An Administrator’s Interview about Technology

     To start, as Ballantine and Spade (2004) stated it, in their book Schools and Society: a Sociological Approach to Education, “Education is a major institution in most societies. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine any industrialized or unindustrialized society without a system of schools; from preschool to graduate level.” Ballantine and Spade declare that sociological analyses of education give us a deeper understanding of the form and purpose of education in society. They state it clearly that organizations, like education, make up the major structural components of any society, and that, in some societies children attend formal schools from a young age and there they learn the skills and knowledge needed for survival. From here, one can see the importance of studying schools and what is going on within its walls to better understand what the near future is carrying and where society is heading. In an interview with a school administrator using the latest fashion, that of technology, the interviewer tended to gather some information; that describes the integrated technology, and investigates the reasons and the strategies that were followed to implement and evaluate that technology, all this to have a humble idea of what a school in his district, Central Bekaa, is training and preparing (students) to offer (society) for the coming days.

Before describing the integrated technology, it is important to present some information about the interviewee to better understand his vision and philosophy. The administrator (and school director) is a forty-five years old active Gen Xer, who thanks to his job career; a professor at university, made a great effort to confront and defeat the obstacles that threatened him every time he faced a new technology, and who nowadays believes in the power of technology; he validates Bernstein’s ‘Code Theory’ that provides a systematic analysis of the relationship between society, school, and the individual, stating that a change in society requires a change in curriculum and pedagogy (Ballantine & Spade, 2004), and is trying his best to transfer his belief to practice. To add, the interviewee believes that the role of schools is to prepare students for what is there in society. He agrees with the open system perspective; that views the educational system as a whole, integrated, dynamic entity, that is porous to the other parts of organizations in society, gaining input (like students) from other organizations, working and processing with the input (teaching and learning), and conducting outputs (graduated students with new knowledge) (Ballantine & Spade, 2004). He also agrees with Ballantine and Spade’s idea that it is throughout the ‘processing’ process that the teachers play a vital role in preparing students to real life and society, and thus he tries his best to choose, prepare, train, and encourage teachers to the use and integration of technology; so that they can successfully transfer the skill to their students. Furthermore, according to the director’s view, which goes hand in hand with other different theories, educational systems tend to socialize, prepare, train, select, and allocate students to different roles in society; so to have better outcomes of proficient, responsible, skilled, and independent students, is the school’s role.  Last but not least, the director states it clearly that he is with technology and its integration, but he calls for adult supervision and control, admitting, “Technology is great! I am with technology and I absolutely call for its integration in education, but we have to control it…we can’t be too open and easy going for the welfare of our restless explorers (children)”.

After viewing the administrator’s principle and abstract philosophy, the interviewer had to move closer and ask about the integrated technology, to fortify the idea that the interviewee’s theories and ideas are put into practice. Throughout the interview it was evident that technology was present there, in hardware and software. The school was equipped with two interactive whiteboards, a computer lab, laptops, LCD projectors, speakers, printers, faxes, photocopy machines, digital cameras, and recorders. For the software part, the school had wireless access to internet and encouraged the use of Microsoft Office programs and on-line websites that call for cooperation, problem-solving, higher order thinking, critical thinking, creativity, fun, responsibility, and innovation, like in activities, group work, projects, and presentations.

It is said that everything happens for a reason, this is what stimulated the interviewer to move a step forwards looking for the reason(s) behind the implementation of technology. When asked about the reasons behind technology implementation, the director stated that society is changing and, as explained earlier in this paper, one change in society calls for an immediate change in all the other porous organizations. To him, schools are effective organizations that contribute to society, so they must change and go hand in hand with what is going on out there in society; just as Ballantine and Spade and the functionalist point of view stated it. “Education and other institutions are interdependent in a society; a change in one will lead to a change in others.” The interviewee added that students outside school are plugged in and embraced with technology and they like that, and here, his idea codifies with that of Prensky’s (2008), mentioned in Schrum & Levins  (2009) Leading 21^st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement book,  in which he states, “Today’s students are using the internet as their preferred tool for learning outside of school”, so fun, being a key word for successful learning and transferability, should pave its way in schools and in its system. Moreover, he believes that the major role of the school is to prepare students to be effective beings in society, where the citizens have to solve problems, use their higher order of thinking, think critically, be creative, innovative, and flexible, and above all where technology is a must in almost every domain. So, to be successfully performing its ultimate goal, schools should train, integrate, and assimilate technology into its members. All this, without forgetting the important role that technology plays as those stated by Prensky (2008), like engaging students in interesting tasks and activities, making them become active independent learners, its role in cooperation and collaboration, helping the students to better understand and  transfer knowledge easier, and many others.

Talking about the strategies followed to implement and evaluate the technology used, the administrator stated that the need was what first pushed him to pay for technology. After buying the technology he had to train the teachers and staff members, pay for them to attend workshops, seminars, tutorials and others. Also, he had to encourage teachers to use the knowledge and skills learnt, assimilate them, and transfer them to their students, so that they could master them for independent use, this agreeing with Giroux who perceives schools as sites for democratic transformation, in which teachers are viewed as transformative intellectuals and agents of change, giving teachers significant responsibility to affect and motivate students to achieve, and thus, authentically perform (Sadovik, 1991). However, he admitted that some of the older teachers tended to be more conservatives; at first, they totally rejected and resisted the idea of technology integration, but later, after successful trials they became very motivated to cooperate and implement. The result obtained after the considerable experience was the key stone for further technology integration. Teachers were satisfied and content, since their job was more appealing and enjoying, their goals and objectives were better met, and their efforts were valued, students were involved, engaged, motivated and they learned with fun, all of which contributed to better performance and outcomes, parents were more satisfied with the pleasant results seen in their children performances. As an overall, technology did add a special positive touch in education.

Finally, being the one with the pen and paper, jointing down the administrator’s points and views, I can declare that the director and his vision really penetrated into the school system and its role in education; this could be proved from the simplest example witnessed there, in that cozy room, his office, were most of what was evident were technology tools, like a laptop, speakers, a scanner, a white board, and a digital camera that he used to record our interview. I left the interview hoping that the director’s vision becomes contagious, invades, and replaces the traditional views to make education ‘in alta tende’, strive for the heights, for meaningful transferability, development, and success.

References:

Ballantine, J. H., & Spade, J. Z. (2004). Schools and Society: A Sociological Approach to Education. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

Sadovik, A. R. (1991). Theories in the Sociology of Education. In J. H. Ballantine, & J. Z. Spade, School and Society: A Sociological Approach to Education (pp. 7-22). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

Schrum, L. & Levin B. B. 2009.  Leading 21^st Century Schools: Harnessing Technology for Engagement and Achievement.  Corwin.Don't hesitate to provide me with your comments and opinions.