Running Head: How does a whole school move towards integrating technology?

How does a whole school move towards integrating technology?

By
Jessica Hsueh

Vignette # 2
2016S1-2-ETEC532-66A-Technology in the Arts and the Humanities Classroom-66A May 2016
Alexander De Cosson
University of British Columbia
July 4, 2016

Jessica Hsueh 2016-7-26 8:25 AM

Comment [1]: Dear Jessica,

This is an extremely well-written and well
argued short paper. You discuss the roles
and responsibilities of teacher and students
in a most interesting and varied manner,
with good observations such as, I found
that teachers who are unfamiliar with
technology are often more susceptive to
incorporating technology when they are not
overwhelmed by it."

You engage with your subject and discuss
the role of technology and pedagogy and
make connections to the course readings,
you also bring in additional research upon
which to draw further interpretation.

An extremely competent piece of writing.
Well done.

Cheers Alex

How does a whole school move towards integrating technology?

The school I teach at is in the midst of adapting and implementing the New BC
Curriculum and similar to the vignette, we often counter difficulties trying to come to a
consensus about which direction to take in terms of our technology plan. Our tech committee
spends most of the time trouble shooting and relaying information from the district but little has
been done in terms of formulating a concrete plan for implementing technology in the new
curriculum. I think at my school this is largely due to the varying comfort levels of teachers with
technology, lack of resources and proper support. According to Shapiro (2014), time, cost and
lack of tech resources are three leading obstacles that stand in the way of teachers incorporating
digital games in the classroom. Therefore, for schools to move towards integrating technology
they need to be mindful of these factors and address them accordingly.
For any integration process to go smoothly, teachers, students and administrators all need
to be on the same page. Policies and guidelines need to be decided upon as a collective so
everyones needs can be heard and met. As a tech coordinator, it is important that they are
knowledgeable about what technological tools are available, what district policies are in place
and what the needs of the school are. By being familiar with these components, tech coordinators
are better equipped to helping schools overcome concerns and barriers when trying to move a
whole school towards implementing technology.
In this vignette, the coordinator was given the daunting task of ensuring equity was
addressed; that technology integration would affect as many students as possible in as many
disciplines as possible; and that the project would be thoughtfully carried out (de Cosson,
course notes). By creating a committee to help devise a plan, both teachers interests and school
administrators vision could be heard and discussed by all members involved. Thus, creating a
more supportive community. Even though the only consensus that was decided upon was to link

How does a whole school move towards integrating technology?

all of the school computers to an internal network/learning platform, it allowed the tech
coordinator to identify the teachers needs and areas they needed more support. Through this, she
is able to find suitable professional development opportunities to help them find innovative ways
to enhance student learning through the use of available technology.
One of the concerns was the distribution of technology. I believe equitable distribution of
tech resources may look differently at every school. In the vignette, the committee was unable to
come to a unified decision regarding the setup of technology in the school. Therefore, different
initiatives and plans were made to suited different teachers such as having pods of computers in
classrooms versus using a computer lab. This may not seem equitable but from my own
experiences, I found that teachers who are unfamiliar with technology are often more susceptive
to incorporating technology when they are not overwhelmed by it. As long as there is a longterm goal or vision for all teachers to work towards a certain level of technological integration
within the school, they do not all need to start off with the same amount of resources.
Moving an entire school towards integrating technology is a massive undertaking and the
coordinator in the vignette did what worked for her school. Her approach may not work in other
schools but by identifying the challenges and listening to the teachers and administrators, it made
for an easier transition. That being said, according to Koehler & Mishra (2009), there is no one
best way to integrate technology into curriculum.

How does a whole school move towards integrating technology?

References
de Cosson, A. (2016). Lecture on Week 8: Vignettes: Teaching and learning using educational
tools in ETEC 532 66A. Personal Collection of Alexander de Cosson, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?
Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.
Shapiro, J., SalenTekinba, K., Schwartz, K., & Darvasi, P. (2014). MindShift Guide To Digital
Games+ Learning. Retrieved from http://www.kqed.org/assets/pdf/news
/MindShift-GuidetoDigitalGamesandLearning.pdf