The interactive smartboard in Denise Beasley鈥檚 high school classroom was supposed to make life easier: helping her present digital lessons, appeal to different learning styles, and boost student engagement by allowing kids to interact with images.
Instead, adding yet another technology to her classroom had the opposite effect. 鈥淚t was just craziness,鈥� she said.
With a recent grant, Beasley鈥檚 district, Osseo-Fairchild in Wisconsin, decided to purchase the smartboards. The district believed the devices 鈥渨ould make our lives so much better, even though we鈥檝e never been trained on them,鈥� she said.
A high school English teacher who has been working for more than a quarter century, Beasley is no Luddite. She taught online courses before the pandemic and has used a learning-management system for years, unlike some of her colleagues, who still prefer a traditional pen-and-paper grade book.
But Beasley doesn鈥檛 think she鈥攐r most teachers in her school鈥攈ave the bandwidth to master yet another new piece of technology at a time when they are being asked to cover classes for quarantining colleagues and help students recover academically and emotionally from the pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 flying by the seat of our pants just getting through every single day,鈥� Beasley said.
On paper, this should be the start of a golden age for education technology, the moment when devices and the teaching techniques they enable finally spur the kind of innovation and academic gains that their supporters believe they are capable of.
After all, teachers have a deeper understanding of technology than ever before. And laptops, tablets, and Wi-Fi hotspots are now available to students in nearly every school district.
But that rosy picture glosses over a major problem: Most educators are tired of using technology constantly. Nearly two-thirds of teachers, principals, and district leaders who participated in a survey conducted by the EdWeek Research Center in December said they were experiencing technology fatigue. And 79 percent said they felt their teacher colleagues were tired of all the tech use they have experienced over the past two years.
In response, some administrators who started the school year exhilarated by the recent education technology momentum are now giving their teachers some breathing room.
鈥淥ur teachers are really just juggling a lot,鈥� said Justin Cutts, the principal of Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif. He鈥檚 long been passionate about the power of technology to energize students and help teachers do their jobs more effectively. But, he acknowledged, 鈥淚 have to kind of take a step back鈥� and dial down expectations, at least for now.
Some of his educators are 鈥減eople who I feel are good teachers. [I was] excited that they were going to learn something new,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then watching them come back with frustration and say, 鈥業 did everything you talked about, or everything we said we were gonna do, and it鈥檚 not [working]. I just feel like I have to fall back on what I know works.鈥� And so, for me, it鈥檚 been tough, but I鈥檓 like, OK, I can鈥檛 not support that. Because they did try.鈥�
What鈥檚 more, educator exhaustion, coupled with the staffing shortages that many districts face, mean that it might be a while before the K-12 system sees the kind of widescale changes to teaching and learning that some ed-tech advocates believe will grow out of the pandemic and the increasing use of technology during it.
鈥淢any teachers and district leaders see the need for some other things out there to further differentiate instruction, to meet more students where they are, to accelerate learning,鈥� said Chris Rush, a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Education and a co-founder of New Classrooms, a nonprofit focused on innovation. But, he added, many educators 鈥渄on鈥檛 feel like this is the moment that they can implement some of those changes and reforms.鈥�
鈥楾hey demand more technology with your lessons鈥�
While new laptops and tablets opened fresh avenues of digitally enhanced instruction, they鈥檝e also heightened pressures on teachers.
鈥淭he district paid for so much, they demand more technology with your lessons,鈥� said Jeanette Escobar, an elementary teacher in El Paso, Texas.
But to her mind, some concepts are easier to grasp outside a computer screen. For instance, she鈥檚 had students dissect owl pellets, the undigested food that the birds sometimes regurgitate, in science class. There鈥檚 just no digital substitute for the experience of stumbling on, say, a mouse skeleton buried in the bird鈥檚 pellets, Escobar said.
She鈥檚 also not entirely comfortable with a new online camera that trails her around the classroom so that kids learning virtually from home can see what she鈥檚 up to.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 over helping a student, if I鈥檓 teaching a lesson, wherever I鈥檓 talking, whatever I鈥檓 doing, it鈥檚 following me around,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o me, it鈥檚 a little bit stressful to have that going on all the time. Because sometimes you want to decompress ... just relax with the students and have a good discussion. And you really can鈥檛 get to do that鈥� with the device tracking a teacher鈥檚 every move.
Educators aren鈥檛 the only ones who want a break from technology. Students are also weary of devices at school, according to 72 percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders who participated in the December survey.
In some cases, that鈥檚 meant kids are reluctant to take advantage of extra support when it鈥檚 provided in a virtual space. The Topeka, Kan., school district offers tutoring after school, with both online and in-person options. While students show up for the in-person program, 鈥渘o one logs on鈥� to the online offering, said Tracy Keegan, the assistant principal at Eisenhower Middle School.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e tired of the screen; they get home and they have 42 other distractions,鈥� Keegan said. She and her colleagues end up assisting kids in the morning before class instead, who say, 鈥溾�楬ey, I didn鈥檛 get to log in. Can you help me with this now?鈥欌��
鈥楬onestly, just back off and support them鈥�
Teacher burnout isn鈥檛 just about technology, said Casey Rimmer, the director of innovation and education technology for the Union County public schools near Charlotte, N.C.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think our teachers are tired because of tech,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think our teachers are tired because of the thousand other things they鈥檙e having to do. They鈥檙e covering such a heavy load for their kids.鈥�
By sticking with established, nondigital strategies, she said, 鈥渢hey鈥檙e trying to revert to a safe space with what they鈥檙e comfortable with and what they know. And that鈥檚 most likely pre-pandemic teaching.鈥�
To be sure, some teachers in her district are building on what they learned when school was virtual, applying the tools they mastered more often and in different ways. But most aren鈥檛 interested in tackling something new.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to throw a bunch more tools into the mix and figure out where to click and what buttons to press again,鈥� Rimmer said.
So, Rimmer is giving teachers space. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not making anything mandatory,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e putting opportunities out there for teachers. We鈥檙e not reprimanding anybody for not doing what we鈥檙e offering.鈥� She鈥檚 told current and prospective ed-tech vendors that 鈥渘ow is not the time鈥� for new devices or platforms.
Diana Morris, the supervisor for humanities for the Penns-Grove Carneys Point Regional school district in New Jersey, had a similar take.
鈥淭his technology is, I don鈥檛 want to say difficult, it鈥檚 a challenge. It鈥檚 a challenge for teachers. So they don鈥檛 need anything new,鈥� she said. 鈥淗onestly, just back off and support them.鈥�
