SISI - Standards and Indicators

Standard 3 - Academic Performance - Instruction
3.1a There is evidence that effective and varied instructional strategies are used in all classrooms.
3.1e There is evidence that teachers incorporate the use of technology in their classrooms.

Scenario

Creating Smart Classrooms

Since moving to integrate technology in 1983, Blackstock Junior High School has seen results that are impressive. Eight grade students are now scoring at or above the 90th state wide percentile in math, history/social studies, science, and writing. Measures of critical thinking skills rose from the 40th to the 80th percentile, average daily attendance has increased, and discipline problems have declined.

Blackstock's work to develop and support their learner-centered technology-rich environment has created "smart classrooms." There are at present eight smart classrooms including two for instruction in 7th-grade science, one for instruction in 8th-grade science, two for literature and history, one for ESL instruction, one for instruction in business education, and one called "Tech Lab 2000."

Tech Lab 2000 is best described as the futuristic equivalent of a wood or metal shop. Designed to make students familiar with the technology present in the modern workplace, the Tech Lab is outfitted with computer-assisted design (CAD) software, a computer numerically controlled (CNC) flexible manufacturing system, pneumatic equipment, and a satellite dish. All of the other smart classrooms have between 25-30 computers on a local area network (LAN). Each is also equipped with a sophisticated file server and a special switch to give the teacher maximum control over classroom dynamics. With the switch, students can all be working on the same project or a variety of things going on in the classroom at the same time.

Staff development efforts for teachers in the smart classrooms have centered on giving individual instructors large amounts of paid time off to familiarize them with technology and to organize a technology-based curriculum. Ongoing staff development for all teachers is supported by four paid days of technology training per year and a considerable amount of informal sharing.

(Reproduced directly from: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html)

Preparing life-long learners for the world of work

Northbrook Middle School students use technology as a tool to increase their learning and productivity in all subjects. Since it reopened in 1991 with a commitment to a technology-rich learner-centered environment, Northbrook has seen test scores, attendance records, student attitudes and self esteem, and discipline all improve. Setting aside 25 percent of its $6 million startup costs for networking, hardware, and software costs, Northbrook Middle School is a new creation in an old building. It serves a 6th- through 8th-grade population of fewer than 800 students drawn largely from families of Hispanic migrant workers.

The school itself is organized into four learner-centered clusters. Teachers and students in each cluster work together to support one another in gathering information and solving problems. Technology is employed to help students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as to tailor instruction to individual student needs.

With over 400 computers in place in the school's six technology labs and 48 classrooms, Northbrook has a student-to-computer ratio of just under 2:1. Each of the school's classrooms is outfitted with five or six computers. All of the computers have built-in CD-ROM capabilities in order to expand the range of software products available for student use. Access to network resources supports student information searches. Computers in the classrooms, in the computer labs, and in the library are networked together in a school wide LAN with Internet connectivity.

To support the technology program, Northbrook has relied primarily on on-site staff development. Each of the school's 48 teachers received two weeks of technology related staff development in the summer prior to the school reopening. On an ongoing basis, teachers participate in three to four days of paid training each year on average. Additional personnel supporting the technology program include a full time technology assistant and a part-time district technology coordinator. These two individuals conduct training and keep the technology running smoothly.

(Reproduced directly from: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html)

Introduction

Instructional technology is made up of “the things of learning”, the devices and the materials which are used in the processes of learning and teaching. Instructional technology is an effort with or without machines, available or utilized, to manipulate the environment of individual in the hope of generating a change in behavior or other learning outcomes. The purpose of instructional technology is “to make education more productive and more scientific base, and to make instruction more powerful, learning more immediate, and access more equal”.

 Definition:

The systemic and systematic application of strategies and techniques derived from behavior and physical sciences concepts and other knowledge to the solution of instructional problems. The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) officially adopted and approved the following definition of Instructional technology: “Instructional (educational) technology is the theory and practice of design, utilization, management and evaluation of processes and resources for learning” (Hains, Belland, Conceicao-Runlee, Santos & Rothenberg, 2000.

The availability of instructional technology for teachers is increasing in middle school subjects to meet societal demands and goals. Society’s goals include the use of instructional technology as part of everyday instruction in schools to prepare children to meet the needs of an increasing technological dependent culture (ISTE, 1998). These goals include the implementation and integration of instructional technology to facilitate the teaching and learning process through curricula transformation. However, teachers have not rushed to change their classroom strategies or shift their pedagogical practices to include instructional technology. This transpires in spite of increased accessibility to better hardware and software, along with an increase in staff development opportunities (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1995). Teacher resistance to change is primarily due to their concerns regarding the influence of instructional technology integration on their preparation, beliefs and values. These concerns include teacher technical ability and proficiency with instructional technology, along with organizational culture and climate influences that are beyond the control of the teachers (Dexter, Anderson, & Baker, 1999). These concerns include the influence of their school climate facilitating or presenting barriers (U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1995; Becker, 1991).

Clark (2000) studied urban middle school teacher’s use of instructional technology. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate teacher’s perspectives of their use of instructional technology, understanding of this technology, and feelings about the support structure associated with this equipment. Twenty-eight teachers in a large urban middle school participated. This study investigated the effect and influence of technology on teacher’s administrative duties as well as their interaction with students. This information is intended to help school districts improve current technology programs and to ascertain the most efficient methods of introducing new technology into classrooms. These findings suggest that, in this middle school, teachers feel that technology is an integral part of the process of educating their students. They also indicate that these teachers see a need for more technology in their classrooms. Included in this finding are four sub assertions: (1) most teachers in this study felt confident in their ability to use technology, (2) teachers express opposing attitudes when it comes to the need for more training in technology, (3) teachers believe technology is an integral part of their classrooms, and (4) teachers believe their classrooms need more technology.

NovaNet Learning, Inc. (NLI) provides content that helps schools use technology to increase student achievement. With curriculum for basic skills, ESL, GED preparation, middle and high school subjects, school-to-work, gifted and talented and SAT/ACT preparation, NovaNET meets the widest range of needs for secondary learners. The curriculum may be fully customized for each school and satisfies numerous state and national standards. NovaNET includes integrated instructional management and record keeping, direct links to curricula enriching Internet resources, and a full suite of online tools and activities that facilitate learning and interaction with the national NovaNET community.

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Strategies

Although the problems of instructional technology integration have many solutions, the best appear to be making time for staff development and providing support for teachers. Instructional technology takes time to master. Hardware and software, no matter how “user-friendly,” require time to master. As in any profession, time must be invested in learning how to use an instructional technology tool before real integration in curricula can occur.

Teacher training

The teachers who have more technology training are more likely to use the Internet and other high-tech tools in their classrooms, feel better-prepared to use these teaching aids, and rely on them more heavily than do teachers with less training. In gauging the importance of professional development, it matters more whether teachers have been trained to use technology than how long have they been teaching (Bottoms, 2000).

Overcoming Contextual Barriers

The challenge of integrating instructional technology is not only providing assistance to teachers to learn how to operate a technological tool: it is helping them to learn to integrate the technology tool in their curriculum. To effectively integrate the use of this technology, several approaches will ease the concerns of teachers; increase the level of use, and provide examples of best practices for changes in teaching strategies. The approaches include training master teachers, providing expert resource assistance, providing adequate staff development for teachers, providing staff development for administrators, and establishing technology training centers within the school districts (Ravitz, Wong, & Becker, 1999).

Teacher Attitudes

Guiding young children in interactions with technological tools and encouraging constructive play with them is not an easy task. It places a heavy responsibility on teachers. Many early childhood teachers are not confident inn their ability to do mathematics and science. They are unclear about how such knowledge develops in children, and have conservative expectations for children’s performance. Most early childhood teachers do not have a lot of knowledge about or experience with computers. Modems, bauds, and icons are well outside their range of knowledge.

Some preschool and primary teachers even question the appropriateness of early emphasis on computers. Exposure to books and dictation, and the methods for teaching can be similar (Lawler, 1985).

Technology as an instructional tool

As an instructional tool, technology helps all students including poor students, students with disabilities, and advanced skills required for the world of work. Middleton & Murray (1999) studied the impact of instructional technology on student academic achievement in reading and mathematics. A sample of teachers (n=107) was surveyed using the levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) Instrument to determine their personal level of technology implementation in their classroom. Standardized test achievement scores in reading and mathematics were gathered from the teachers’ students (n=2574) for analysis to determine whether a significant difference existed in achievement between students from teachers who characterized themselves as low as users of technology in their classroom. Results showed significant difference in both math and reading scores among the fifth grade students. However, no significant difference was found among the fourth grade students.

Technology as an assessment tool

As an assessment tool, technology yields meaningful information on demand about student’s progress and accomplishments and provides a medium for its storage.

Assessment of Student Progress

Technology offers several advantages over traditional methods of student assessment (Sheingold and Frederiksen, 1994). For example, multimedia technology expands the possibilities for more comprehensive student assessments that require students' active participation and application of knowledge. The immense storage capacity enabled by technology such as CD-ROMs allows schools to develop electronic portfolios of students' work. A single CD can hold exact copies of students' drawings and written work, recordings of the child reading aloud, and video images of plays, recitals, or class presentations. By saving work samples on different subjects at different times during the year, teachers can display them in rapid succession to demonstrate and assess growth. A recent development, computer-adaptive testing, promises to administer tests more efficiently by automatically adjusting the level of difficulty of the questions until it correctly ascertains a student's level of proficiency.

Technology as a motivational tool

As a motivational tool, technology positively impacts student attitudes towards learning, self-confidence, and self-esteem. The use of technology in the classroom improves students' motivation and attitudes about themselves and about learning. Technology-rich schools report higher attendance and lower dropout rates than in the past (Dwyer, 1994). Students are found to be challenged, engaged, and more independent when using technology (Means, Blando, Olson, Middleton, Remz, & Zorfass, 1993). By encouraging experimentation and exploration of new frontiers of knowledge on their own; through the use of technology, students gain a greater sense of responsibility for their work, producing higher-quality assignments that reflect the increased depth and breadth of their knowledge and talent (Collins 1991). And technology energizes students, because they often know more about its operation than do their teachers (Ringstaff, Sandholtz, & Dwyer, 1991).

Technology as a learning tool

Technology is a learning tool. What we do with it, what purposes it serves, and how society handles the problems and resources that technology makes possible are decisions made by people and not determined by some inherent property of the technology itself. Teachers need to build opportunities into curriculum for children to think creatively, even if the answer turns out to be wrong. Children need opportunities to think collaboratively because seeing another person’s perspective may push them to higher levels of performance.

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Barriers

Contextual Barriers to Change

A challenge to educational to educational innovation is assisting teachers in unlearning the beliefs, values, assumptions, and culture that underlie their school’s standard operating procedures and practices (Dede, 1999). To be successful beyond initial implementation, school systems need to assist teachers in learning, but also aiding them in unlearning their standard organization’s operating procedures. The goals of the innovation implementation must include organizational change as teachers learn. A shift in organizational change will sustain that can only be achieved when owned by teachers and not imposed or mandated (Dede, 1999).

Teachers’ Belief and Change Regarding Instructional Technology

Although teachers have the advantage of an unprecedented amount of instructional technology for use in their classrooms and schools, little evidence indicates that teachers systematically integrate technology in their classroom curriculum. Several factors erode efforts by school districts or schools as they make an effort to sustain an effective technology program. Factors that influence their efforts include a focus on hardware rather than on implementation processes, a weak implementation planning process that fails to meet the needs of teachers, and little or no professional staff development. To be successful with technology implementation, teachers need to change their pedagogy. This teacher change is a process that requires a shift in a teacher’s paradigm as he or she implements a new innovation that has an influence on their pedagogy (Dexter, Anderson, & Baker, 1999).

Teacher Change

Change is a personal human experience that needs to be considered by school systems and change facilitators when implementing a new program. To successfully implement the integration of a new technological tool, consideration of what the implementation will mean to teachers’ personal beliefs and values is of great concern. How will it affect their current classroom practices, preparation time, beliefs regarding technology, and values? What factors directly and indirectly influence teachers’ integration of instructional technology (Dexter, Anderson, & Baker, 1999)?

Teacher Beliefs and Values

A teachers’ epistemology is a product of his/her own prior knowledge, development, and experience as teacher. Each teacher’s teaching style is influenced by personal factors, including his/her personality and belief system. But all teachers’ styles are influenced by the context of organizational structure in which they teach. For instructional technology to be successfully implemented, teacher beliefs and values need to shift. If not, the desired implementation and integration of instructional technology in education will not occur on a broad scale.

Technology can be expensive

Most of the technology that we want to use can be expensive. Many of the schools may not be able to purchase those kinds of equipment. Sometimes there is also lack of support from administration to spend funds on technology equipment, staff development and material and supplies.

Reliability

The school should make sure that they have hardware and software compatible with existing or planned systems and are aligned with the technology available. The district should provide training for technology support personnel. The technology requires regular maintenance and repair of hardware. There are very many times that the teacher may want to use a piece of equipment and it may not work. This is very frustrating, annoying and embarrassing on the part of the teacher.

Butler & Sellbom (2002) have cited reliability as a possible biggest problem. Some of the factors associated with this are software incompatibility, mistakes by support services, software malfunctions, burned out light bulbs, slow Internet access, and out-of-date software.

Learning to use technologies

Another problem is the time it takes to learn to use new technologies. Several other problems associated are: portable carts used to bring technology to some classroom are hard to use, classrooms are too different, so teacher learning does not generalize, and teachers do not know where to get the training they need. Along this, many teachers lack the trouble shooting skills.

Lack of ongoing professional development

Staff development training should be provided. The teachers should know the latest instructional technology that is available, which can be used in the classroom. The schools should have a definite professional plan that reflects the district’s vision of integrating technology to enhance and enrich the learning environment. The school district should also provide professional development for instructional technologies.

Lack of basic infrastructure

Many schools do not have the basic infrastructure to have the instructional technology. Technology is sensitive and hence it has to have a proper space to keep and store. Some schools have problems like leaking roofs, limited electrical access, and poor telephone connectivity.

In the educational arena of the twenty-first century, technology presents both challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to ensure that all students learn the technological skills they need. The opportunity lies in the enormous potential of technology to support and enhance learning for all students (Schargel & Smink, 2001). Technology is a catalyst for significant change in learning practice in the classroom. New learning opportunities are possible through the creative application of technology.

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Resources

AEL. (2000). Principal Connections: A Guide to technology leadership. Macromedia and Interactive Design & Development. CD-ROM. http://www.ael.org

Becker, H. J. (1991). When powerful tools meet conventional beliefs and institutional constraints. The Computing Teacher, 18(8), 6-9.

Bottoms, G. (2000). What role does technology play in raising student achievement? In Outstanding Practices: Using technology to improve instruction and raise student achievement, Atlanta: Southern Regional Education Board.

Butler, D. L. & Sellbom, M. (2002). Barriers to Adopting Technology for teaching and learning. Educause Quarterly, 2, 22-28.

CCA Consulting, Inc., Understanding Information Technology in Kindergarten Through Grade 12 (Wellesley, MA: 1995). (Retrieved directly from: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Clark, K. D. (2000). Urban Middle School Teachers’ Use of Instructional Technology. Journal of Research on technology in education, 33(2).

Committee for Economic Development, Connecting Schools to Our Changing World. A Technology Strategy for Improving Mathematics and Science Education (New York, NY: September 1995). (Retrieved from: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Collins (1991) 28-36. Retrieved on August 16, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Dede, C. (1999). The role of emerging technologies for knowledge mobilization, dissemination, and use in education. In D. R. Wetzel (2000). A model for pedagogical and curricula transformation with technology. National Educational Computing Conference, “Building on the future”, July 25-27, 2001, Chicago, IL.

Dexter, S. L., Anderson, R. E., & Baker, H. J. (1999). Teachers’ views of computers as catalysts for changes in their teaching practice. Journal of Research in Computing Education, 31(3), 221-239.

Dwyer (1994) 4-10; Braun, Vision: TEST (Technologically Enriched Schools of Tomorrow), Final Report (Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 1990) 7. Retrieved on August 16, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Hains, A. H., Belland, J., Conceicao-Runlee, S., Santos, R. M. & Rothenberg, D. (2000). Instructional technology and personnel preparation. Topics in early childhood special education, 20(3).

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (1998). National education technology standards for students. Eugene, OR: Author.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), (2000). National Educational Technology Standards for Students – Connecting Curriculum and Technology. Eugene, Oregon: ISTE.

Means, Blando, Olson, Middleton, Remz, and Zorfass, Using Technology To Support Education Reform (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 1993) 76-79. Retrieved on August 16, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

McKenzie, J. (1999). How teachers learn technology. Bellingham, Washington: FNO Press. http://www.iste.org

Middleton, B. M. & Murray, R. K. (1999). The impact of instructional technology on student academic achievement in reading and mathematics. International journal of instructional media, 26(1).

Ravitz, J. L., Wong, Y. T., & Becker, H. J. (1999). Teaching, learning and computing: 1998. [Online]. Available: http://www.crito.uci.edu/tlc/findings/special_report/participants_rev.htm

Ringstaff, Sandholtz, and Dwyer (1991)11-12. Retrieved on August 16, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Saul Rockman, et al., Assessing the Growth: The Buddy Project Evaluation, 1994-95, Final Report (San Francisco, CA: March 1995). (Retrieved from: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Schargel, F. P. & Smink, J. (2001). Strategies to help solve our school dropout problem. NY: Eye on Education.

Sheingold and Frederiksen, "Using Technology To Support Innovative Assessment, in Means," ed., Technology and Education Reform: The Reality Behind the Promise (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1994) 91-108. Retrieved on August 16, 2002 from http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html

Sun, J., Heath, M., Byrom, E. Phlegar, J. & Dimock, K. V. (2000). Planning into practice: Resources for planning, implementing, and integrating instructional technology. Durham, North Carolina: SEIR-TEC. http://www.seirtec.org

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. (1995). Teachers & technology: Making the connection (OTA-HER-616). Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.

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Key Words

instructional technology, middle school, teacher use of technology, strategies, barriers

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