|
Even as school leaders across North America and the rest of
the world are rushing to wire classrooms and schools, some early-adopting
districts are waking up to an unwelcome surprise. After spending
millions of dollars to connect their schools and their students
to the Internet, many districts are asking why so many of their
newly installed computers are sitting unused.
These districts want to know what they might have done differently
to achieve an impressive and sizable return on their technology
investments. In addition to raising technologically savvy kids,
they expect to see improved student performance on reading, writing,
and thinking. They want evidence that new technologies can make
a measurable difference. They want a sign that information technologies
can help their students score well on the new state standards
and tests.
Districts that are just now wiring their schools are asking
many of the same questions, but they are asking them before they
finalize their plans or commit their funds. They expect to learn
from the experiences of the early-adopting districts. They look
forward to broad-based acceptance by all teachers of the new technologies.
They hope for sustained, daily classroom use. They are investing
heavily in new technologies because they see a strong grounding
in information skills as a foundation for learning, working, and
living in this new century.
This article is offered with both groups in mind, advancing
10 strategies to optimize the use of new technologies. The strategies
are grounded in research and experience, fashioned with the healthy
skepticism and pragmatism of a former superintendent who now spends
much of his life working with districts that have made a major
commitment to networks.
Behind all 10 of these strategies stand two especially important
ideas:
1. The primacy of literacy.
First of all, districts must stop seeing technology and networking
as the goal. Those with the least success have poured all of their
money and their thinking into network design and equipment. A
return on investment will come only to those who move beyond technology
to literacy.
The primary value of new technologies lies in their ability
to enhance thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
That can happen when classroom teachers embrace the technologies
and blend them smartly into the daily routines of their classrooms.
It is this emphasis on literacy -- showing students how to think
for themselves, how to make up their minds, and how to interpret
the information flowing into their classrooms -- that will translate
into higher scores on demanding new state tests as well as the
most important test of all: their future.
2. The urgency of professional development.
The second major theme is the importance of marshalling the support,
understanding, and enthusiasm of classroom teachers for the frequent
use of these information technologies by investing heavily but
wisely in professional development.
We are not talking about more hours of software instruction.
We are not suggesting more hours of technology classes. The important
professional development will focus on how to bring information
literacy skills and experiences into the daily life of the biology
class, the seventh-grade social studies class, the art classroom,
and the fourth-grade homeroom. If we want to see powerful uses
of new technologies, we must devote far more attention to curriculum
opportunities and teaching strategies.
Both of these ideas require thinking beyond wires, cables, routers,
and file servers. We have no evidence that widespread introduction
of networked computers into all classrooms enhances the learning
of students. To the contrary, we have mounting evidence that the
mere presence of equipment accomplishes very little at all.
An emphasis on literacy, combined with a robust commitment to
professional development, is the key to a successful experience
with networks and new technologies. Students and teachers alike
will benefit from such a focus and such an opportunity.
Evidence of disappointing results
While it is difficult to paint an accurate picture of what is
actually happening with these new technologies in our schools,
early reports are quite disappointing on a number of fronts.
1. Preparation. Large percentages
of teachers report that they feel unprepared to make effective
use of new technologies in their classrooms. A 1999 study by Market
Data Retrieval (MDR) found that 61 percent of the teachers surveyed
felt either "not at all prepared" or only "somewhat prepared."
This same survey discovered little difference between new teachers
and veterans. It did find that teachers with more hours of training
were more likely to report feeling prepared.
2. Use. Most reports show
an increased use of technologies by teachers, but there are few
indications that this use has extended to much student involvement.
"The typical teacher still mostly dabbles in digital content,
using it as an optional ingredient to the meat and potatoes of
instruction," wrote Andrew Trotter in "Preparing
Teachers for the Digital Age," an article in Education Week's
special report, Technology
Counts '99. "Almost two-thirds of teachers say they rely on
software or web sites for instruction 'to a minimal extent' or
'not at all.'"
Echoing these findings are the studies conducted by Henry Jay
Becker at the University of California-Irvine. "A minority of
teachers had students use Web browsers during the last school
year (36%)," wrote Becker. "What might be called 'regular' use
-- using the World Wide Web to do research on at least 10 occasions
-- was a practice of nearly one-quarter of all teachers with a
modem in their classrooms and 30% of those with direct high-speed
connections."
3. Inclination. A number
of studies point to philosophical problems and conflicting pressures
as major obstacles to widespread adoption of new technologies.
While Technology Counts '99 and the MDR studies suggest that we
need more hours of training, they fail to address the issues of
philosophy and instructional style, some of which might prove
resistant to training. They tend to lump all adult learning opportunities
into one classification as "hours of training" and fail to help
us understand how different types of adult learning might influence
the change process.
Becker's studies show that teachers are spread out across a
continuum from "traditional" to "constructivist." The majority
see themselves as "traditional" -- meaning that they have quite
structured classrooms with the teacher providing most of the instruction
in a directed manner. In Becker's sample, the biggest explanation
for teachers holding to this mode of instruction was concern about
state standards and tests, leaving little time for a more student-centered
or "constructivist" approach.
Becker found that constructivist teachers tended to allow student
use of technologies about three times as often as traditional
teachers.
Another recent study, by Glenda C. Rakes and others, also reports
a strong relationship between teacher style and classroom practice
with new technologies. This study associates the following kinds
of learning activities with a constructivist classroom approach:
* Using problem-oriented learning activities relevant to student
interests;
* using highly visual formats;
* encouraging active, not passive learning;
* providing learning environments that use a wide variety of
learning resources;
* encouraging creativity;
* encouraging collaborative and cooperative group work;
* learning through exploration;
* emphasizing the process of problem solving, decision making,
and evaluation skills; and
* using authentic assessment methods along with quantitative
methods.
Even though all respondents in Rakes' study had Internet connections
and were able to answer the survey online, the researchers found
a disappointing level of constructivist practice as well as a
disappointing level of technology use with students. "Progress
has been made toward true technology / curriculum integration,"
Rakes and her coauthors wrote, "but these results give an indication
of the need for increasing efforts in this direction. Perhaps
teacher training in technology needs to move beyond literacy skills
to address more thoroughly application and curriculum integration
issues."
Remarkably little has been written or said about reluctant,
skeptical, late-adopting teachers and their resistance to new
technologies, and even less has been written about effective strategies
to win their support. In all too many cases, the main strategy
seems to be to put networked computers in these teachers' classrooms
and provide little professional development, even though we have
no evidence that the presence of computers changes teaching practice
by itself. (See "Reaching
the Reluctant Teacher.")
4. Learning outcomes. There
is a serious lack of credible studies showing how student learning
and performance may change as networked technologies are introduced.
The important word here is "credible." While there have been some
vendor-sponsored studies designed to demonstrate results, few
of these honor the standards of objective research. (For an extended
review of this issue, see my February 2000 eSchool News column,
"The Research Gap.") This lack of research makes it hard for school
leaders to know which strategies are worth pursuing and which
deserve shedding.
Effective strategies
The following strategies are appropriate for early-adopting
and late-adopting districts alike:
Strategy 1: Put learning
first. By asking how we can best improve the reading, writing,
and thinking of our students with these new technologies, we shift
the debate away from equipment to teaching and learning. If we
put learning first, we look at the state standards, which now
typically ask students to wrestle with demanding questions, and
ask which learning experiences are most likely to build the inferential
reasoning skills students need to perform well on those tests.
(See "Teaching to
the Standards.")
Then we set clear goals within each content area for technology-enhanced
learning related to state standards, and we focus on measurable
outcomes. For example, can the students determine the relationship
between family income and infant mortality by analyzing Census
data?
By emphasizing the classroom teacher's bottom line -- that is,
student performance -- we set the stage for the next strategy.
Strategy 2: Build support.
Corporate and political leaders might wax eloquent about the "knowledge
economy" and the virtues of wired schools, but the research data
demonstrate that a majority of teachers remain skeptical. In most
places, we have failed to show a dramatic payoff for using these
technologies in classrooms each day. We have tended to assume
that all teachers will follow eventually, simply because it is
the modern thing to do.
After 20 years of waiting, we should have learned the lesson
outlined in Geoffrey Moore's corporate marketing classic, Crossing
the Chasm. The world is divided into early adopters and late
adopters, according to Moore, and the late adopters have very
different needs from the early adopters. We must win over the
late adopters by showing that these new technologies can improve
student performance on the new tests, and we must supply them
with technology-enhanced instructional units that are highly reliable,
user friendly, and structured.
Strategy 3: Invest in staff
growth. The most powerful strategies to promote staff enthusiasm
and competence are informal. Instead of falling into what I call
the "software trap," we should offer a rich menu of learning opportunities
that match the diverse styles, interests, and skill levels of
our teachers. These opportunities should include teams inventing
study groups, technology coaching programs, workplace visits,
and many others outlined in my book How Teachers Learn Technology
Best.
Strategy 4: Slow down. The
technology bandwagon (and the vendors) have pressed schools to
wire before they are even certain of the benefits. Given the 30-month
obsolescence cycle achieved by network vendors, schools find themselves
on a replacement treadmill so costly that it is almost impossible
to maintain a reliable network. Compounding this problem is the
Digital Divide, which leaves huge gaps between affluent and disadvantaged
districts and students.
Once a district asks the right questions, the need to wire and
equip every classroom is replaced with a focus on strategic program
delivery. It turns out that less is more. Half as much equipment,
located and supported strategically, might have more impact. With
the advent of practical wireless (portable) technologies, this
approach becomes far more attractive.
Strategy 5: Focus and provide
adequate resources. We can optimize results by moving equipment
around to where it will be used intensely and then sending it
on to other classrooms when the technology-enhanced unit is finished.
The fascination with thinly distributed networked computers leads
to a dilution of resources; as a result, each classroom has a
handful of networked computers but too few to do much good. Even
if a teacher is prepared and inclined, districts must deliver
"critical mass" in order to see robust use. "Critical mass" involves
adequate numbers of computers moved strategically, and it implies
adequate support in the form of technical assistance.
Strategy 6: Use assessment
to steer programs. We need to keep track of what works and what
does not. Unfortunately, most districts have nothing to show when
asked to share assessment data. Rarely does anyone even ask such
questions or collect such data. That means that districts are
sailing through the fog without benefit of radar or satellite
guidance.
Strategy 7: Shed the ineffectual.
Rather than suffer what I call the screensavers' disease, some
districts are content to see computers being used for almost anything.
We will not see a return on our investment in the form of student
performance unless we figure out what is working and what is not.
We should shed the strategies and activities that contribute little
in order to focus our energies where they will do the most good.
Strategy 8: Remember the
lessons of the past. We have been at this challenge for 20 years.
During that time we have heard many grandiose claims and listened
to many swell promises. We have seen few of these delivered. We
have good reason to join the skeptics and keep a tight hand on
the district purse strings. We should demand better data, more
pilot programs, more models, and more demonstration projects.
We should inch forward through the fog into uncharted waters,
rather than plunge ahead.
Strategy 9: Heed research.
It is currently fashionable to ignore decades worth of education
research on what it takes to make change in schools. The vendors
would like us to believe that their boxes, wires, and software
make change. They would prefer we ignore the accumulated wisdom
of the past 30 years, but schools that ignore the research are
prone to pursue folly and fashion. The work of Michael Fullan
and others suggests that broad-based acceptance of new technologies
requires much more than the purchase of computers and software.
(See "Beware the Shallow
Waters.")
Strategy 10: Ask good questions.
Questions might be the most powerful technology we have ever invented.
They enable us to explore new territory and protect us from folly.
At a time when we are surrounded by "experts" and vendors who
would love to see us dash forward without knowing quite why or
where or how, we must all remember the story of the emperor's
new clothes. Even when we do not understand the advice we are
being given or the journey we are being sold, we can ask tough
questions to test the value of the proposition: How will this
translate into student performance? What data can you provide
to support your advice? What mistakes have you made? How will
I know three years from now if this was a good move?
Jamie McKenzie is the editor of From
Now On -- The Educational Technology Journal, a web-based
"zine" that has been published since 1991. His most recent book
is Beyond Technology: Questioning, Research and the Information
Literate School, published by FNO Press. This article copyright
2000 by Jamie McKenzie.
Cover Art by Michele
Mann.
REFERENCES
Becker, Henry Jay. "Internet
Use by Teachers." 1999.
Fullan, Michael. The New Meaning of Educational
Change. New York: Teachers College Press, 1991.
McKenzie, Jamie. Beyond Technology: Questioning,
Research and the Information Literate School. Bellingham,
Wash.: FNO Press, 2000.
McKenzie, Jamie. How Teachers Learn Technology
Best. Bellingham, Wash.: FNO Press, 1999.
Moore, Geoffrey. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing
and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. New
York: HarperBusiness, 1991.
New Teachers and Technology: Examining Perceptions,
Habits, and Professional Development Experiences. Shelton,
Conn.: Market Data Retrieval, 1999.
Technology in Education. Shelton, Conn.:
Market Data Retrieval, 1999.
Mendels, Pamela. "Survey
Finds Teachers Unprepared for Computer Use." New York Cybertimes,
Sept. 8, 1999.
Rakes, Glenda C. et al. "An
Analysis of Instructional Technology Use and Constructivist Behaviors
in K-12 Teachers." International Journal of Educational
Technology, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 1999.
Trotter, Andrew. "Preparing
Teachers For the Digital Age." Technology Counts '99. Education
Week, Sept. 23, 1999.
|
