Technology Giveth, and Technology Taketh Away!

One of the most disappointing episodes in my teaching career occurred about twelve years ago when my school established a school-within-a-school scenario. The newer model was a technology academy that attracted middle school students from all over the district. With this innovation came the development that all instructors had to be technology proficient to facilitate optimum student learning with the equipment that would be present in each classroom. One of my partners, a very capable history teacher, decided that she was ill-equipped for the incorporation of technology into her regular classroom routine. After a very tough school year, she decided that an early retirement was her best option. She made this decision despite my best efforts to familiarize her with the Internet, word processing, and email. The district lost a fantastic educator and we lost a very productive and personable work mate who regularly made a very real difference in the education of our students.

Without realizing it, I was actually using elements of Keller’s ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model of motivational design may have made a difference in the decision made by my friend. I did appeal to her sense of exploration in expanding her own abilities in order to help her students. We all tried to build her confidence in using the technology through active participation, but soon discovered that without someone sitting next to her and coaching her through the steps, these actions were useless. When asked about her lack of utilization of the technology in her room, her response was that she had been teaching for many years and was too far along in her career to learn new methods now, especially those involving something as alien as computers. Hearing this, I dwelt on the relevance of the Internet in making history more exciting and real for her students. She agreed that the tools were formidable and would probably make a real difference, but in the classrooms of others and not her own. I often wonder how many other educators have removed themselves from teaching because of some development in classroom methodology that seemed unattainable to them. It seems a great waste to have these educators no longer making positive contributions to the lives of our students.

References:

Instructional Endeavors (2011). Keller’s arcs model. Retrieved from http://www.indeavors.com/resources/arcsmodel.htm

Keller, J (2008). Keller’s arcs model of motivational design. Retrieved from http://www.arcsmodel.com/

Learning-Theroies.com (2008). Arcs model of motivational design (Keller). Retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/kellers-arcs-model-of-motivational-design.html