Some Inexplicable Reasons for Desisting from Technology Integration, Part - 2

I write the concluding part on the reasos for desisting from Technology Integration4. Handholding the teachers is required : We should take a cue from the way a child learns. A child requires minimum handholding and learns maily through self-exploration . The child just need to be told the basics of something and rest they catch up themselves. Similarly, for teachers new to computers, handholding is definitely required but to the extent that they get started with it but you cannot be holding them through the entire technology integration process. At some time, the teacher will have to take a dive on his/ her own and the sooner, the better. Technology is not about learning a software, a product or a sequence of steps but is more about creating a mind set and that is what the purpose of the handholding should be. One can teach the basics of technology to the teachers and help them get comfortable with using it and that is where it should be left as far as handholding teachers is concerned. The self-exploration by the teachers thereafter would lead them on the road to technology integration and would open before them a world full of opportunities to be seized and utilised for the benfit of self and others as well.5. Teachers need to learn a lot of programming and other technology stuff : It is a wrong notion that teachers need to learn of technology stuff to start integrating technology in their teaching-learning. In fact the very essence of technology integration is to help and make it easier for teachers to use technology for their teaching-learning. Technology Integration has more to do with making a shift from I.T. ( Information Teachnology ) to E.T. ( Educational Technology) . Teachers need to get comfortable at using and utilising tools pertaining to their domain rather than tools pertaining to I.T. By exposing the teachers to technology integration, the idea is to create a mindset in teachers that teachnology is available for everybody to be utilised and to enable them to pick and choose tools as per their requirement and from their domain.6. Technology Integration means to be able to use the readymade CDs : Technology Integration is being able to implement Educational Technology. Educational Technology has different categories of tools that enable the teachers to get started with the task of using technology and usign ready made CDs is just one of those. Using readymade CDs could be a starting point for the teachers on their road to multimedia based learning and could then lead them to higher levels of using technology for education. Any technology should just be a tool at the hands of teacher and it should help the teacher attain better efficiency and productivity in their academic and non-academic tasks.I have tried to put forth some very crucial reasons sighted by managment and teachers for not being able to take up the task of technology integration. I would continue to write about more such reasons simply to share with all and to ensure that every reader becomes conscious about it and tries to find solutions to it.