Shamburg: Conditions that Inhibit the Integration of Technology for Urban Early Childhood Teachers

Conditions that Inhibit the Integration of Technology for Urban Early Childhood Teachers
Information Technology in Childhood Education Annual
2004
227-244
2004
%X This article summarizes a formative evaluation of a two-year project to provide professional development in technology for urban early childhood teachers. The researcher collected and analyzed data from interviews from 18 teachers. Using the constant comparative method the researcher identified common barriers that inhibited the effective integration of technology.
%K Teachers Professional Development
teachers
have
a
complex
array
of
demands
and
an
intrinsic
sense
of
isolation
in
there
class-
rooms.
The
curricular
demands,
particularly
for
first-,
second-,
and
third-
grade
teachers,
were
especially
intense
as
initiatives
relating
to
state
assess-
ment
and
federal
legislation
were
being
implemented
in
the
schools.
This
left
little
time
for
the
experimentation
with
technology
that
many
of
them
as-
sociated
with
integrating
technology
in
their
teaching.
Secondly,
the
teachers
felt
that
they
had
an
inordinate
amount
of
techni-
cal
obstacles,
particularly
in
comparison
to
their
peers.
The
computers
that
these
teachers
had
were
the
slowest
and
oldest
in
the
school.
The
schools
and
districts
had
various
installation
policies,
enforced
by
administrative
procedures
or
technical
restrictions,
that
restricted
one
of
their
most
success-
ful
practices,
installing
software
that
they
bought
themselves.
It
also
made
choosing
particular
software
programs
for
grades
or
schools
a
risky
endeav-
or
because,
even
after
installation
restrictions
were
addressed,
various
pack-
ages
had
minimum
system
requirements