The school facility that I selected to conduct the necessary teacher interview regarding the NETS-S/T standards was my former high school in the North Bergen district. There in North Bergen high school, I was able to contact an ESL teacher with whom I had carried out a previous class observation. This teacher has been teaching in the ESL field in North Bergen for a substantial number of years now, therefore has witnessed firsthand if technology has gained presence within the ESL curriculum & high school throughout the years. A few days prior to our meeting I had provided him with a copy of both the NETS-S/T standards via e-mail. The professor admitted to have been quite oblivious that national standards regarding the implementation of technology even existed! He shared how he supports many of the initiatives that these standards request for schools to fulfill, however he honestly described how the high school and school district in general lack the technological resources and practices that the standards address.
Referring to questions 3 and 4, he stated that district-wise and within the high school itself he has noticed modest indications that some aspects of the NETS-S/T are progressively being acknowledged. He conveyed how within the high school there is a media center which grants students' timed access to online & other computer-mediated resources. Installed on all of these computers is a surveillance software which impedes access to inappropriate/disapproved websites. The media center is a formidable source of technology for the students. Nonetheless, due to its limited size compared to the tremendous student population of over 2000 and as a result of constant system failure (I recall this first hand), students rarely can take full advantage of this mean. At the elementary school level, he mentioned how a particular school recently had a determined number of smart boards installed as an experimental initiative.
Besides these sporadic examples of technological application, the presence of technology integration has not been consistent and uniform, according to the interviewed teacher. He shared that most of the classrooms do not have installed projectors for teachers/students to display visual media such as power point presentations. Any projector that is in use in a given class was most likely purchased by the instructor from his/her own budget. It was surprising to realize how teachers would be willing to resort to this course of action due to the absence of necessary technology. Technological application such as an online student portal for peer-tutoring and youth counseling or academic software designed to enrich understanding and engagement in each different subject area, is still not actively practiced at the high school or district level.
Comparing this high school and district's integration of technology to the concepts presented in the NETS-S/T, there are only certain areas in which the two would be in agreement. Addressing section 5 of the NETS-S and section 4 of the NETS-T, the high school's educators and administrators definitely do an exceptional job of promoting and reinforcing safe, legal, and ethical use of technology, digital information (copyright) and social interactions related to technology. As previously mentioned, the surveillance software that is installed on every computer accessible to students restricts usage of this technology to serve solely for academic research purposes. Teachers for some time have employed computer-based tools that detect plagiarism on written assignments. Regarding section III of the NETS-S, the ESL teacher I interviewed as well as many of his colleagues in other subject areas do assign tasks and projects that require online involvement. Research reports are only assigned in the superior levels of the ESL program, but tasks that involve investigating specific online content for a class discussion/activity can be implemented in any of the levels.
Summarizing my teacher's responses for questions 6, 7, and 8 he believes that there must be a uniform application of technology along with education on the proper usage of it in order for the NETS-S/T to be genuinely implemented. He views that along with the much needed technological equipment/initiatives, there must be a plan on how to make relevant use of the provided resources for the benefit of each student's learning experience. He believes that the educators, administrators, and students must all be trained to understand and operate the functions and potential of technological resources in relation to their specific academic subject and endeavor. As a prospective educator, I agree with this teacher's opinion. I personally would address the issue to my fellow colleagues by first encouraging them to discover original ways in which we can utilize the technology resources that we do have available. If successful in truly enhancing our student's engagement and performance through the innovation & integration of our current technologies, the results may validate requests for additional resources/ initiatives. As my teacher stated in his answer for question 8, "There's still a long bridge to cross in order to reach an authentic integration of technology at our school. However, everybody should play their part in making sure that we do get there."
Link to modified spread sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuwMUFKQz3bNdHBpd1pHR3RZSXlZdWk1U2I3QWJJNWc#gid=0
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