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Motivating Factors for Tomorrow's Teachers in Technology Integration
After technology became widespread, schools were filled with an abundance of technology equipment. After a time research showed, teachers do not update their knowledge in rapidly changing technology environment. The situation is very dramatic for veteran teachers. Teachers either find their knowledge satisfactory or are afraid of changing their attitudes towards technology. Teachers are most likely to change their attitudes towards technology when hey are young and study in the university. In Colleges of Education, there are several elective and complimentary technology courses for tomorrow’s teachers. Universities mostly offer courses aimed for teaching some software and using technology hardware. As teaching styles vary and technology changes, using software teaching and hardware are temporary solutions for teacher preparation. If universities really want technologically literate teachers, they should emphasize on learning how to learn, technology adaptation and the ability to integrate technology into their curriculum. Teaching how to prepare a presentation is easier than teaching to choose the most effective technology and learning how to use it. The latter one is much more challenging and requires the magic word motivation.
Motivation prompts teachers to improve themselves. According to constructivism theory, motivation causes stimulus towards subject matter and it stimulates the desire for acquisition. Then new information is either related to past information or accommodated if it is new. New means something different, never known before. This covers the mild level of anxiety that was produced as an anticipated result of learning that changes in beliefs and behaviors. Motivation can be maintained in the case when the instructional material is well organized. When you take a look at well-designed courses, you will also see they have well-prepared syllabus and schedules that determine how well a course is organized. In this manner, organized technology integration courses also give confidence in the ability to use materials and/or skills. This confidence gives positive expectancy for success that make them more likely to learn the subject matter.
When you ask educators about major types of motivation, they will probably tell you two major types. Extrinsic, Intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is longer lasting, more self-directive and takes a longer time to attain than extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can be attained quickly, lasts shorter and must be repeatedly reinforced by praise or concrete rewards. Lets take a look at some factors and evaluate according to motivational principles that might make tomorrow’s teachers motivated in technology integration and adapting to the changing technology.
Technology Conferences & Workshops
Technology conferences and workshops increase prospective teachers’ attitude towards being technologically literate. They also give directions to future teachers to be able to integrate technology and keep them current. Prospective teachers should not be faced with financial problems in attending technology conferences and workshops. The reason is these events give them a chance to benefit from current applications of technology. In addition to that, they get information about how to improve teaching by using technology in the most efficient way. Conferences and workshops broaden attendee horizons and present opportunities to benefit from experienced people and previously applied applications.
Technology related workshops and conferences costs vary. From undergraduate student’s perspective, paying for technology conferences, workshops, and traveling for them are not easy. Student governments in universities and some units in university administrations help them to get involved while the are earning their teaching degree. For Colleges of Education to support workshops, students should either be encouraged by stipends or some specific grants.
Once somebody joins a technology meeting or workshop, that person realizes that they are with other people who put great interest in the subject matter. Prospective teachers also realize that people are as eager as they are to get, evaluate, and apply technology into his or her future classes. People seek others with whom to compare their abilities, opinions, and emotions. Affiliation can also result in direct anxiety reduction by the social acceptance and the mere presence of others. This situation makes a learning atmosphere and motivates future teachers in a long period of time. In fact, this factor initially is an extrinsic motivator that makes the learner motivated from the atmosphere, but after a while it into intrinsic motivator. The reason is temporary motivation becomes a permanent one because of the repetition. When it becomes an intrinsic motivator, teachers will not leave behind technology. Technology conferences and workshops are very important for future teachers. Colleges of Education have to emphasize their importance by making regular announcements and financial support available every time.
Salary Upgrade Standards
As you can understand this is a kind of extrinsic motivator that encourages potential teachers to be more familiar with technology improvements. Salary upgrade also fosters constant learning that keeps teachers up with technology. How can states or school districts measure teachers’ ability to integrate technology into the classroom?
There are some instruments that measure teachers’ technology ability. Some states like Texas develop their own instrument to measure the ability to apply technology into educational setting. Some accredited institutions can also prepare tests and certification standards for teachers.
Technology integration should be considered as a standard for salary upgrade that must be met like a Master or Specialist degree. The majority of the research indicates that technology makes the difference in teaching when it is used effectively. So teachers who can adapt technology into the classroom has to be considered as differently than those who do not. This will also motivate teachers likely to learn technology and its education applications.
How does it affect tomorrow’s teachers? The situation is more important for them because technology learning occurs best when teachers are in the universities. They have much time to learn technology in the universities where they learn to teach. When they get into the classroom, limited time for technology courses, excessive workload, and extra activities are some barriers that keep them from learning technology. These factors prevent even those eager to learn.
Prospective teachers determine their objectives, keeping in mind to be technologically literate because the difference is concrete! What are these objectives? Think of an average college student majoring in Education. While they are at the university, they search for ways they can increase their salary when they get job. When they learn that technology literacy makes a difference, objectives will be changed accordingly.
Motivating prospective teachers intrinsically is hard and it takes a lot of time especially for those who are very far away from the basics of technology. Despite its cost, salary upgrade standards are an easy way to promote prospective teachers’ interest towards technology.
Consistent Feedback
We all know the importance of objectives and how useful they are in learning process. As technology acquisition is a very broad term, this has to be split into concrete objectives, and prospective teachers’ progress has to be tested time by time. In order to reach the objectives, the learner has to be checked regularly during the learning process. The information obtained from learners should be given as feedback in order to increase awareness, and this will lead to intrinsic motivation that is a self-directive and permanent.
The tests are intended to give as feedback should be formative. These don’t have any effect on learners’ grade. They are used to check curriculum and to give feedback to learners. Summative tests are also a way to evaluate the status but they are not as effective as formative. Formative tests occur during the learning process where as summative tests are at the end. When students are checked regularly, there are a lot of benefits they will receive. Technology changes so quickly and teachers may not be current. Consistent feedback results in how far prospective teacher will excel with the objectives given to him or her. That is the chance to reach the objectives and offer an opportunity to experience success and offer an opportunity to experience success when they have time to improve themselves. Future teachers will also determine to what extent they became a supporter or non-supporter of the technology. Prospective teachers check their current status in technology regularly and overconfidence will be prevented.
In conclusion, teacher training institutions have to be aware of the importance of motivation factors for tomorrows’ teachers in technology. Unless strong motivation exists, it’s hard to keep them with current technology when they start teaching at schools. They have to feel the inner push and go forward for learning and changing. Without a motivator, technology looks like something that can’t be attained and applied in their environment as it’s happening to a majority of veteran teachers. As motivation factors emerge to prospective teachers, they result in attention towards subject matter. The end people who want to success in teacher preparation in technology will do their job as having technologically literate teachers. These are the teachers who know how to learn in rapidly changing technology environment and adapt themselves into different technology learning situations.
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