THE GREAT BARRIER GRIEF

Charles Shewell
Jun 24, 2022
3 min read

WHAT IS HOLDING BACK THE INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

The Encounter

I remember sitting in the cafeteria with my fellow educators spread six feet apart, all wearing masks, and our superintendent standing in front of us with a microphone. The technology department is walking towards each person and handing them something. Soon I am having a laptop and webcam handed to me, and I think to myself, “What do I need this for?”. Then we are told we will be working remotely until Covid-19 can be contained. Each student gets a Chromebook, and we will hold classes like normal, only they will all be through Google Classroom. That is when it hit me. How was I supposed to teach broadcast production and my dual credit film class online!

Educators have all experienced something like this. For me, there were several challenges I was about to face head on and was told by administrators, “we will figure it out together”. It’s been a few years now and things have mostly gone back to normal, but then again, there is a new normal that was brought on by a quick integration of technology. I have experienced some pretty effective new ways of teaching that allow me to reach students in a variety of ways. I have also experienced some hardships as I encountered parts of the great barrier grief.

Access

Not all schools can provide Chromebook or laptops to each student, and not all families can afford one for the home. Some classrooms may supply desktops for their students, while other districts may provide a computer lab for their students, but some schools may have neither. Fortunately for me, the district I work for provided Chromebooks to each student, so during remote learning we were able to meet virtually, as well as discuss topics through forums I created in Google Classroom. My biggest challenge was not access to the internet or a computer, but access to software. Through my courses I teach Adobe software. Due to this software being subscription based through my classroom computers, students could not access it through their Chromebook, nor were they allowed access to download software onto their Chromebooks. Not being able to teach parts of my courses because of a lack of access hindered part of the learning my students needed in an area that was engaging for them.

Finances

Financial barriers and budgeting is another issue districts face with integrating technology in the classroom. With innovative technologies being brought into the classroom, spending money wisely becomes an issue. I want to take this discussion in another direction other than whether a school has the money or not. When you think of financial barriers, having the budget is always one as it contributes to the digital divide, but what if you do have the money but are poorly spending it on tech that does not provide any benefit to learning? Sometimes spending money on technology for the sake of having technology does not enhance the learning experience, causing the same issues as not having tech at all.

Infrastructure

With the integration of technology, schools must build a strong infrastructure to handle the high demand of daily operational use of the technology. For students to use school issued laptops you need to be able to support fast, high quality internet, not only at school, but sometimes at home as well. Data privacy and security, as well as access to resources are also things to think about when creating a strong foundation for your infrastructure. Once your foundation is built, we must have the forethought to look at future needs as technology is continuously upgrading.

Address the Barrier as "The Great Barrier"

When facing these barriers head on, we must remain vigilant! I thought about giving one of those motivational monologues you see in movies, but I won’t. Instead I will say that some ways to combat these barriers are to sometimes think about doing more with less. In my case, when my students could not use the software needed for my courses, I found free cloud based websites that allowed my students to learn basic functions needed for filming and editing. Keeping it simple while making it fun to allow student engagement is probably the most important part of breaking through the great barrier. When students are having fun, they are engaged, making enhanced learning possible. When faced with new technologies, or searching for tech to integrate, learn about it with your students. Model learning to your students and they will follow your lead. After all, you are the leader of your classroom.