technology is utilized in teaching must be appropriately matched to teacher and subject and
should be accompanied by appropriate training.
There are many reasons why teachers do not "jump" into technology immediately and
sometimes accusations fly because of this. However, Judith Renyi, Executive Director of News
and Publications for the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education, paints a different
picture of teachers in her Executive Summary when she writes,
IFIE's national survey of more than 800 teachers found that their top
reason for participating in professional development is to bolster their
ability to help students learn. Almost three in four said they engage in
professional growth to improve student achievement (73 percent) and
a majority (55 percent) said they participate in professional development
to improve their teaching skills (Renyi, 1996, p. 1).
These statistics suggest teachers care about their students' learning and how content is
delivered to students. She points out that many teachers fail to receive adequate training through
staff development to make them comfortable using technology in their teaching. Cuban states
many teachers he interviewed explained that training in software was rarely available when it was
needed and the "generic training available was often irrelevant to the specific and immediate
needs" (Cuban, 2002, p. 97-98). If education is to change through the integration of technology
so teachers and learners become more efficient and productive, then staff developers need to
select appropriate training that matches teachers and their subjects to the technology.
One teacher, Matt Gildersleeve, a Continuation High School teacher in central
California writes in his article, Classroom Computer Integration at the High School Level, that
after interviewing his students, he found that "...about half of my students were comfortable
with PowerPoint; 20% [ ] knew how to use Excel, and one student had created his own Web
site" (Gildersleeve, 2004, p. 1). He goes on to say that these students who were "At Risk"
knew more that he did and he found himself "...sitting in a technology class on the weekends
learning how to use Excel and PowerPoint while some of the students I instructed already had
these skills" (Gildersleeve, 2004, p. 1). Gildersleeve was willing to pay for the courses he took
on weekends to gain the skills he needed in his classroom. However, some teachers, for what
ever reason, are unwilling or unable to pay for the training and must rely on their district to
supply the training they need.
Since education has been hit hard with budget cuts in the last three or four years,
Cuban's "slow revolution" seems to be the correct assessment concerning the integration of
technology into education.