Question 7: How are teachers using integrating technology tools with research-based strategies for increasing student achievement? Address the differences that occur in technology rich classrooms as contrasted with traditional classrooms.
The definition of a traditional classroom is a lecture-based lesson that transfers knowledge from the teacher and textbook to the student. The process is static and fails to engage the student in the learning process. On the other hand, a technology rich classroom aims to create ‘authentic learning’ (Castellani & Jeffs, 2001), promoting student engagement and active learning. Through the use of compatible technologies that support Internet educational sites, teachers can help students who have experienced academic failure and become successful readers when using electronic text. In schools where teachers have access to technology in their classroom, students have the flexibility to learn and demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of way through Universal Designs for Learning (UDL). UDL provides students with curricular flexibility in the ways that information is presented (such as e-text) or in the ways they respond (using a variety of software such as Inspiration). The challenge is to assist teachers when choosing technologies that have proven results based on research. Several resources, such as NIMAS and
Although research is still sparse when it comes to evaluating the benefits of non-traditional learning that uses technology, there is solid evidence that progressive methods of education do work when properly implemented. Technology by itself does not improve the learning environment. The most critical element in teaching is a highly qualified and prepared teacher. An effective “educational environment should be grounded in the pedagogic fundamentals and enhanced with complementary technology” (Lightfoot, 2005).
Checkering and Gamson (1987) developed seven “best practices” for all classroom teaching. These are:
1. develop reciprocity and cooperation among students;
2. encourage contacts between students and teachers;
3. use active learning techniques;
4. give prompt feedback;
5. emphasize time on task;
6. communicate high expectations; and
7. respect diverse talents and ways of learning.
These seven components need to be present in the learning environment, whether traditional or technology-rich classrooms. Instruction that uses technology as an added component is designed to enhance, not replace, teaching methods. Although few classrooms remain “traditional” since the requirement of NCLB, which requires schools to give disabled students access to the general curriculum through assistive technology. In order for educators to understand best how to identify the benefits from technology, it is important for teachers to realize that computer-based technology includes a variety of applications and uses. Thus, technology needs to match the learning goals of students.
Teachers in technology-rich classrooms are able to harness technology offered through the Internet and a variety of software tools in order to help students gather, create, communicate, share, manage, and store information that can fit their needs. New technologies, especially the Internet, have brought individuals together from around the globe and made possible their regular interaction, exchanging ideas, projects, and collaborating with instant speed. The ‘millennial’ generation grew up with the Internet, easily adapting to new multimedia technology that is constantly hitting the market with new gadgets (like iPods and MP3 players) and other software. The troubling phenomenon is that schools have not been able to keep up with the technology explosion. Although the Web 2.0 (Solomon & Schrum, 2007) has revolutionized the way that many classrooms function, many challenges are still present for either traditional or technology-rich classroom, both failing to prepare students for the workplace (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). However, from the federal government to the individual school districts, technology environments need funding in order to train and provide educational opportunities to all students (www.NACOL.org).
The first challenge is to have adequate computer-to-student ratio so that all students have easy access to technology. Even in technology rich-classrooms, researchers found that a limited number of students have access to computers (Sivin-Kachata & Bailo, 2000), usually the computer ratio in elementary schools is 20:1 and at the high school level is 30:1. If we are moving towards reforming the audio and face-to-face style of traditional classroom teaching, then we need to make the equipment accessible. Second, professional development aimed to increasing the teachers’ skills, continues to deliver “traditional staff development model, which is a one-day session or a four-hour lecture right after school” (Solomon & Schrum, p. 101). Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) stated that districts have wasted money in professional workshops that offers technology training with no follow-up in skill implementation. Instead, educators need to have “an entire year of intensive staff development” (Solomon and Schrum, p. 101), choosing one topic and developing in-depth understanding. Although school systems like to believe that many classroom are now integrating educational technology into the curriculum, research have found that many teachers do not utilize technology to its full potential because the lack of technical support available to them (WestEd, 2002). Even teachers who enjoy using computers will stop using technology if the equipment or program becomes unreliable.
Academic institutions are increasingly engaged in incorporating technology into the curriculum (Lightfoot, 2005); however, merely adding technology into instruction does not improve the learning environment. The solution to the challenges is to introduce technology into the classroom only when it addresses the seven components of best practices and are technologies that are known to be effective when used in instructional settings. Since all United States (US) schools are moving towards implementing technology-rich classrooms, the following recommendations are suggested:
- Provide adequate computer-to-student ratio.
- Extend the school-year for all teachers to eleven months so that effective professional development in technology can take place during the summer (see www.techlearning.com).
- Allow teachers to have access to on-site technical support.
- Integrate technology within the curricular framework, rather than an add-on.
5 comments:
I agree that we must begin to meet the challenge of integrating technology into our schools and avoiding the inadequate computer-to-student ratios . Computer ratios of 30:1 are unacceptable if we expect teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms. However, quickly in behind the capital expenditure for more technology integration is the support and training we need to provide to our teachers.
We know as professional leaders in our schools that teachers need support when learning something new.
I have observed teachers get frustrated by the vastness of the Web and then refuse to research what is available on the Internet as educational materials.
In fact, teachers, who are experienced Internet users, have little knowledge of the search engines and web-based tools needed to make efficient use of Internet resources (Peck, 2002) in the classroom.
For me there are some major factors under play:
1.) the location of Internet access in the school (if we continue to pile computers into a lab environment, what benefit is that serving to the majority of our students out in the classroom?)
2.) the capabilities and availability of computers, (“obsolete out of the box” applies. If computers are constantly breaking down because of their age does that really count toward technology integration? ) and
3.) the vision and support of administrators
Teachers need hands-on experience to explore the Internet and to practice new skills. Instructional sessions should be short and followed by lots of practice time. When it’s clear that a Web 2.0 tool can help students in the classroom, teachers will be motivated to take the time to learn how to use the technology. Watching other teachers model new technologies and strategies gives teachers a clearer understanding of how they could be used within the context of the classroom and curriculum.
Interactive Web 2.0 technologies can encourage more student-focused, real-world learning. However, this potential cannot be realized unless teachers have the opportunity to learn how to incorporate this powerful tool into teaching and learning in the classroom.
Bates Middle School, in Annapolis, is being developed as a “Technology Demonstration Center” for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. This translates into turning all of the classrooms at Bates into “smart” classrooms, with SMART interactive white boards, document cameras, airliners, and senteo response clickers. As the school is outfitted classroom by classroom, the stark difference between the “smart” classrooms and the traditional classrooms is clear. On my daily walkthroughs, it is amazing how much higher the level of student engagement is in a classroom when a SMART board or a document camera is in use. Teachers are much more likely to show a video clip or import some information from an interesting web site when they have the technology, because it is so easy to do so. What is truly interesting is how quickly the students pick up the use of the SMART boards and other wireless technologies. Colleen and I hope to share some video of children using technology at Bates in our upcoming webinar.
The comments that Mark and Diane made really sum up the issues on this question. Mark pointed out three factors that are key to the integration of technology into classrooms: the location of Internet access in the school, the capabilities and availability of computers, and the vision and support of administrators. Diane noted that she is in a position to watch the transformation of her school from traditional classes to “smart” classrooms. The three factors that Mark noted are being addressed at Diane’s school.
Unfortunately, like discussions in the past, the bottom line to this integration of technology is money. Districts have to commit large amounts of funds to equip schools with the technology and then train the teachers. I believe the change will be progressive school by school, but timeliness is the issue. The upgrading has to be ongoing to maintain a level of competitiveness.
The difference between a technology rich classroom and a traditional classroom is easily the student engagement. Technology is embedded in the lives of our students outside of the classroom. Students surf the web, talk on the cell phone, text message, IM, play computer games, go to virtual social sites on a regular basis. Then they come to school. Schools need to bring the 21st century into classrooms or we will continue to loose students.
The kindergarten teachers in my building have been using united streaming during instruction. It's nice to see technology being utilized during instruction rather than at the end of a lesson which is usually how technology is used. It's not that teachers don't want to use research based technology applications, during instruction, it's just that they don't know how. Teachers need support. If teachers had access to supports (such as the article summaries that we have been completing in class that summarize research),this would be very helpful.
As Colleen mentioned, the difference between a technology rich classroom and a traditional classroom is that students are engaged. This is because the technology supports the ways in which students learn (e.g., visual, tactile, auditory, etc.). Students of today are used to instant gratification (e.g., microwave food,internet, e-mails, IM's, etc.). The traditonal classroom/teaching methods are really foreign to today's students and only contribute to them being bored. We really should talk to the students more about the types of technologies that they use and use this information to create a technology rich classroom.
Colleen,
I think you raise an excellent point that money remains a barrier in implementing effective technology use. I also think we make this harder on ourselves because we define school-based technology as different from what kids are using everyday. For example, I completely agree with Mark that a 30:1 computer ratio is huge, so we should reframe and look at supporting students with technology that they currently use such as cell phones. Of course - not all children have cell phones, though it is a growing tool with over 60% of teens having cell phones (Pew, 2007). In fact, when we look at the percentages of people embracing new technologies, it is even more evident that we should change how we do business. Over 35% of Tweens have cell phones according to a 2007 Nielsen survey. Of "Millenials" - age 13-24 - 62% use cell phones as multimedia entertainment devices (Deloitte & Touche, 2007). In the U.S., 18.5 million people listen to podcasts (emarketer, 2008) and of the whole world, 85% of people have made an online purchase through the internet (Nielsen, 2007).
The "One Laptop per Child" campaign, founded by MIT Media Laboratory Director Nicholas Negroponte, has come under fire for the same criticism that is launched at educators - why are we stuck on the one track mindset that we need to give everyone a computer? Negroponte's vision has fallen considerably short of his goal because investors are not seeing the value in giving every child in the world a laptop. They cite growing markets in more portable technologies that are being readily embraced by consumers - cell phones, PDAs, ipods.
As educational leaders, we should look to our students as the guide. If the majority of our kids already have access to this technology, it cuts down on our costs to supply these items, it engages their motivation level because we can teach them advanced uses of the tools they already use, and they are naturalized supports in that the general population already embraces these tools. Our new teachers are also already coming to the table with baseline knowledge of these devices.
My last year with BCPS, I was trying to train a teacher on how to create picture icons using Boardmaker. She was young, 20-something teacher, and was not getting why I kept cramming Boardmaker down her throat. She was saying the pictures are unrealistic, the program was limited because it had to be loaded on the machine she wanted to use, and she had a better idea. She pulled out her cell phone, dialed up Google images, pulled a few realistic photos of the task she wanted to teach the student, fired them off to her desktop email and had an authentic picture based task analysis.
Dumbfounded (despite my outward appearance of tech expertise, I had no idea you could do that with a phone), my mind clicked back to my mission, "we have paid for the Boardmaker software, it is what I know because it is what I was trained on, so you must obey me..." and I tried to make a convincing argument why her little magic trick was nice, but she still needed to use Boardmaker.
I was wrong! And right there, this teacher had a great idea that I could have helped take a step further by saying, "Cool, can we just transfer those to the kid's cell phone so they can pop up as a step by step reminder of how to order her lunch in line?" We could have taken this kid to the next level using very fundamental teaching principles - analyzing a student need and engaging the kid at their level - but I fell back to my needs of completing a directive. So often, school leaders fall into this trap - we are given directives or initiatives that we must push and sustain, and that can lead to a rigidity that prevents us from adapting to what is a better way.
To that end, I would suggest that the other consideration that should be made when implementing a technology rich classroom is to form partnerships with non-traditional groups such as business, computer programmers, universities, and students themselves. There are groups out there with the knowledge, money, and understanding of how these technologies work that can be vital resources for educators and teacher trainers. I think our focus should be less on ensuring our trainers are experts in all of these technologies (not realistic as it is a full-time job to keep up with the trends) and more on having school PD folks identify and liaison with leaders in the field who can bring that knowledge base.
Just my two cents.
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