[fstech]

Hello all,

Today in the mail I got one of the first peices of new technology in years at my school. Through some special funding i am buildling new mobile carts. These mobile carts will have interactive whiteboard tablets. These tablets function as a portable version of the SMART boards. Trying it out today it looks like it's going have a bit of a learning curve, especially with some of the older teachers.
Right now I've got a demo unit but if all goes well I'll be purchasing 8 more to go with all of my carts. I plan on doing some one on one training with the test group, younger teachers spread throughout the grade level, and see how it goes from there. From there I plan on doing a grade by grade training on the new technology. Having each of them try it out.
My question is this. Has anyone else recently introduced this technology? What major hang-ups have you had with training and implimentation of this new technology?

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My school has something sort of like that and even with the older teachers they seem to work great. We have projectors on ours so they can show Slide Shows and all. Over all I think that they are a great purchase

[Matt Brownn]

My school has something sort of like that and even with the older teachers they seem to work great. We have projectors on ours so they can show Slide Shows and all. Over all I think that they are a great purchase

[dsenette]

a little bit better info on exactly what you're talking about would help...got a link to the supplier maybe?

you're basically asking a general question though so here's a general answer:

when introducing new technology to a group that has varied learning abilities and knowledge about said technology....it's best to seperate your trainees into groups and train from there.....first you need to identify your dinosaurs (those who have no idea what they're doing and will need the most help), your intermediate users (those who've got a general grasp on the technology but still need some help) and your whiz kids (the ones who learn the fastest and have the highest technological aptitude).....once you've identified these people...assign them into "learning teams" where you put a small amount of dinosaurs in a group with a moderate amount of intermediates and at least one whiz kid....this way your whiz kid will quickly learn how to use the new tool, and thereby teach the intermediates quicker than just yourself teaching them...then you'll have both the whiz kids and the intermediates at a level where they can help you train the dinosaurs