Preparing to Teach with Technology: Helping Students Reach Their Full Potential

Teacher Certification

Futrell, Mary Hatwood. "Preparing to Teach with Technology: Helping Students Reach Their Full Potential." January, 31. 2007. Article accessed from the Internet April 18, 2010. http://www.edutopia.org/preparing-teach-technology

This Scholarly Research Article was written by Mary Hatwood Futrell, who has been the dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) at George Washington University since 1995. Her expertise includes teacher development, national certification of teachers, national standards, and violence in schools. Futrell also is co-director of GSEHD's Center for Curriculum, Standards, and Technology (CCST).

According to the article, Futrell was a high school business teacher in Alexandria, Virginia when her high school created a computer lab for the students at the school. Futrell initially was not sure the technology would be utilized, and, even worse, she and her fellow staff members even wondered if the students who used the computer lab might just create problems and destroy the lab.

Futrell goes on to say that she and the other staff members of the school were pleasantly surprised and even almost shocked at the amount of students who participated in the computer lab and participated without causing any type of ruckus or problems. The students, from all walks of life, from college preparatory to vocational students, were genuinely interested in learning about computers.

It was then she had an epiphany at the endless possibility that technology could be used to enhance the learning process for students.

Futrell eventually alt erred her career path and began to work in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD) at George Washington University to help prepare teachers to become computer literate and helped teach and certify teachers to use computer technology in the classroom to educate their students.

"Last year, for the first time, we began working across our Teacher Preparation and Educational Leadership departments," Futrell said. "Our educational technology faculty is working with our teacher-educators to prepare them, as well as their students -- our future teachers, counselors, and administrators -- to be proficient with technology. All faculty members will be able to demonstrate their ability to teach via technology, because the best way to teach others is to demonstrate you can do it yourself. Currently, most faculty are at least competent using presentation software, word processing software, e-mail, and the Web.

"As part of their certification requirement, all of our student teachers must go through training to integrate technology into their teaching," Futrell continued. "They must demonstrate their ability to effectively use technology as part of their teaching repertoire in a variety of settings, according to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards and increasingly to meet state certification requirements. They also use video cameras to tape themselves in the classroom, analyze their teaching, and become more reflective practitioners."

Now, the following certainly sounds familiar. I think everyone in class should be able to relate to this.

"Further, a number of our student teachers are developing electronic portfolios to present samples of their teaching," Futrell said. "These experiences ensure that our teacher candidates are prepared to work in technologically rich classrooms .... They will have the confidence to effectively use technology because they have had first-hand experiences demonstrating their own ability to use it and because they will have seen it used well on our campus, for administrative purposes (e.g., attendance and grading) as well as for teaching and learning."

Futrell further states in the article how amazed she is when she goes into the schools in the greater Washington D.C. Metro Area and observes how the new crop of young student-teachers and young teachers are utilizing technology to enhance the educational experience of their students.

This is really a great article and truly encapsulates why Mrs. Macek teaches this course and why it is important as today's educators that we, the students, are taking the course.

Today's student, the Digital Natives we learned about in the first two weeks of course, are geared toward this type of technology. They use it at home and on the road and expect to use it in the classroom. Today's technology has an almost unlimited ceiling in regard to how teachers can use it to bring the world to the students and even bring the students out into today's world.

I hope that makes sense.