In 2013, the State of California (alongside 41 states according to Wikipedia) adopted a set of mathematical standards and practices aligned to the common core. The overarching design of common core was to promote a deeper mathematical knowledge by teaching fewer standards. However, four years after full implementation, course pacing in 8th grade math courses remains rigorous.The common core mathematical standards represent approximately 50% to procedural knowledge, and 25% for conceptual understanding and abstract reasoning, respectively. Each of the standards requires specific understanding of knowing how to integrate technology to enhance student learning.
Student learning supported through the use of instructional software, drill-and-practice, tutorials, simulations, and games has been shown to have relative advantages (Robyler, 2016). The relative advantage of any new technology can be answered by considering the benefits, time, and expense. In other words, “Is it likely to be worth it?” (Roblyer, 2016, p. 57). Unfortunately, answering this question often forms an obstacle in implementing technology, while compounding the problem of getting through rigorous standards coupled with high stakes testing. Teacher leaders or early adopters of educational technology often ran into more issues caused by high band useage resulted in buffering with video integration or walled gardens restricted access. These problems promotes teachers attitudes to keep traditional lessons sans-technology. the adventurous teachers which implement technology are asked to make tough pedagogical choices managing unknown outcomes with course requirements. Frequent problems often include a lack of availability of hardware, issues aligning technology tasks to meet standards, excessive time required for students to perform the task, and most importantly, teacher knowledge and comfort in using technology. Fortunately, one obstacle of the availability of hardware has diminished as technology has infiltrated the classroom. Nowadays, chromebooks, ipads and byod devices are more readily available. It seems as if schools have found a balance between purchasing the latest technology (such as in “What went wrong with L.A. Unified i-Pad Program?”) and training teachers to meet technology demands. Still teachers find obstacles to technology implementation due to issues of aligning a task using technology to meet math standards and/or excessive time required for students to perform the task. Finding or planning content aligned to the Ca. Common Core Mathematical Standards which supports the rigorous content pacing can be overcome with time and dedicated teacher professional development. Continuous professional development will promote developing lesson plans with technology whose relative advantage is clear and undoubtedly better than traditional teaching methods. There are many websites available (free of charge) for continuation of professional learning about technology use in education. Some of the best ones I have discovered are:
References Robyler, M.D. (2016). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (7th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
1 Comment
Ben Fisher
11/13/2017 08:00:14 pm
Hi Pepper,
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