Teacher Technology Survey

I created a technology survey for teachers to determine how they use technology in their classroom, their comfort level with the hardware, software and Web 2.0 tools they use, how often they use technology in the classroom, and what they want to do to increase their use of technology.  I asked information to determine their levels of personal use that can be applied to and built upon in the classroom.  I included several options of technology tools especially web 2.0 tools to see not only what teachers use but to see their awareness of tools available.  I sent this survey to 3 teachers, a 2nd grade teacher teaching 11-20 years, a 7th grade teacher teaching 2-5 years and a 11th grade teacher teaching 11-20 years.  Personally, these teachers use technology in a variety of ways.  The 2nd and 7th grade teachers use the most technology at home using their laptops for a variety of reasons:  Pinterest, Facebook, email, scrapbooking, digital photography, Twitter, Linkln, Youtube, online learning classes, research and other ways.  The 11th grade teacher uses very little technology personally, mainly email, Facebook, and digital photography.  The 2nd grade teacher uses Apple products and the 7th and 11th grade teachers use Windows based computers with the 7th grade teacher also using an iPad.

Each teacher expressed concerns that there were not sufficient computers available for in-class use but the middle school is about to introduce 1:1 Chromebooks.  There is currently 1 IT specialist shared among the schools who is focused on technical issues.  The elementary school and high school both have computer labs.  The elementary students attend this once a week as a special area.  The 2nd grade teacher states they students play education games and learn typing.  The high school has an elective class for students to learn computer skills.  Each teacher stated the need for technology based professional development training and that they would like to improve their technology use in the classroom.

The lack of computer equipment available for each teacher severely limits their use of technology in their classroom.  None of the teachers currently use web 2.0 tools.  They each use emails to send out information to parents but it is limited to 1-2 per month.  The each have a website through the school that was set up at the beginning of the school year with basic information.  The 2nd grade teacher maintains a Facebook page and an active blog through the school website where she updates frequently about classroom activities.  Though active with her personal social media use, the 7th grade teacher does not maintain any social media or blogs for her classes.  The 11th grade teacher does not maintain any social media or blogs.  Each teacher has an interactive whiteboard but it is used predominately as a chalkboard which is linked with the curriculum.  The interactive whiteboard is set up with the activities in the curriculum so the teachers can work problems or have discussions based on what is in the text books.

Each school has internet access but it is extremely slow and restricted allowing for no social media, Youtube and many other site access.  The teachers agree that the technology use is essential for our students success but feel their hands are tied as to how to use it in their classrooms with the lack of tools.  The are all willing and desiring of more professional development on how to integrate technology into their lessons but do need more computers to make this happen.  One suggestion was to add IT staff so that each school has their own IT specialist to focus on technical issues but to also add one for each school who would specialize in integrating technology into lessons.  The 7th grade teacher is excited to add Chromebooks for their students but still feels they have not be given ample training on how to effectively use them in the classroom.

Teacher survey:  http://goo.gl/forms/n8KzDvqvJ9