Parent Invovlement in Education Supports Teacher Technology Learning

by Natalie Walker Whitlock

For years, teachers in K-12 grades have lacked contact with cutting-edge technologies. Most didn't have computersin their classrooms, let alone access to the Internet. Technology was something their students did once a week in computer lab.

But today, the Internet and the prevalence of computers have changed all that. Technology and its use are major education issues that all schools are working on.

Technology Education: Current Issues Involve Preparing Children and Teachers

Joan Fenwick, National Director of the AT&T Learning Network and former school teacher, is one of many leading educators who believe the key to the future success of education is technology.

"It is an Information Age -- not an Industrial Age," said Fenwick. "Today's education mandates arise from the pressing need to prepare children for a very different world than that of their parents."

Fenwick, who was recently named one of the country's top 30 Most Significant People in Education Technology by "eSchool News," said: "Technology must become as comfortable as a pencil, as ingrained in the daily process as a book in language arts or a beaker in the lab to be effective."

Does the prospect of a "wired" classroom seem woefully unattainable? Not when parents and educators band together. Here are a few things parents can do to help teachers catch up:

Create a Technology Task Force

Sierra Ridge Middle School in Pollock Pines, CA had little technology but big hopes for its 376 middle-school students. Faced with eight PCs and no resources for teacher training or curriculum, the school formed the Sierra Ridge Technology Task Force, composed of parents and teachers, a librarian, the principal, a school board member and several student-body representatives.

The taskorce determined a Technology Use Plan, found sources of funding and developed specific strategies for using the computers in teacher lesson plans. They even sponsored a free day-long staff training workshop.



Start a Mentoring Program for Technology Education and Issues

Educators overwhelmingly say they learn better person-to-person. A survey of more than 1,000 elementary and secondary teachers found almost all (93 percent) support mentoring programs as the preferred avenue for professional growth. Parents could help launch such a program at their school, partnering tech-savvy teachers, community and business leaders with willing technology-challenged teachers.


Volunteer to Support Schools' Issues

If you have strong computer knowledge, offer your time and talents to your child's teacher or principal. If you have a specific skill, such as Web page creation or network administration, see if your school needs some help getting a computer system together or maintaining or upgrading the equipment they already have.

If you don't feel comfortable volunteering in this way, offer to help out in the classroom, grade papers or take a turn at playground duty-anything to free up teachers' time and allow them to take an online class, prepare PC-rich lesson plans or just practice "surfing."


Keep your eyes open

There are literally thousands of opportunities for teachers to hone their computer skills. Programs in your area may be offered by businesses, government and nonprofit groups on a variety of topics. Finding them is another matter. Offer to do the research for them and compile a list for your child's school to use as a starting point, even request information and applications.

For example, in Michigan, the Ameritech Technology Academy offers educators training to help them get tech-savvy. School-based teams attend summer workshops and online courses to learn to integrate technology into their classrooms.

However you choose to do it, offer your support as teachers struggle to keep pace in a medium moving at hyper-speed. In the words of Ted Nellen, one English-teacher-turned "Cyrarian": "The role of the teacher is changing dramatically. We are morphing and the technology is causing it: It is the evolution of education."

Natalie Walker Whitlock is a freelance writer and the mother of seven children, including infant twins.