Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Session 6: Barries to Technology Use

Session 6: Barriers to Technology Use

This week podcast topic concentrates on the matters that obstruct the uses and the adoptions of technologies.
To successfully implement new technologies in teaching and learning, institutions must address these barriers to faculty adoption. Some of the general solutions to overcome these barriers are:
1. Improve quality control to raise reliability of technologies.
2. Simplify learning to use technology
3. Help faculty to determine if learning and using technology are really worth it.
4. Improve institutional support.
By chance, the project I am doing at work is closely relates these four above criteria. To improve the quality control to raise the reliability of technology, I requested to replace the old engine analyzer to the more advanced Genisys Determinator (sorry, same old Determinator story again), and got the approval. This shows the institutional support.
After these new equipments arrived, no one wants to learn how to use them. I think that because I had the training with Honda Corp. which helps me to appreciate this technology, while everyone else is putting off to get familiar with these instruments (uncertainty of using technology). With this training, I was one step ahead in using the Determinator.
I finally proposed to my boss that let me set up a mini training on operating of the Determinators which would help everyone to appreciate the powerful functions of the Determinator, and hope that everyone will begin to use them. This also helps the department to fade out the old engine analyzers. I got the approval on this matter. Again, this falls into institutional support and help faculty to determine if learning and using this technology are really worth.
In the process of setting up a Power Point presentation for this training, I simplified the operation to the very basic by eliminating many of the advance operations. I saved all of the advance operations to another Power Point and named it The Advance Operation of Determinator. I save this for those who want to see it when they feel comfortable with the basic operation of the Determinator. This falls into simplifying learning to use technology.
In general, barriers to adoption of technology include:
1. Reliability
2. Lack of time to learn
3. Uncertainty of using new technology
4. Lack of support.
The main ingredient and I think the most important factor is the “support”. I find that if there is not any support from the institution or the “boss”, nothing will get done. It does not matter how hard I try.

Week February 11 to February 17, 2007 Activities and Log

Monday to Wednesday:
Download, listen, and take note on the podcast topic
Spend some time to think about the Barriers to Technology use
Wrote the post and post it today
Continue working on the three projects in the background
Made significant progress on project I (the website http://www.denguyen.com/)
From today to this weekend I will post most of my projects to the above website.

Friday:
Post project III on my website under Project III Progress.
Wrapping up The PP (project II), and I will post it in a couple of days.
Finally, I am happy with my website set up, and begin to up load the lessons for this project I.
Caught up with all the back ground work in ETEC 623.
Down load next week podcast 7, I will listen, take note, and work on the draft early.

4 comments:

Cassandra said...

Lack of support for teachers is a major problem. They don't feel they have enough background in technology or knowledge to use it freely in the classroom.

dflores1972 said...

Lack of support is a problem in all fields and it is especially, difficult when we as teachers do not have the support. I think that stating this as a barrier we so often forget will remind us that it is a barrier that needs to be conquered.

RFLORES said...

Hello Dee,

The reality is that we are indeed left in the cold when it comes to support. As some other scholars have asserted, lack of support is a barrier that must be conquered. I consider educators as capable, creative individuals; as such, we must find ways to overcome the lack of support barrier.

I have complete confidence we will find a solution to this problem. I venture to say this, because I believe in the brain compounding approach to solution of problems that at the personal level appear unsurmountible. I also make the statement, because I realize that a sotution to a problem begins with the realization that the problem exists. The acknowledgement of the existence of a problem is a step in the right direction; moving in the right direction leads to the eventual resolution of the problem at hand.

Brian Newberry said...

There are at least two dimensions to the construct "Lack of Support". These include not enough resources tasked to infrastructure and training as well as not enough expectations that the technology will be used. It sounds like you are doing a great job in helping to make sure both happen at your work place!