As Woodbridge High comes back to the traditional schedule, the way teachers use technology now looks a bit different from the experiences they had with it in the previous school year.

“This year, a lot of the questions that I’m getting from teachers about technology are how to take it to the next level, right? So they know how to do the basic things, and now they’re like, ‘Oh, but how do we customize it?’ right? ‘How do we go deeper?’” English teacher and Education Technology Mentor (EdTech mentor) Christina King said.

Teachers became more experienced with incorporating technology in their classes from the previous school year to this school year. They developed a greater focus on the details and ways to tailor the technology and resources they use to be the most effective for their specific needs. 

“I just think people are more willing to try, and I think that’s really been helpful because students have been willing to adapt as well,” science teacher Jaclyn Severn said. Severn believes that teachers’ struggles with technology have decreased in this in-person school year due to this flexibility. 

Severn’s experiences with technology in the previous school year caused Severn to incorporate more technology in class this school year. “I think [I feel more confident] this year. I taught online at IVA last year, so everything was online always, and it kind of was a big transition and helped me want to do more paperless this year,” Severn said. 

Fortunately, in the fall semester, Severn has not encountered any major technological problems with integrating online resources in lessons. “I think just making sure students are coming prepared with charged laptops and making sure I have them available if they’re not and then minor internet issues and things like that,” Severn said.

King confirmed the lack of struggles teachers had with technology towards the beginning of this school year. “I have to say the teachers are much more informed this year. I think we went through a real big growth spurt,” King said. 

Although teachers have gained more experience and flexibility regarding technology, minimal issues with technology still remain.  

Freshman Zachary Vu acknowledges that technical difficulties, such as one’s computer condition or connection, made up the majority of technology struggles that he observed in his science class. “For me, for example, my computer, the entire mouse pad is just broken,” Vu said. However, he also emphasizes that these challenges did not severely impact his learning.

Both Severn and King believe that being with people at school in person helps them form connections with students. “I’m able to utilize more of the in-person techniques and like building those relationships with students [now that Woodbridge High is in the traditional schedule],” Severn said. 

King had similar thoughts about the experiences of trying to connect with people in person. “I think one of the advantages of coming back in person, though, is actually being able to just have a casual conversation with somebody because it’s easier when you’re in the classroom to just walk by and say hello and have those little conversations and build relationships. That’s a little bit harder to do online,” King said. 

As a result of the technological experiences that teachers had in the previous school year, teachers now feel like they have a wider range of skills. “I think that teachers are now feeling like they have a bigger toolkit that they can draw from because maybe before, they were only using paper, pencil, scantron, that kind of stuff, and now they have both,” King said.