Over the past several years I have struggled with a
particular teacher resisting the use of technology to aide her communication
with parents and staff members. On the outside she seems to have a desire to
use technology to improve her effectiveness in communication. However, she
seems to lack the required motivation to attempt to grow in her communication
skills. During this same time period she has learned to effectively use our
school software for lesson plans and grades. Her attitude toward the whole
situation seems to be that every time she attempts to use her computer to
communicate she is at war with the computer. She becomes very angry and
frustrated with her own inability to quickly navigate this type of situation. I
believe that this teacher lacks the necessary motivation to press through the
early stages of learning this new skill.
Keller (1983) describes
“four conditions for motivation that must be met to have a motivated learner” (Keller, 1993 as
cited by Driscoll, 2005 p. 333). The conditions are attention, relevance,
confidence, and satisfaction (Driscoll, 2005 p. 333). If I am going to assist this teacher in
further developing her skills I must guide her to the point where she reaches
these four steps to become a motivated learner. First her attention must be
captured. This could possibly be accomplished by demonstrating a simple
shortcut to begin the communication process. Next the relevance of this type of
skill will need to be demonstrated. I believe that she has a limited perception
of the importance of successful communication skills. She might benefit from a
demonstration of how she can become even more effective by improving her
communication skills. In the area of confidence she has been given specific
tasks to complete within close proximity to someone who can assist her. I feel
that her confidence will be boosted when she is able to complete important
tasks with limited assistance. Finally she will become motivated to continue
working on her communication skills when she is able to achieve a small level
of clear success.
Reference
Driscoll, Marcy P. (2005). Psychology
of Learning for Instruction XML Vitalsource ebook for Laureate Education, 3rd
Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.
<vbk:9781256352952#outline(12.5)>.
I also have a coworker who is afraid of technology. He avoids it as much as possible. This instructor is not a bad teacher and overall is open-minded. It is hard to understand what exactly the cause of this resistance is. Is it laziness or extremely busy schedule or something else? I think without understanding of the main reason it is hard to motivate people.
ReplyDeleteI agree. If we want to effectively increase the individuals motivation we must first understand their resistance.
ReplyDeleteJoshua, over the years I have used simple approaches to assist other to embrace technology. I find the simpler the better for the first few tasks. I agree that your co-worker has challenges with confidence, and my assumption is it goes further than integrating technology. If there is anyway to have a technician to adopt and mentor her through some less challenging task, then I think she would overcome her apprehension and improve her motivation to learning new things. Thanks for sharing. Jerry
ReplyDeleteThis coworker sounds as if she needs some positive experiences to get over this negative idea of fighting with the computer. A short cut and also maybe some initial help getting the program working would make her feel more comfortable. Maybe you can find one of her closest peers that has success using it to walk her through it.
ReplyDeleteJoshua,
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone. I also find that many of the teachers I work with are resistant to using technology mainly because they are uncomfortable with it or are worried about student safety online. I often have teachers come to me for advice or suggestions but I rarely see a follow through. Sometimes I do believe it is lack of time and increased pressure to show results as Lena mentioned in her reply.
There have been some teachers who have expressed a desire to make a commitment but they would prefer one-to-one help from me; this is very hard as I have my own classroom and other commitments. These teachers actually suggested that I should take on the role of a technology teacher next year and work with them to effectively integrate technology into their daily instruction as well as communication with parents. I did make this suggestion to my administration but I doubt it will happen due to logistics and the policies & procedures in my school board.
What teachers need the most is professional development, time, and patience to integrate technology into their classroom. I have said it before and I will say it again - just as we scaffold for our students, teachers also require the same scaffolding when it comes to technology integration in their classrooms.
Joshua,
ReplyDeleteAs you work with this teacher, she may also need you to provide "scaffolded" support, and several chances where she can actually use the technology and computer with your direct assistance until she feels more comfortable. I have a couple of teachers whom I am also working with in my building, and it seems that they benefit from one-on-one, face-to-face interaction where we are working on the computer simultaneously, and I am right beside them when they need assistance, especially as they become easily frustrated.
Joshua,
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your situation. There are many like her on our workplace environments. I can understand the frustration of not knowing how to use the technology. What is hard for me to understand is their reluctance to implement it. It is like they actually prefer performing tasks the hard way. Technology eases the way things are done, and that for me is enough motivation to engage on learning to implement new technology.
Yahira
I enjoyed reading your blog. You included some great information. I really enjoyed when you said, "she will become motivated to continue working on her communication skills when she is able to achieve a small level of clear success". This statement was very postive and encouraging.
ReplyDeleteYolandria Petty