Back in 2012 I wrote a post called ICTF? WTF? in which I wondered what I could make of the job of ICT Facilitator. I had never seen anyone do the job, and it's such a new idea in an environment which we have yet to properly comprehend. Not that everyone agrees with me about that; sometimes I have posed that question and have been advised to look no further than the job description (but who wrote it? how long ago? etc).
I have loved doing this job for the last four years and have learned a lot about what works in terms of helping teachers improve their use of technology. But I have also begun to feel that my reactive style is suffering from diminishing returns. I have aimed at the 'willing'; either putting ideas to colleagues, or responding to their requests for help. I have had some success with teachers who took up one of my proposals and ran with them, in particular with colleagues who have begun to develop their own online spaces: wikis, websites and blogs. As time has passed, there have been fewer takers. A variety of factors has brought this about, both within and outside my control.
So I am changing my focus. While I shall continue to help individuals and promote nice ideas to them, I am proposing to spend more time working with curriculum teams starting with the planning stage of their units. I don't know how this will look. We are developing a process in which I hear the teachers talk about their upcoming module and areas they think might be amenable to development. Then I'll come up with some ideas and we'll go back and forth until we all agree. In this way, I hope, the technology projects will be embedded in the fabric of the curriculum. This will certainly benefit the students whose exposure to ed tech will be more uniform (if this works out the way I hope). I am being supported by the administration, and that recognition is very important when we get into difficult discussion.
It may sound easy, but it will require concessions on both sides. We will be collaborating, but that's where the hard work begins. At which point, I feel another post coming on...
I have loved doing this job for the last four years and have learned a lot about what works in terms of helping teachers improve their use of technology. But I have also begun to feel that my reactive style is suffering from diminishing returns. I have aimed at the 'willing'; either putting ideas to colleagues, or responding to their requests for help. I have had some success with teachers who took up one of my proposals and ran with them, in particular with colleagues who have begun to develop their own online spaces: wikis, websites and blogs. As time has passed, there have been fewer takers. A variety of factors has brought this about, both within and outside my control.
So I am changing my focus. While I shall continue to help individuals and promote nice ideas to them, I am proposing to spend more time working with curriculum teams starting with the planning stage of their units. I don't know how this will look. We are developing a process in which I hear the teachers talk about their upcoming module and areas they think might be amenable to development. Then I'll come up with some ideas and we'll go back and forth until we all agree. In this way, I hope, the technology projects will be embedded in the fabric of the curriculum. This will certainly benefit the students whose exposure to ed tech will be more uniform (if this works out the way I hope). I am being supported by the administration, and that recognition is very important when we get into difficult discussion.
It may sound easy, but it will require concessions on both sides. We will be collaborating, but that's where the hard work begins. At which point, I feel another post coming on...
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