont understand how Ed Tech works
and therefore cant find a useful way to incorporate it into
their classrooms. When surveyed most teachers were
using some technology in their classrooms but only for
limited word processing or web searching capabilities.
The true power of the technology wasnt being uncovered
in the classroom and Benjamin believes its because the

teachers dont know how to use it. A teacher is too busy

to conduct research on what programs might help him
deliver content while improving the learning of his
students, and if thats the case then perhaps the school
districts should do the research and suggest the
programs that teachers should use in their classrooms.
The recipe for success that Benjamin wrote about to help
solve this problem was to initiate a Professional
development program for teachers that would allow for
them to be taught about various applications that would
be good tools to use in their classrooms. If the teachers
are sold on the benefits of an application then there is a
better chance that they will utilize that application in their
classroom. Lastly, the way we measure success would
have to be changed in order to get these teachers off of
teaching to a test and nurturing a learning environment
that utilized technology. Only when all of these items are
addressed can we hope to have Education Technology
become an integral part of our classroom settings.
Source:
Published in Print: June 11, 2015, as Why Ed Tech Is Not Transforming
Teaching Benjamin Harold
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/06/11/why-ed-tech-is-nottransforming-how.html