Discussion 4

The section that I found to be most interesting was the part that discussed the Barriers of technology Integration (p.226-232). I found this section intriguing because I basically agree with most of the information mentioned in it and I had first hand concrete experiences confirming most of the findings during my work as a school administrator, however this section organized the thoughts for me and formed relations in a new and direct way.
A couple of facts I found to be new, first that the empirical studies found 123 barriers to technology!! I guess some of them are just different names for the same barrier (terminology). The second piece of information which I found especially beneficial was the classification of technology-supported-pedagogy into (a)replacement (b)amplification or (c)transformation and I agree that most teachers have not been exposed to transformation technology-supported-pedagogy. Most teachers use replacement or amplification pedagogues without even knowing the difference.
During my work as an administrator I found all the relationships between barriers represented by Fig 2 to be true, Assessment and the pressure of high stakes exams influence the institution and the time tabling, some times because of the large content the limited time and the pressure of the assessment we had to shorten or at times cancel periods allocated for classes in the computer lab. That in tern influence the teachers' beliefs and attitudes thus affecting their knowledge skills and the Technology integration.
Even though the figure has no relationship between teachers' beliefs' attitudes and the availability of resources, I tend to disagree with that. I think the relationship exists, it might not be as strong as some of the other relations but there still is a relationship between resources and teachers' attitudes.
As for the Subject culture barrier, I agree with the Art teacher's arguments about being more in tune with ones artwork without the interference of the computer. Computer usage has produced new models of art like graphic design, animation etc.. but it does not fit with the classical idea of Art as we know it.