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Taking Stock: What Does the Research Say about Technology's Impact on Education
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Technology: The Fifth Basic Content Area
By Gwendolyn E. Christman
The close of the twentieth century brings our society fully into the Information Age. Technology is a facet of everyday life for many of us who live and work during this era. Rapid advancements in telecommunications, computers, and science insure that our children will live in a world that is driven by technology. If we agree as educators, that the fundamental purpose of education is to prepare students to live, work, and succeed in the world in which they inhabit, then it becomes imperative that technology be recognized as the fifth basic content area.
The institution of schooling has changed relatively little in the past fifty years. It is true that new theoretical approaches in education such as cooperative learning, school to work programs, and a stress on learning styles have been instituted over the last few decades. However, schools as a whole have failed to keep pace technologically with the world around them. In this way, education has failed to meet the needs of students and its fundamental purpose.
The institution of schooling must be reevaluated and reorganized in order to meet the demands of the twenty first century. The following recommendations for change are essential if education is going to achieve its fundamental purpose and prepare students for success in their world.
1. Technology is recognized as the fifth basic content area and incorporated into the curriculum as such. Credit hours in computer literacy courses are established as part of student requirements for graduation.
2. Technology must be prioritized at the local, state, and federal levels. The monetary decisions made in education depict what is valued. Widespread spending must occur in order that individual schools are brought up to a level that is both equivalent and competitive with other organizations.
3. Beginning at the federal level, standards are set that insure all schools provide students with a basic level of competency and proficiency in the area of computer literacy.
4. Assessment measures are designed and implemented that evaluate a student's skill in these areas. Technology is added as an academic area on state assessment measures and schools are held accountable for student performance levels.
5. Pre-service and in-service teacher certification programs require basic computer literacy skills and train future educators how to integrate technology into the mainstream curriculum in meaningful ways.
6. Professional educators currently working in the field are required to update their computer skills for recertification. Courses in integrating technology into the individual content areas are instituted as part of individual professional development plan.
7. Schools, their faculty and staff, value and utilize current technology in every day life providing a model for students and reinforcing the integral role that technology plays in the world of work.
The above recommendations are a cumulative list of changes that address the needs of students, preparation of staff, curriculum development, accountability, assessment and measurement, and physical environment from a technological perspective. If students are to achieve success in their world, a world driven by technology, then their schools, their curriculum, and their teachers must be brought up to date. Technology must be prioritized and utilized in the real life experiences of young people who are being prepared to make their way in the advanced world of the twenty first century. Unquestionably, technology is the fifth basic content area and may very well prove to be the most important tool students need to survive and succeed both today and in the future.
Avoiding Obsolescence: Integrating Technology into the Classroom CurriculumBy Gwendolyn E. Christman
The role of technology in the public school setting has gained a great deal of attention recently. Several years ago, society recognized how far behind the business world, education truly was when it came to computers. School districts invested a great deal of time and money in the design and equipment for state-of-the-art technology labs. These impressive facilities were displayed, toured, promoted, and admired by all. Considered the answer to the current "crisis" in American education, the computer lab quickly became the show piece of many schools.
With all of the attention focused on facilities and machines, the human factor was ignored. The professionals in the field of education had missed the fundamental principle of learning. Simply put; people must be taught. Many of today's classroom teachers entered the education profession before technology became common place. Now computers were in the classroom, but, the teacher did not know how to operate or utilize the machine in their teaching practices. Costly equipment sat in corners and collected dust. However, progress and invention can only be ignored for so long. The focus of technology in education has recently shifted from attainment of machinery to the training of classroom instructors in the application and utilization of the available technology.
Fearful and reluctant, educators are being required by their administrators and school boards to catch up with the rest of the world. Computers have been dusted off, plugged in, and assigned a highly visible place in the classroom. Most teachers have attained at least a basic understanding of how to operate certain application programs. Others have achieved an advanced level of usage skill. The problem remains that knowing how to use the tool is no longer enough. Regardless of grade level or content area, professional educators must be taught how to integrate the available technology into their individual content specific curriculum.
In order to be meaningful, classroom use of technology must be purposeful and engage the student in authentic tasks. Developing these skills and abilities for our teaching professionals means providing them with the appropriate instruction. This training requires a major commitment of both time and money on the part of school boards, taxpayers, and administration. However, this is an expenditure we can't afford not to make. Unless classroom teachers are comfortable and confident in their ability to use computers and have been appropriately taught how to integrate technology into the curriculum, a crisis in education remains. It is one of ignorance, obsolescence, and fear.
Effectively Utilizing the Computer LabBy Gwendolyn E. Christman
The computer lab can be a wonderful tool for the classroom teacher. Labs provide students with the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience with the available technology. If planned properly, lab time can be a meaningful educational experience that truly enhances student learning. However, the computer lab can quickly become a frustrating and discouraging experience for students if the activity is not well organized and pretested by the classroom teacher. The following guidelines are intended to help you afford your students relevant and educational computing experiences:
1. Schedule lab time to correspond with the classroom curriculum. Be sure that students have the necessary background knowledge of the subject matter to make actual computing time purposeful.
2. Be prepared. Come to the lab with a detailed lesson plan. The purpose for computing and the objective of the lesson should be clear to the students. Approach lab time like any other class period.
3. Be knowledgeable. The best lab lessons are taught by classroom teachers who are both confident and capable in the application they are asking students to learn and utilize. For example, if you are not familiar with the paint application, don't try and use it with your students until you receive some training first.
4. Do a dry run before class. Always perform the activity yourself before presenting it to your class. This is especially important for Internet lessons. The World Wide Web is a constantly changing environment. New sites are added and older sites are discontinued everyday. Check the address for accessibility, appropriateness, and relevance before sending students into Cyberspace. Also, check out all available links. Know in advance where you want your students to go AND if there are links that should be avoided. Using the Internet effectively involves researching sites and providing students with "maps" of their cyber journeys.
5. Note the extras. Many Internet sites require special programs in order to view graphics or activate tours. Virtual tours, sound or video clips, and panoramic viewing are some areas where this problem occurs. When performing the pretest, note any additional plug-ins or supporting software necessary to successfully access the location and its contents. Contact a technology specialist in the district to install the needed programs well in advance of your lab time.
Computerizing the Portfolio ProcessBy Gwendolyn E. Christman
In the early 1990's, portfolios gained popularity as an alternative means of assessing student achievement. The portfolio building experience offers many benefits to both students and teachers. For the student, the investment in and responsibility for their own learning is dramatically increased, as is the motivation to complete the assigned project. The creative aspect and individuality of portfolios appeals to students who are lost or turned off by more traditional evaluation measures. Self-reflection and an active role in the selection criteria are 2 additional features that allows the student to experience a sense of success and accomplishment when engaged in a portfolio assessment project.
Teachers benefit from portfolio assessment in a variety of ways. First, their role is changed from one of a director to that of a facilitator. Teachers guide students through the portfolio process and work with them to set the selection criteria and scoring of the portfolio project. This collaborative environment enables the teacher to work closely with each student during the building process and offer meaningful feedback to the student. Portfolios reflect a student's growth and accomplishments over an extended period of time. This feature affords the teacher an overview of students accomplishments, as well as, a more accurate depiction of skills and knowledge gained than a one-shot test or assignment evaluation. Finally, both teachers and students benefit from the sharing of student work with other members of the community. Pride, pleasure and accomplishment all result from this public aspect of portfolio assessment.
Given all the positive features of portfolio evaluation outlined above, the only negative has been the storage and maintenance of these valuable student projects. Portfolios can be quite cumbersome to transport and often include video tapes, art work, and physical artifacts. They are also works in progress, verses static measures, which require the addition of elements as time and skills progress. All of the realities addressed above can make portfolio evaluation a method that is difficult to manage. Computer technology offers an easy solution to the storage and retrieval dilemma of portfolio keeping.
Today, there are many new technologies available that makes the move to electronic portfolios both logical and desirable. From a manageability perspective, increased computer speed and storage capabilities solve the transport and management issues associated with portfolio assessment. Students can save their portfolio to a single computer disk and access them wherever a computer is available. Individual portfolios can be stored in a file on the school network which enables the portfolio to travel through grade levels with the student. From a curricular perspective, exciting new multimedia programs allow students to design a creative, nonlinear environment from which they can present their work. These software programs make the incorporation of sound, image, and video elements both simple are artless. Not only does the move to an electronic environment solve the dilemmas of portfolio assessment, it offers important educational benefits as well.
We are now living in the Information Age and computers have rapidly become a part of every day life. Students must be competent with the technology available in order to be successful and productive members of the society in which they will live. To meet these educational needs, the push is on at both federal and state levels to integrate technology across the curricula. For integration to be most successful, it must be both meaningful and relevant to the student's learning experiences. Electronic portfolios meet both of these criteria. They also afford students the opportunity to use technology while engaging in authentic tasks. The development of a multimedia portfolio closely mirrors the electronic skills many workers perform on the job site today. Through the portfolio building process, students gain and polish the computing skills which will be a prerequisite for the workforce of the future. Electronic portfolios offer educators a purposeful means to seamlessly incorporate the use of technology into the mainstream curriculum.
Database: The Forgotten ApplicationBy Gwendolyn E. Christman
Most professional educators have recognized the role of technology in education and have made great strides with the integration of computer applications into their classroom's curriculum. I have been privileged to witness many exciting technology lessons developed by our faculty during my time as a middle school computer teacher at Portsmouth. Our students are gaining valuable hands-on experience with word processing, desktop publishing, Internet searches, and spreadsheets. The employment of such exercises truly enhances student learning and makes computing time more meaningful. They also go a long way in preparing our young people for the world of work.
In this article, I'd like to share with you some ideas for utilizing databases in the classroom. Often referred to as the "forgotten application," databases have many practical uses for classroom teachers. Any topic that your students would prepare a report for could be presented in a database format. The following is a short idea list of potential uses:
- Influential Women in History Biographies
- Summaries of the Periodic Elements
- Descriptions of Planets in the Solar System
- Famous Inventors, Artists, and Musicians
- Functions of Simple Machines
- Great Mathematicians and Their Theories
- Major Historical Events
- Scientific Experiment Data
- Reading Records & Book Summaries
- Famous African-Americans Biographies
- Reaction Journals
As demonstrated above, the possibilities are truly endless. Databases are relatively quick and easy to create. One of their best features, is the freedom they provide to the originator. Either the student or the teacher can determine which fields or categories to include and the layout can be customized for the specific end use. Databases are a wonderful alternative to the traditional report and offer a great deal of individual creativity. If you are interested in learning more about database design and their use in the classroom, stop in and see me!
Gwendolyn E. Christman is a middle school computer literacy specialist in Maine where she teaches beginning through advanced technology courses to both students and the staff. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of New England. At UNE, Gwen instructs the Technology In Education course that is a core requirement for both the post-bacheloriate Teacher Certification Program and Early Elementary Certification Program. She has also designed and facilitated a comprehensive Computer Camp for the Old Orchard Beach School Department staff. Previously, Gwen has worked as an integration specialist at the middle school level in New Hampshire. Ms. Christman currently holds a M.Ed. and is pursuing a C.A.S. in Technology and Education at Lesley College.
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