Technology Training

The current state of my faculty's technology skills are as varied as our ages! We have twenty somethings all the way up to people who have been working in the same school for 20 years. This disparity in age and era can cause a big gap in our technological know-how. Which leads me to ways technology staff development is provided (or not provided) in my school. We have a great media specialist who is very knowledgeable and always willing to help. She makes sure that all teachers are familiar and comfortable with the technology they have access to. There are also workshops and seminars available occasionally through the county on different programs.

Strategies and approaches that support productive technology staff development are taking time during faculty and staff meetings to ask what questions if any are there for the media specialist about the technology we use everyday. Problems and barriers to productive technology staff development are late adaptors that just don't want to progress forward. They like what they know and they are very hesitant to learn anything new.

Specific ways the school library media specialist can fulfill the duties of technology coach as outlined in the ISTE standards for me would be through visionary leadership and extensive content knowledge.

As a media specialist, it will be my job to inspire and participate in the development and implementation for a shared vision of integrating technology. One way I could do this would be to offer a tutorial on using and troubleshooting common issues with Promethean boards during a Professional Learning day. Content knowledge of not only technological know-how but adult learning and leadership will be key. Knowing what videos to use and what vernacular to throw out there when discussing technology with learning adults during my professional learning day will make my audience more receptive to the information given and therefore, help increase staff development.