Reading Response 5

For the past three years, I’ve been involved in running an extracurricular robotics club at our school.  There are two key goals of the club: to create an extracurricular opportunity for students to problem solve and socialize with other robotics enthusiasts, and to enable these students to serve as peer teachers in their respective classrooms.  The club has had a successful track record as an extracurricular group; parents and students show great enthusiasm for the work.  Yet where we fail is in the implementation of robotics kits into classroom settings.  Currently, teachers at our school do not incorporate this technology into their classrooms, and considering the significant investment of over three hundred dollars per kit, one has to wonder if this has been money well spent.

How then, could we build capacity for teachers to effectively implement robotics into their practice?  Vicente identifies one of the characteristics of poor teamwork as, “a failure to identify and communicate priorities, intention and plan.” (pg 164)  An effective communicator must “explicitly communicate his or her intent and actions.” (pg 168)  I think I assumed that if we got parents and students excited about robotics and achieved our first goal, the second goal would soon follow.  The problem is I haven’t effectively communicated these intentions to the staff.  Consequently when the extracurricular club ends, the robotics kits lie dormant.

Compounding the issue of communication are hierarchical considerations.  Vicente states how a class system “affects how people deal with each other; the level of respect and deference offered to an individual is determined by his or her place in the hierarchy.” (pg 171)  I am new to teaching and relatively new to my school, surrounded by colleagues with twenty or more years of experience compared to my four.  How does this factor into my initiation of a technological utilization plan?  What role should an administration play in guiding this process?

Human-tech thinking, according to Vicente, is defined as “designing systems to fit people at the team level.” (pg 179)  Given my place in the hierarchy and lack of communication of intent with my colleagues, how would I design a sustainable, team-focused technology integration system?  How would I convince a teacher who has never used robotics before to get on board?  What supports need to be in place to provide assurance to teachers that assistance is there when they need it?  The implementation strategy must not only be a sustainable fit for the team, but also sensitive to constraints of time, scheduling, resources and curricular requirements.