Narrative of Interviews

Natania Riley

FRIT 7739: Instructional Technology Practicum

Georgia Southern University- Fall 2021

Narrative of Interviews

I had the pleasure of interviewing three specialists for this assignment. One was a media

specialist at a K-8 school, and two were instructional technology specialists at an elementary and

high school. The first interview was with my field supervisor, Mrs. Tonya McKinnie. Mrs.

McKinnie is the school media specialist at Belair K-8. The second interview was with Mr. Caleb

Aaron, and he is the instructional technology specialist at Diamond Lakes Elementary. Mr.

Aaron is also an IT Specialist at some of the local elementary schools in the area. My third

interview was with Mr. Peter Bradley, and he is the instructional technology specialist at Cross

Creek High School. Mr. Bradley also serves on the committee at the Richmond County Board of

Education. While conducting my interviews, I learned that every school does not have its own IT

Specialist. The majority of the IT Specialists in the district work at more than one school. I

realized that is one difference from being a media specialist.

One similarity that I found between all three interviews is that you have to be flexible and

available for the students, staff, and parents. They all mentioned that when the pandemic first hit,

they had to be available for students, staff, and even parents when everything had moved to

virtual. They had to assist teachers with updating assignments on a new platform and helping

them reset accounts and passwords. They also had to assist parents in learning how to navigate

through the Canvas platform. Another similarity that I found is that the IT Specialists do not

have a budget they control. Unlike media specialists, they can suggest what the school should do

with the money, but they do not control it.

All three interviewers played a major role in the district's one-to-one device distribution

rollout. The media specialists and instructional technology specialists are in charge of assigning

students in grades K-12 a laptop that they will bring to school every day and take home to
complete homework assignments. Since the majority of the IT specialists work at more than one

school, the media specialists will step in and help distribute out devices to students. It was good

to know that the IT specialists and school media specialists work together.

Although all three said the best part of their job was working with students, they all had

different answers to what they found to be the most challenging part of their job. One mentioned

not having enough time, another was communication, and the last was implementing the old with

the new. While working with teachers, you will have some teachers who dislike change and what

they are accustomed to. When you have teachers like that, it is sometimes hard to communicate

with them to let them know that there is nothing wrong with learning something new like a new

tool. We have to remind ourselves that technology is changing daily, and it is okay to broaden

your horizon on how technology can enhance your teaching skills and classroom.

Overall, I learned a lot about the roles and duties of a media specialist and an

instructional technology specialist. Each day will bring you a new task, but you have to take it

and accomplish it with a positive attitude. You must be available and flexible because you never

know what may come your way. Who would have thought that a pandemic would happen where

we had to go to a virtual setting for two years. Another thing I learned is that you have to be

patient because every day you are working with students, staff, administrators, and parents with

different personalities.