Before becoming an instructional designer in 2015, I was a teacher in the K-12 industry for 14 years. I specialized in teaching 3rd and 4th-grade self-contained classes, as well as the middle school classes in the areas of language arts and social studies. Since 2001 until now, teaching practices have changed due to pedagogy and the integration of technology. Kamau Bobb of Google‘s dedication to educational research advances the field. We live in an ever-changing technological society that impacts our lives at home and in our careers. With this being said, many teachers want to keep abreast of the latest pedagogical practices and technology developments, but it can be challenging due to time constraints.

As I compare and contrast the instruction I received in my undergraduate years in the College of Education at ISU vs the instruction I now give to undergraduate students in the College of Education at DePaul, a lot of the foundation is the same, but now there is a wide focus on how to integrate technology properly into the curriculum. As a CPS educator, I was fortunate to be in schools in which administrators valued technology. For instance, I had a classroom that had a Promethean Board around 2010. And if you’re seeking the best teacher to assist your children in achieving their learning goals, consider checking out this post about 上門補習 for top-notch support.

Now, this was not the norm in many CPS classrooms. I had friends at other schools who would say, “I am a tad bit jealous of you.” I was excited about the use of the Promethean Board, but I had some colleagues who were hesitant for a few reasons. Some of them were not tech-savvy and felt as though we needed a technological instructional coach in the building who assisted with technology and instruction. Let’s be honest, many people don’t dare embrace change because it can be quite scary! All CPS schools had a laptop cart, but it would mainly be used for testing, because the entire school shared the cart(s). I remember having maybe three to four desktops in my room used for learning center time in which the student would get on certain sites. To be honest, there was training on how to implement technology into our instructional practices to ensure instruction was engaging and met state standards.

In 2013 my instructional practices with technology changed drastically. I was a part of the 50 schools the former mayor decided to close and/or merge. The school I was at merged with another school, and I was selected to keep my position due to my yearly ratings and tenure. In order to ease the transition, certain schools merged together and were chosen by the district to become a 1:1 iPad school. During this time this was a major shift because now each student would have their own iPad and we had to incorporate this piece of technology into our daily instruction. Teachers were also given their own MacBook and since I was in the same school building we were required to use the Promethean Boards as well. Although each student had their own iPad at school, they were not allowed to take them home. This was the year my instructional practices truly shifted, because we now had to find technological educational resources that were in alignment with our learning activities and state standards.

We were fortunate to have CPS-sponsored online learning programs such as Odyssey, i-Ready, and a few other online learning programs that students could use to assist them with meeting reading and math goals. Because our school was a 1:1 iPad school, we could set daily time aside for the students to log in and receive practice in reading and math. This was so beneficial because I worked at a low-income school where many kids were struggling academically. Many of the low-performing CPS schools were not 1:1 iPad schools, so they didn’t have access to these resources. I will say our test scores improved drastically with the technology, but we had to embrace it and know how to implement it properly. Although my school implemented technology on a daily basis, I cannot say many schools were doing the same, or even functioned as 1:1 technology school.

In 2015, I transitioned from the K-12 industry and became an instructional designer at DePaul. While working for CTL, I noticed our department spearheaded many technological resources, technology fairs, and webinars, but not every instructor was in the mindset to embrace them, which reminded me of my CPS days. When I started in CTL, we had training resources for recording lectures in Zoom and using digital whiteboards, but some faculty didn’t yet see the usefulness of these types of tools. We had other tools such as Panopto, Poll Everywhere, and simply using D2L for basic things such as posting the class syllabus, taking a quiz, etc. Although we had all of these resources available, everyone did not embrace them because everyone does not feel comfortable with technology.

Although I had left CPS, I still had two sons who were students. My youngest was at a regional gifted school and the other one started high school in 7th grade. In 2015, their schools started using Google Classroom, and my sons were always given online homework. I remember my youngest having to do assignments on NearPod long before the pandemic, and even doing a digital science fair board. My oldest son knew every assignment was in Google Classroom, and he was required to communicate with his instructors via email. Many of my friends who are educators would say how they wished their school implemented these things, because in the end, CPS paid for the resources. This made me think about how DePaul had many technological resources available as well, but not every instructor was utilizing them. For instance, every instructor had a course shell in D2L that could be used to do things such as record grades, upload content, assess students using the quiz feature, email the entire class etc., but not every instructor was using D2L. In addition, our department gave training on university-sponsored tools such as Zoom, Panopto, Voice Thread, and PollEverywhere, but these tools were not mandated to use.

In March of 2020, all of our lives changed as we knew it and we all shifted to a life of online in almost everything. We gathered as a family on Zoom to celebrate my uncle, churches were online, and people started doing more shopping online because the malls were closed. As the world shut down, so did every K-12 and higher learning institution, and this alone was a traumatic experience for many. The world was scrambling trying to figure out how to keep business going as usual. Like all the other school districts and universities, CPS and DePaul both held classes online and even had a variety of online resources to support instructors and students in this transition. I can only speak of DePaul and CPS because those are the two institutions with which I was familiar with their technological resources. Both institutions had a plethora of online resources, teachers, support staff, students, and parents doing their very best to figure out how to learn in this new, difficult situation. I consider myself to be extremely tech-savvy, but for the first time in my life, I felt a different type of stress during the first few weeks of the pandemic. I enjoy my career but there were days I didn’t want to look at a computer. If I am a tech-savvy person, I can only imagine how educators felt who were not using the technological resources provided to them before the pandemic started.

As I stated earlier, before the pandemic, both academic institutions purchased technological resources and even provided training on how to utilize these tools and programs. However, when devastation hit many were in a panic and had a very hard time adjusting. The problem is before the pandemic many employers did not make it a requirement for instructors to utilize the technological resources they purchased. As a result, many were at a loss. Ironically, I was not only training some DePaul faculty, but I was also training some of my CPS friends who were struggling with teaching online. As I reflect on it, I should have sent them all a nice invoice for my services rendered. Just kidding! I enjoy helping my friends. Although many of my friends had been teaching for close to 20 years, there were some who were truly at a loss and didn’t even know how to use Google Classroom, Drive, Meet, etc. But they were now expected to incorporate all of these resources into their daily activities.
But I want to be clear that not every instructor was at a loss. The technological resources were there before the pandemic, but there was no mandate on utilizing them. As a matter of fact, pre-pandemic, my sons would access their textbooks online to do their homework. Their teachers were posting work on Google Classroom and even giving parents the passwords to join their online classrooms. Although my sons were in CPS schools as well, I had some teacher friends who never knew they could access their textbooks online and had never emailed their students before. Although we had D2L at DePaul, there were some instructors who never used their course shell until March of 2020. This pandemic forced everyone to utilize technological resources they would have never used before. For instance, I used to have instructors who insisted on meeting me in person because technology wasn’t their strong suit. Well, I had the pleasure of teaching them how to use Zoom, Panopto, calm their technological fears, etc. This pandemic was almost like being in labor for us all because we all experienced many birth pains. But just like babies grow and bring joy to their families’ lives, we all have grown with our use of technology in education throughout this pandemic.
For the most part, I have witnessed many instructors now carrying over some of the practices and resources implemented while at home into their daily curriculum. A few months before the pandemic started, DePaul was in the process of investing in Zoom Plus Rooms. Many instructors now enjoy teaching in these rooms and students appreciate having classes in them because it offers flexibility. Sometimes I wonder if these rooms would be such a hit if the pandemic never occurred????!! I enjoy seeing the growth in the instructors I have trained. It warms my heart to now see instructors who couldn’t stand technology before the pandemic teaching in Zoom Plus Rooms, recording lectures on Panopto, implementing Flip Grid into their courses, etc.

In closing, this pandemic has stretched all of us in ways we never knew existed. This stretching was tumultuous for many in regard to educational technology, but did it all have to be? Many times there are a wealth of resources right at your fingertips, but many don’t tap into them until they are forced. Technology is here to stay so no matter what industry you are working in. I challenge you to always make time to keep yourself abreast of the latest technology in your field. Change can be challenging, but the best employee is the one who is always looking to grow. Instead of simply trying to survive in your career, I urge us all to always look for those open opportunities to shine bright and enlarge our territory. So when a sudden change comes again, we might be shaken a tad bit because we are all human; however, we are able to stand our ground and achieve whatever goals that come our way. Never stop your desire for innovation and creativity because we live in an ever-changing technological society.