The lost souls of technology training
Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 06:04AM 
As I was walking down a hallway at one of our elementary buildings yesterday afternoon, I bumped into a lady I did not recognize. She introduced herself as Laurie, a reading paraprofessional, and I replied I was the technology director.
"Oh good," she said, "I have tech problem you might be able to help me with." (I shuddered since my department worries when I try to fix hardware.) She held out an iPad with a program running on it.
"How do I get this off my screen?"
"Just push the big button on the bottom," I sagely suggested.
"I tried, but screen stays the same but I just get a row of icons on the bottom."
She was double clicking the button, of course, instead just hitting it once. Quick lesson - click just once. Problem solved. (Boy, was I proud of myself!)
Just the day before my tech integration specialists were talking about how with a big influx of iPads into our schools next year (I estimate 900), that paras in special ed, Title 1, and other areas will need to know how to operate these devices. Given our already full plate of training needs for teachers on the horizon, I sort of shrugged the comment off.
Until I met Laurie.
Paras fall into the category I call the lost souls of technology training - those folks who need basic tech skills, but don't get much attention from our department. We do a pretty good job with kids, teachers, and even the teachable administrators, but some groups have just been left to wander in technology limbo.
I started to notice this a couple years ago when GoogleApps become the preferred method of communication by most of our teaching staff and building secretaries struggled with Docs, the calendar, and such. We started adding GoogleApps training at the regular secretarial meeting where it had usually been student information and finance systems uses that were taught.
Then we added special training sessions for district secretaries - those who serve HR, the superintendent, the business manager, the sped director, etc. We found out that about three quarters of our cooks did not know how to use e-mail when the HR department tried to contact them that way. Our custodial and maintenance staff is expected to read and respond to e-mail requests for work. Really, who doesn't need at least some familiarity with the basic communication systems in your schools? The crossing guards?
Are there pockets of lost souls who need some tech help in your district? If so, how are you releasing them from their digital purgatory?
Reader Comments (4)
We are going to try to provide online courses, and use elements of a flipped classroom, such as a video playlist with commenting. We also give an incentive in their contract to take some courses to receive a raise.
Just a thought....... it is so hard to have subs that are tech trained! They are the lost souls too!
Hi Doug,
We quickly realized after our grade 7 1:1 iPad pilot (this year) that we did not properly train our paras. Many of them work directly with our special ed students, and when the classroom workflow becomes completely digital - it was hard for them to help our students because of the lack of training.
This year, as we ramp up our iPad initiative and move it to grades 7-12, Paras are included in the training AND we have provided them with their own iPad. While we have increased the number of teacher digital learning coaches, we have also added a Para digital learning coach. We launched our Flipped PD training on May 1st. Throughout the month of May, we will open new iPad modules via Moodle on Mondays. After the staff watch the vids and "practice" they indicate their competency level on a checklist. If there is still some things that any staff is not comfortable with, we will provide them with small group or 1 on 1 coaching sessions either Thurs /Fri.. This is a gradual training and I really like the idea of chunking out short sessions, vs days of "sit and "get". The other thing is - staff will always have those resources to go back to if need be.
We do have a workshop day (snowday makeup for staff only) planned for June 6. The morning will be spent on developing the teacher/classroom workflow. Because we are giving our teachers some flexibility in their choice... our paras will also have to be on board. In the afternoon, we are doing our own internal iPad Edcamp. I am hoping our Para's will take advantage of crowd-sourcing PD. There will also be other optional training provided and our summer institute has quite a bit of iPad focus as well - all open to Paras attending.
Our biggest hurdle on this front is managers who don't think maintenance and custodial workers can be trusted to use email or the internet responsibly - as a result, those workers end up out of the loop. This persists despite our district having switched to an online only payroll system. The reduction in librarians and technologists has left our district with too few staff to answer questions and offer training for those staff as well. The union brings up concerns about tech training and non-certified staff often, but admin, which wants everyone to be using technology, doesn't want to offer time or staff to train all ESPs.
It's good to hear your district is paying attention to the tech training needs for all staff!
Hi Stephanie,
I certainly agree about subs needing training more than ever. Thanks for the addition.
Doug
Hi Jen,
You are always 2 steps ahead of me! Thanks so much for sharing these ideas. We are definitely including our paras along with our classroom teachers in iPad training this summer and fall.
Doug
Hi Anon,
Trust is a big issue when it comes to training non-certified staff. But if the school functions digitally, everyone has to be connected. I'ver never seen custodial staff as more or less trustworthy than anyone else in the schools.
Doug