To be honest, the whole "Technology Coordinator" idea is somewhat new to me. I mean we did have people who preformed tasks similar to what the book presented but not as much responsibilities and requirements as the technology coordinator job's description. For example, my school district used to have me , as a computer since teacher, preform simple troubleshooting and repairs on the school network and some teachers with other tech support tasks. So basically, a group of teachers preformed the technology coordinator's job.
However, if I'd be a technology leader, which I'm really considering now, I think , according to what I've read, a person should be up to date with the recent technology developments, communication skills are highly required along with a good understanding of the school's needs in the technological field and the limitations of the school's budget. So that, he\she could help the school satisfy it's needs in a reasonable time frame. Also, the technological background is very important, so whoever decide to be a technology leader, if not a CS major, should consider some training in the field to get a better perspective of the technology usage and requirements in the school environment.
Moreover, a technology coordinator, as an important factor of integrating technology in the classroom, could face some obstacles such as teachers who maybe apposed to the idea and more strict to the " old lecture approach". In my opinion, a technology leader could arrange some meetings with the teachers to present the great deal of improvement, fun, and experience students could get from modern technology; as well as helping the teachers in which having difficulties with the technology until they feel comfortable using it. In addition, parents could be very disapproving of their children's exposure to the Internet. So the coordinator could arrange some free work shops for them demonstrating the need of the technology in their children's educational improvement. As well as using his\her communication skills to build a trust bridge with the parents and the whole community, so that they would support him\ her with the development plans to enhance the school's status.
I really like your idea of arranging free workshops for parents. This will not only get them involved with the learning process but it might help motivate them to use the computer at home as an education supplement.
ReplyDeleteMaram,
ReplyDeleteIt is really interesting to see the different views of the internet from different cultural and country backgrounds. In the United States, I feel that the majority of parents are okay with their students using the internet, especially in school for school related activities. I don't think we would have to worry about running workshops to build a parents comfort level. But I love the Idea of using parent workshops to expose them to the tools that are available to them online to help them help their children. I also love the idea to use workshops to expose parents to issues such as cyber bullying and the dangers of social networking.
Amy