Anissa Bigler EDCI 888 Professional Change Model Project Problem/Situation With the increased use of technology as an effective

e teaching tool in the classroom, more teachers are using web tools to engage students, and more students are forgetting the necessary passwords they created to log in. Many students create passwords based on random ideas or situations currently happening in their life, but when they go in a couple of days later to access their web tool account, they find that the random idea is a distant memory and so is the password. Instead of being able to dive right in and work on a project, valuable class time is spend trying to remember (guess) at the previously used password or waiting for the email reminder to be sent. Ironically, I have students who cannot even remember the password to get into their email account to check for the password. Desired Change/Innovation Students need to be taught how to creative effective yet memorable passwords. This is a learned skill, and educators cannot assume students know how to do it. My goal is to become the change agent and implement a short presentation which will be given during one of the ELO (Extended Learning Opportunity) classes at the beginning of the school year. Students will create a folder in Word called Access. This folder will be used to make a list of all web tools used along with user name and password for that account. Teachers will model how to set up and use this folder. Students will then only need to remember how to get onto the school network (plus this password can easily be changed by school administration if forgotten), and they will have a working list of all passwords they need to remember. Edmodo would actually work better for creating a list of passwords since one post can be tagged and added to easily, students have access to this list at home (whereas they will not have access to the school network), and the account will not be wiped clean at the end of every year like the school network. However, not all teachers use Edmodo. That method would require another, much bigger, change before the passwords could be saved by students. Teachers, even the technologically reluctant ones, are familiar and comfortable with Word. Resistance One area of resistance will come from teachers who do not want to give up class time to teach students how to create passwords and the access folder. They will also not want to be hassled with reserving a computer cart so they can share the presentation and assistant students with the setup. It will be considered by some as one more thing they are required to teach students, and that it is not worth the time. Some will rationalize that they do not use technology

in their classrooms, so there is no need for them to spend their time teaching students how to use it more effectively. Not only will some say it is not worth the time, some will say it is not their responsibility. Students should be able to remember something as easy as a password on their own will be their attitude, and it will either be ignored or casually introduced as an optional idea to students. This resistance could actually be the one to keep the change from being successful. The attitude of the teacher towards the idea and implementation of this innovation will be essential in determining the attitude of the students. The final resistance comes from a lack of consistent use. Teachers having students register on web tools will need to remind (perhaps even make sure it happens the first few times with an incentive) students to use it. Once students begin to see some success implementation will be self-directed, but it will take a while to establish the habit. Teachers will need to be insistent that students use it until it becomes a desired habit. Potential Adopters All teachers with an ELO will need to adopt the initial part of the innovation. They will need to present (or allow the information to be presented) to their students in ELO. The more permanent adopters will be teachers who use technology in their classes on a daily basis. They will need to encourage students to create effective, memorable passwords when registering for a web tool and to add the user name and password to individual access folders. The final adopters will be the students. Hopefully, with consistent use the skill to create passwords, and then find a method to save them, will become a life-long skill. Final Thoughts The best way to overcome the resistance might be to have a couple of technologicallyminded teachers and the curriculum technologist come into each ELO during the beginning of the year and share the presentation instead of asking individual teachers to do it. They could present information quickly, and tech support would be available if issues occur for the students. This might help teachers openly accept class time being used since there is no extra prep work on their part. The school-wide presentation would only have to be done the first year of implementation. After the initial year, only the incoming freshmen would need to be trained. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors would be able to apply what they learned the previous year. The training might even be moved to the day of Freshmen Orientation instead of using ELO time.

Adopters will find that if students use this method consistently less class time will be spent guessing passwords and more time will actually be spent working on projects. The change has the potential to catch on quickly. Success will breed success, and if done correctly, this innovation, one even as simple as this one, will have a big impact on our students and their learning.

References Ellsworth, J. B. (2000). Surviving change: A survey of educational change models. Syracuse, N.Y.: Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, Syracuse University.