Guest Post: The Struggle Can be Real…

BY JAKE LEGROS

Working everyday in a school district filled with inspiring children and supportive staff keeps me devoted to my profession, and pushes me to continually grow in my professional and personal life goals.  That is why I have made a considerable effort to incorporate best practices of blended learning in my teaching repertoire.

As one of our district’s instructional technology chairs, and my background in Ed Tech, I have strived to help with the training & P.D. sessions for staff members, both building and district wide.  I have always remained hopeful, yet a bit reluctant to help train my fellow colleagues and promote change.  It is my opinion that adult learners, much like a child learner, will often rely on previous experiences of concepts and strategies to build a perception of their learning outcome.  Since adults have overall more experiences than children, this can be a blessing or a curse to help them develop appropriate learning behaviors and be in the right “mind-set” to learn new things.  There is a large majority of our teaching population that has had bad experiences with using technology successfully within their classroom.  This alone could make the training sessions difficult, not to mention perceiving this change as mandatory from our building principal and district administration.

Faculty members are often not comfortable admitting that their knowledge with technology is outmatched by their students, and by habitually resort back to common teaching methods that they are comfortable with.  After all, if the research isn’t overwhelmingly in favor of blended learning, then why is it imperative to apply it to our current curricular practices (Gecer, A., & Dag, F., 2012; Fish, W., & Giss, P., 2009; Lim, et al., 2008; Tshabalala, M., et al., 2014).

Knowing these challenges, my goal as a trainer is to address the restraining forces and concerns of my colleagues when implementing this new change, and reduce frustration by allowing more tangible resources of laptops, ipads, and a stronger building bandwidth, as well as providing ample time to learn the new program.  Most importantly, I would very much like to maintain a sense of urgency to improve:  help my colleagues see the positive implications of using technology effectively within the classroom, seeing the “light bulb” turn on as they see its user-friendliness and begin to envision the possibilities within their classroom. And build relationships that result in positive intangible outcomes ((Tomal, Schilling, & Trybus, 2013, pp. 19-26).

It is imperative for administrators and educators to gain a better understanding of the perceptions and effectiveness, both positive and negative, to improve instruction delivery.  The incorporation of blended learning, although somewhat still in its developmental state, are beginning to show its value to enhance and enrich student teaching and learning.  In addition to a well-developed blended learning model, it is important to remember that technology is not the sole answer, but merely another tool to help aid and assist educators in developing well-constructed lessons to help benefit our students.  Blended, along with careful planning, appropriate instruction, open communication, clear and measurable objectives, and reliable assessment & evaluation are all important factors needed to ensure the academic success of students with disabilities. As technology evolves, so will education. It is our job as educators to continue to build on our knowledge to benefit our students’ achievement in academic areas as well as their overall well being as life long learners.

jake l Jake LeGros is a 5th grade teacher in Olentangy Local Schools.   In addition to being an innovative teacher within his own classroom, Jake holds the position of technology chair within his building and provides training and technology resources to teachers throughout the entire district.

 

References:

Fish, W., & Gill, P. (2009). PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 8(1), 1303-6521

Gecer, A., & Dag, F. (2012). A Blended Learning Experience. Educational Sciences: Theory And Practice, 12 (1), 438-442.

Lim, J., Kim, M., Chen, S. E., & Ryder, C. E. (2008). An empirical investigation of student achievement and satisfaction in different learning environments. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 35(2), 113-119.

Tshabalala, M., Ndeya-Ndereya, C., & Van der Merwe, T. (2014). Implementing Blended Learning at a Developing University: Obstacles in the way. The Electronic Journal of E-Learning, 12(1), 101-110.

Tomal, D. R., Schilling, C. A, Trybus, M.A, (2013), Leading school change:  Maximizing resources for school improvement. Lanham, Maryland: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

2 thoughts on “Guest Post: The Struggle Can be Real…

  1. Jake,
    Your comment about teachers needing to see an urgency to promote change is spot on. Overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time to do it, teachers will naturally gravitate towards the path that is most comfortable and has proven effective in the past. To elicit change, we must show them both the potential benefits to their students as well as the benefits that they too will see in their productivity and practice.
    -Tammy

  2. This post was so interesting for me to read. As a 22 year old, I will be instructing other teachers district wide this summer on our chromebook integration. Reading this helped me understand a little bit more about the type of learners that I will be instructing and put things into perspective!

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