Recently, we as a staff were told to creat personalized teacher webpages. We were to add relevant information to our site including, homework, what the teachers wer doing in there classes, add parent e-mails to get notifications, etc. Being that I am a counselor and I already had a webpage designed on Shutterfly, I found it easy to transfer my webpage to the new site, Wordpress. Since I am familiar with creating a site and I am taking this course I was asked to help teachers if they requested assistance.
One teacher in particular was very reluctant to say the least. He is one of the older teachers who isn't too technical saavy. Besides his lack of enthusiasm for the technology he could
1) Not understand why he needed a website for physical education class, he insisted this should only be needed for acadamic classes.
2) He thought if there was to be such a site it should be a departmental one as opposed to an individual one.
His attitude was unpleasant and he exhibited no buy in. This was something that was mandated and he did not agree.
In using Kellers ARCS model if the steps were employed it may have been delivered differently such as;
A for attention toward the capabilites of the site as well as how the site can be effective, useful and successful.
R for relevance of why we were doing this or a need for this. A discussion before hand in a faculty meetingm perhaps.
C for confidence in creating the website. Professional training on how to use wordpress.
S for satisfation in seeing why and how it is important to have such a site and seeing the final product.
Jeanine,
ReplyDeleteAs easy at it might seem to blame the message recipient in the example you describe, I know from experience oftentimes that the communicator can be as much or more to blame. For example, the gym teacher had enthusiasm for the technology which counts for much and, yet, you say he could not understand its relevance to gym class. I would want to know why the relevance of the technology to gym class was not communicated in such a way that the teacher could buy-in to the idea. Assuming the teacher is unfamiliar with technology, or its application in this context, examples could have been provided in the notification package for all affected to staff to view. It could be argued that Keller's ARC model was not used or used well in this instance.
Jeannine:
ReplyDeleteAs Marlon mentioned I think the relevence of the change needs to be explored. Often with new technologies that are implemented in a blanket way -- everyone has to do this (and do it in the same way)!. That uniformity is contrary to one of the greatest advantages of technology. Maybe the Phys.Ed teacher knows something about his teaching activities and how they might be best communicated. Maybe he is correct that Phys Ed has different needs than reading, math, or humanities.
@Marlon, You are correct the ARC model was not utilized and I agree about the communicator being a big part of not getting others to buy in.
ReplyDelete@Debbie, Perhaps you are on to something when you mention other ways of communicating. Unfortunately in this situation we were just all told we must have a website set up (we got to choose the design, yipee) and it needed to be up and running by such and such a date. Poor deliverance and overall leadership.
Hi Jennine
ReplyDeleteI was just smiling here as I could totally relate to your experience. I was asked to become a implementation coordinator for our statewide electronic treatment management system, a year after statewide implementation was already started. Users were never training nor had chance to choose what system to use. There was not training materials nor explanation of why we need to use it. Moreover, there was no one in the hospital actually knew what this system can do/cannot do.
As I was one of the clinician who was computer savvy and had some project management skills, I ended up to be a coordinator of the implementation. But ..... it was really a re-implementation coordinator long after people already developped a negative attitude about the system.
Well, long story short, I believe lack of planning and communication regarding the implementation of new technology seems to happen in many organization.
With having multiple generation of people with less technology experiences, I believe it is very important to have project manager to thought out the ARC model long before implementing new technology
So many times we try to incorporate the "Because I said so" top-down authority to get adults to take on a certain learning objective. However, adults seem to need even more stimulus than children when it comes to relevance and satisfaction. Because the PE teacher could not find the relevance of a website to his subject, he was not trying to hear anything else. Perhaps, the leadership could have tapped into the bigger picture of communication between teachers and parents in order to motivate the PE teacher?
ReplyDeleteLynetta
@MH, At time of implementation was it your job to train these other individuals or did you take that upon yourself?
ReplyDelete@Lynetta, Unfortunately this happens and I am not sure if "politics" will ever change in the education system.
Jeannine,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and insight. I also have experienced similar obstacles when trying to work with a group of educators. I believe that having known about the Keller plan when I have worked in different situations would indeed have helped me from making mistakes or understnding while they were relucutant. Do you think that the Keller method would have been helpful in dealing with other situations that you have had?
As we look at incorporating technology into education, it seems like the seasoned instructors are always reluctant to try something new. Teaching should be based on building and learning new concepts; therefore it seems like some instructors feel like they are excluded from that very growth process. And then they scratch their heads thinking why I am being pushed out the system. Could be the fact that learning is evolving and they are not!!
ReplyDelete