“Time stays long enough for those who use it.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
“He that rises late must trot all day.” – Benjamin Franklin
I will admit, without any reluctance, to not being the most efficient person when it comes to time management. It takes me forever to ‘get going’ in the mornings; I obsess over tiny details instead of just getting on with the job; I waste hours in consideration of the fact that I don’t have enough time to get everything done. So it was no surprise to me to read that “time consistently is considered one of the biggest barriers to the integration of learning technologies”.*
It is a well-voiced fact that teachers feel constantly constrained by available time. (I’m sure I’ll comment further on this when I am qualified). And what could be less time effective than having to learn a new technology to integrate into yet another late-night lesson planning session?
The Lisa Donaldson article quoted above includes a case study “examining the question ‘how can higher level educators be best supported in their adoption and integration of learning technologies?’”** In it, it is claimed that “100% of participating educators strongly believe that technology has a place in the classroom indicating it is not an attitudinal shift in educators that is required”.*** So what can be done to improve the situation for teachers?
Donaldson concludes that:
“The research has indicated a number of measures that Institutions should consider to help
support their lecturers on this journey towards pedagogical innovation:
• Develop a suite of online resources enabling lecturers to learn in their own time with
online tutor support available.
• Develop online resources illustrating examples of use which are practically focused
and offer immediate benefits to the educator for teaching and learning activities.
• Establish a regular schedule of professional development training for educators to
engender confidence and reduce technical anxiety. The schedule should include a
regular, perhaps quarterly, series of technology peer sharing workshops to enable the
sharing of best practice examples.
• Assign eLearning mentors or champions to work with and support lecturers locally.
Make time. The assimilation and subsequent integration of learning technologies in the
classroom will take time. Ensure that educators and institutional heads understand that time
will need to be dedicated to achieve the huge potential that technology offers to education.”
****
Time. The word surfaces over and over again.
An ALT (Association for Learning Technology) survey on ‘the effective use of learning technology in education’ reaches similar conclusions. Again “lack of time” is cited as a major barrier. As is “lack of resource to provide release and support for staff to enable them to incorporate technology in their practices”, which time constitutes a significant part of. The ALT survey’s suggestions to “encourage effective innovation in learning technology” includes the following subsection:
“Build in time for continuing teacher development
• Allow time for the champions and time for the colleagues they are mentoring.
• Allow time to experiment.
• Establish mandatory training with time provided.
• Allow thinking, planning and reporting time for practitioners.
• Teaching is about experimentation and not always getting it right, this leads itself to trying out technology.
• Make time and staff available to support users in creating innovative ideas.
• Make staff use technologies in their development at the Institution.
• Time and staff available to train staff in the basics to get the confident and competent enough to want to be innovative.
• Give appropriate, adequate, regular training to staff and students.”
There are, of course, numerous other barriers to consider – both from a teacher and a student perspective. These might include:
• Limited funding to purchase new technology
• Lack of motivation amongst staff
• No unified good practice guidance from the school
• Little or no teacher credit for the inclusion of learning technology
• Lack of confidence in the teacher’s own skills and knowledge
• Students who do not have access to up-to-date technology
• Abuse of social media amongst students
• Disbelief in the benefits of learning technology
And so on. The primary concern, however, does seem to revolve around time: finding the time to learn, finding the time to incorporate learning technologies, and finding the time to assess the success of those learning technologies which have been implemented. I am sold on the ALT survey’s assertion that “teaching is about experimentation”. I have learnt this myself over many years as a ski instructor. Unless teachers are provided with the breathing space to experiment, perhaps the inclusion of learning technologies will continue to be a subject more talked about than enacted.
Time and the lack thereof, though, must also be considered alongside the teachers’ attitude towards technology. If the teacher does not have a natural inclination towards technological advancement, they are unlikely to spend that limited time which is available to them exploring technological possibilities. This quote is a neat and amusing encompassment of the problem.
“When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute — then it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity!” – Albert Einstein
* Integrating Web 2.0 Learning Technologies in Higher Education: The Necessity, The Barriers And The Factors For Success. Lisa Donaldson. (http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/202) pp. 13
** Lisa Donaldson. (http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/202) pp. 4
*** Lisa Donaldson. (http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/202) pp. 14
**** Lisa Donaldson. (http://ojs.aishe.org/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/202) pp. 17
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