While business leaders tout the increased productivity computers have brought to the workplace, teachers quickly realize that their workload increases as they use technology in the classroom (Peck & Dorricott, 1994). While parents are apt to state the virtues of using computers, teachers know that technology is not a panacea that will solve all learning problems. So why should teachers use computers in the classroom? The most compelling answer to the question may be: It can help teachers bring learning experiences to their students in ways never before possible, and to learn in a like manner themselves. Thornburg (Betts, 1994) remarks that
We're not going to lose any of the benefits of successful teaching strategies just because we have shifted [from the Information to the Communications Age] . . . But we are going to have to adapt our strategies and adjust to new realities. The new technologies will make it possible to access all kinds of information and connect everything with everything else. . .Anybody who wants information will have access to it whenever and wherever they want it." (P. 20-21).
Peck and Dorricott (1994) cite the following as some reasons to use technology (including computers) : Computers can cater to students as they learn and develop at different rates; students become proficient at accessing, evaluating and communicating information while their thinking and writing increases in both quality and quantity. Students learn to solve complex problems; their artistic expression is nurtured; they become globally aware and able to use resources that exist outside the school as they do meaningful work. Students' interest and motivation is maintained as they access high level and high-interest courses--they become comfortable with the tools of the Information Age.
But as powerful as computers and modern technologies are, Hurst (1994) restates the argument that "computer technology can never replace teachers." As Peck and Dorricott (1994) affirm:
Some things only teachers can do. Teachers can build strong, productive relationships with students. Technologies can't. Teachers can motivate students to love learning. Technologies can't. Teachers can identify and meet student's emotional needs. Technologies can't. Technology based solutions in education can, and must free the teachers to do the important work that requires human interaction, continuous evaluation, and improvements of the learning environment (p. 13-14).
Before they can use computers and model their appropriate use in the classroom, teachers themselves must become comfortable with the machines, and the ways they can be used in the classroom.
Many of our current generations of preservice teachers will be in classrooms, working with students, for the next 30 years, and need to be trained in the use of current technologies in their teaching. What better time for this to happen than during this preparation time as they are being socialized into their roles as teachers? But Ingram (1992) found many faculty in teacher education courses are in need of technology training themselves and the curricula of teacher education programs need to be updated to prepare students for the technology -driven changes already occurring in elementary and secondary classrooms.
So they can feel prepared to use technology and computers in their classrooms, preservice teachers need to take "Introduction to Computers" and "Technology in the Classroom" courses. They need to see technology use modeled by their instructors in methods courses and have "hands on" opportunities to become comfortable with their own personal computer use. They should observe computer use by their supervising teachers and use technology in the classroom during their clinical and student teaching experiences (Handler, 1993). But "taking courses" will not suffice. Until teachers see technology permeating their methods training, technology will not have the impact many educators hope for.
Curtin et al (1995) describe a successful and innovative plan for training preservice teachers in technology use, based on the premise that "for teacher training to be effective, it must occur in natural classroom contexts. By preparing future educators in real school environments that have been enriched through the active use of technology and teacher staff development, preservice teachers could practice, reflect, and learn in high-quality classroom models" (p. 77)
Training is provided to preservice teachers in the use of computers and productivity software, and is coordinated with concepts taught in their teacher education classes. Immediate transfer is assured when preservice teachers, who have been learning, for example, about process writing using computers, are able to bring their new knowledge to bear on similar situations in their practicum classrooms. This has led to preservice teachers gaining confidence in using technology for personal productivity and for instructional enhancement (Curtin, et al, 1995)
Inservice programs are needed to assist teachers and administrators in developing core skills in the use of personal productivity software (wordprocessing, databases and spreadsheets) and some skill in desktop publishing, and electronic communication. Mastery of these basic skills makes the computer less frightening, more useful, and more integrated into their daily routines. Hurst (1994) contends that good inservice program is ongoing with modules presented throughout the school year and that teachers should have access to task and topic-specific, self-study materials and training when and as they are needed. Teachers need access to computers to practise at a time convenient to them, in a private space where they do not feel embarrassed about other people (e.g., students) observing their learning efforts. Inservice technology training programs must be formalized so teachers see the training as a matter of course, fully supported by administration.
One of the critical changes that the introduction of technology into the classroom often precipitates is a fundamental change in the forms of interaction between teachers and students and among students (Dwyer, 1994). The teacher becomes a coach, providing structure and actively supporting students' performances and reflections (Means & Olsen, 1994) rather than a lecturer and purveyor of information. This shift can be uncomfortable as teachers find they must "let go" and allow students to assume responsibility for their own learning. Students can sometimes even become the teachers, as they have the time and energy to invest in acquiring computer skills and "surfing the net".
This volume looks at several facets of teachers' experiences in implementing programs using computer technology and computer mediated communication in the classroom. The first section deals with the preservice experience, followed by four chapters that look at the changing roles of teachers and students provoked by the addition of computer technologies to the classroom. The third section presents several perspectives on teacher inservice, starting from the basic question " Will teachers use educational computing technology"?.
This book concludes with
a chapter explaining the most common online computing tools for teachers, and
a glossary
There is little doubt that the Internet is coming to public schools, and probably sooner rather than later. The big question is will the schools be ready for it? And considering all that is available through the Internet, just what should teachers know about it? More specifically, what should preservice teachers be taught about the Internet by their undergraduate institutions?
George conducted a study of the Schools of Education in the Big Ten, and 10 public school corporations in Indiana, to help determine what universities should be teaching preservice teachers about the Internet. This study points out that there are considerable gaps between what the Schools of Education believe they are teaching preservice teachers about computers and information technologies and the competencies hiring school districts see in their newly hired teachers. It also illustrates a number of important bodies of content that should be added to the curriculums of preservice teacher education. Specifically, students should be receiving computer literacy courses that include advanced topics such as Internet literacy. In addition, computer and information technologies should be integrated into the entire undergraduate education curriculum.
Schrum and Fitzgerald describe two groups of educators as they learn about and use computer mediated communication for professional and curricular activities. The first case study involves a group of ten teachers enrolled in an experimental graduate educational telecommunication class. The second case concerns twenty-seven preservice teachers who, as part of a unique professional development project, were given a notebook computer and used CMC within their methods courses, for collaboration with cooperating teachers, and in their collegial interactions with peers. Schrum and Fitzgerald conclude that the same types of support structures are necessary to support preservice and inservice teachers as they learn and use information technologies.
In two classrooms a continent apart, change has taken place in a big way. Andrea Mayer at State University College at Oneonta in New York wanted to provide a "virtual" early field experience for her pre-service secondary English teachers before they entered student teaching. Marcialyn Carter at Arroyo Grande High School in California, wanted to provide a real audience for her ninth graders' writing efforts. Computer-mediated communication was the solution used to provide an online laboratory for all the students. For Mayer's pre-service teachers at Oneonta, the laboratory provided a means to know the adolescent in a classroom atmosphere before actual student teaching. For both classes, the online laboratory proved to be a unique partnership benefiting everyone!
Vaughan has conducted graduate summer workshops in educational telecommunications in Ohio, USA. He states the purpose of these workshops is to show how educational telecommunications can enhance instructional efforts of the practicing teacher. The first workshop focuses on the basics of CMC using only local resources with limited Internet access. The second workshop focuses on the Internet, World Wide Web and CUSeeME. Vaughan concludes that students learn best from each other; students with no prior experience can perform telecommunications skills; that instructors can learn significantly from the students; using online resources change students perception of what they can do with instruction; curriculum resources shift to online sources; and, online instruction can simultaneously enhance the learning of both the student and the teacher.
This is the story of how Murphy, Cifuentes and Bonham formed a plan for using computer conferencing with preservice teachers. They also describe the major lessons that they learned about how and when to maintain and relinquish control. The stages that we went through are the same ones that we recommend for others who are teaching preservice teachers. And they are the same ones we recommend that preservice teachers use in their own future classrooms.
A sometimes disconcerting change occurs in classrooms where the students have well-facilitated access to computing technologies and computer meditated communication. The students become very excited about what they are doing and invest as much time as they can in exploring and learning. The teacher finds themselves sometimes lagging behind in expertise and knowledge.
Technology can extend traditional teacher/learner relationships beyond the space/time limitations of the brick and mortar classroom. And it can challenge and redefine how teachers and learners have related since antiquity. Cox describes the evolution of a course in which traditional relationships have been and are being challenged, via Internet and television, in pursuit of the elusive potential of a fully distributed global community of empowered learners.
Computer-Mediated Communications (CMC) resources have the potential to change the role of the educator in the classroom from a rigidly controlled instructional model to that of a role as facilitator. In that way, CMC can provide a radical and positive change in the way that desired learner outcome goals are achieved in the learning environment. Emerson and Hunter's Facilitation Of The K-12 CMC Collaboratory, looks at the transition of one classroom over the course of a year from the traditional teacher controlled setting to the teacher-facilitator model involving a computer-literate second grade teacher and his class. Problems with the traditional approach, experiences and issues with the transition, and an assessment of success and failures of the project are addressed.
In this chapter, Mizell and Kontos explore the changing roles of teachers and students in the Communication Age. The need for teachers to use technology in the curriculum to meet students' varying learning needs is encouraged but the limited use of technology in the classroom by teachers is acknowledged. Mizell and Kontos discuss the use of students as mentors for teachers by describing in some detail the training of middle and high school studentsto work with their teachers to incorporate the use of technology in their instructional units. The successful progress of this joint university/secondary school project leads to the conclusion that students can, indeed, be trained and used to help teachers become comfortable with the use of technology in the curriculum and to help develop instructional units that incorporate technology.
As preservice courses slowly become more technology oriented, a new generation of teachers will enter the classroom. But what of the thousands of practicing teachers who have not have the benefit of such preservice training? Who will help them learn?
This section begins with a chapter based on the observation that teachers have largely not integrated educational computing into their teaching. Marcinkiewicz has studied this situation in the light of teachers' personal variables. The results of that and related research are presented together with recommendations addressing the personal motivational variables that best promote teachers' integration of computers into their teaching. The results of the research suggest that the variable that contributes most to teachers' adoption of innovation in educational computing is that of subjective norms-the perceived expectation for computer use by the significant participants in their professional lives: the students, colleagues, and administrators.
Luthra puts forward the argument that it is necessary to understand the mental lives of teachers in order to encourage effective use of computers in classrooms and schools. The influx of computers in schools has been growing steadily, but their use and impact on the classroom has been minimal. Luthra points out that the effectiveness of computer use in the field of education is dependent upon the perceptions and feelings of classroom teachers.
Computer mediated communication (CMC) provides unprecedented opportunities for educators to implement all varieties of reform currently being explored throughout our public school enterprise. Whether a school district is moving toward standards-driven curricula, trying to integrate technology, developing mentoring programs, building school-to-work teams, restructuring the school day, integrating multiple intelligences, or any other of the myriad initiatives underway across our nation, CMC offers a level of efficiency and effectiveness previously unavailable. Although many problems still must be addressed, CMC provides a series of tools educators may use to increase their effectiveness in the classroom and in areas of reform.
Schoales offers some guidelines which research and practice have shown to be important in creating a professional development program for teachers. The first section describes considerations and requirements for a successful professional development program. Later sections provide lists of topics for training sessions, activities for building collegial relations, sample formats, traits of successful programs, and a sample statement of philosophy and goals for professional development.
In this chapter from Russia, it is evident that many of the issues involved in the inservice training of teachers are independent of country and culture. Polat, Petrov and Bucharkina discuss the move from a soviet socialist state where education served the needs of a centralized governmental system requiring a docile, homogeneous and unquestioning population, to the new post-soviet society where all members must make decisions in fluid situations where information must be rapidly acquired, assimilated and acted upon. This is not unlike the movement in the industrialized nations from school systems geared to turn out industrial workers to preparing student for a new knowledge and information driven economy.
This requires in its turn new approaches to education on behalf of both the teacher and students, demanding new educational conceptions and, certainly a break in the traditional concept of education by these same teachers and students. The authors share their thoughts on the important of teacher inservice to facilitate these changes, in the setting of a technology poor society.
Gutsky proposes that the stages for the exploration of online resources by K-12 educators can be compared to the waves of settlers who populate a new territory. The first group of people to venture into an unmarked territory are the scouts. The scouts struggle to open up trails for future explorers. The scouts are soon joined by pioneers, people very much like the early scouts, and who often travel together. The pioneers use the trail markers of the scouts to search on their own. Following the scouts and pioneers come the homesteaders, people ready to build upon the nascent infrastructure. The final group are the village dwellers. The village dwellers move into the territory when the infrastructure is complete and all the necessary tools for successful implementation are readily available and easy to use . This chapter describes a successful model used by the Fox Chapel Area School District (FCASD) where inservice leaders perform the functions of scouts and pioneers. The model utilizes the following infrastructures: technology, support structures and motivational factors.
Detheridge and Bowell look a the role that CMC can provide to teachers by giving them access to peer support as well as to national and international sources of information. They look at this with reference to the particular problems special needs coordinators have in their responsibilities to address the individual needs of any pupil experiencing difficulties in learning.
As well as formal sources of training and information, there is a great wealth of experience resting within the teacher population. Detheridge and Bowell state that a valuable and reliable information source rests in teachers' expertise in schools. They describe the use of CMC for peer interaction and for more formal teacher professional development and accreditation which will increase teachers' confidence and the cost effectiveness of services. The experience of participants in the project they describe, shows that the role of CMC was seen as so important that many technical and management obstacles were willingly overcome for the anticipated benefits. Through such things as international cooperation, teachers are sharing expertise and practice that will help to flatten the learning curve and more effectively meet the needs of students.
Russell discusses a case study concerning a project designed with the purpose of providing a real experience as a method to introduce electronic mail to inservice teachers. Many of these teachers have avoided using computers and feel afraid of participating in this project. No longer can they avoid using computers as they are required to take on the role of a character in a fiction book and answer letters from children in schools throughout Australia.
An understanding of the stages these anxious adults will go through as they learn to use the technology helps build self-esteem and confidence in their own learning. The "Characters-on-line" project has two purposes. First, to assist the inservice teachers to learn to use email in a meaningful environment, and secondly, to encourage teachers and students in schools to use email. The focus in this chapter is the organisation and the logistics of the project and the training of the university inservice teacher education participants in their use of electronic mail.
Beal and
Heide explore research toward school improvement indicating a need for critical
thinking skills and problem-solving in learners. The research these authors
cite also points to advantages for students being active participants and taking
personal responsibility for their own learning. The chapter examines the elements
of one program that provides professional development for teachers and models
behavior for learners. In depth explanations of program components are provided
to characterize teacher and student involvement in this state-wide learning
community. formative programmatic findings are surveyed and plans advanced for
the enhancement of the coordination of teachers, learners, and technology.
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