Article written in collaboration by Bonnie Bracey and Arthur J. Galus
As Ted Oppenheimer was researching material for his article, 'The Computer Delusion' in the July 1997 issue of Atlantic Monthly, he took time to interview me. I shared my experiences as a member of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council with him. After years of fighting to get even the most rudimentary technology for teachers, I was so very hopeful that this article would pave the way for more technology adaptation in the classroom. Needless to say, I was quite shocked when I finally read Oppenheimer's words.
What I didn't understand of what I read is Oppenheimer's contention that teachers, administrators, and school children see technology as just a glamorous tool, a toy. Where did Oppenheimer get this idea? It certainly wasn't from a recognized educational authority or a facilitator of educational technology, such as, say, a Chris Dede, a David Thornburg, a Sally Ann Law, a Jenny Grogg, a Marilyn Schlief, a Robert Pondiscio, a Mark Leon, a Larry Anderson - people in the world of education - people who understand the classroom and technology's place in it or who facilitate, observe, the transfer of technology to education from telephones to the many kinds of technology that are component parts of the information highway. ( www.benton.org) Kickstart Report( Under Communications Policies) There was also a video, created by Disney and AT and T with Bill Nye the Science Guy that was designed for the non computer user to understand the use of technology as ladders to learning.
Those classrooms that make up the remainder, the 84% without computers,
raise a bigger question about access to technology. Chris Dede cautions us
that we are dealing with other social issues
* Technology allows individual students to connect to experts and ideas
and to expand content beyond what was previously available.
(Examples: NGS Kidsnetwork units; Globalearn Project; Global School
Network's CyberFair; National Geographic resources such as 'Fabric of
a Nation' Laser Disk, World Picture Atlas, and ZIPZAP MAP; Microsoft's
Encarta; MECC's 'Africa Trail' interactive CD; the Learning Company;
NASA's 'Live From Mars' and 'Live From Antarctica 2'.) Teachers can
be creative and tailor these projects to fit their students needs. If
you don't believe me, ask Dot Perreca at the National Geographic
Society for the video of Kidsnetwork that shows children at work in
the classroom.
* Learning environments extend beyond the walls of the school.
Community members and others not normally associated with student
learning can be included as part of the circle of learning.
Technology allows for greater breadth of study. Using technology,
students can be exposed to a wide range of subjects that enables them
to master ideas and skills necessary to become competent learners.
Throughout a school year a student, with guidance, can cover a wide
breadth of information and begin to see relationships between
seemingly unrelated subjects.
* Technology links curriculum with realistic experiences both inside and
outside the school. Using telecommunications and computer networks,
students can work together in cooperative learning situations to help
solve real problems, tying their education to real-life situations and
giving them invaluable learning experiences.
* Technology CAN promote equity by providing a diverse array of
resources and experiences to those who might not otherwise be able to
afford them. (Examples: WorldFlight/You Can Soar, The Promised Land,
Passports to Knowledge's Antarctica, MayaQuest.) Technology puts vast
amounts of knowledge at students' fingertips. Databases,
telecommunications networks, and satellite transmission systems can
bring much of the world into any school and expand the scope of
knowledge for wider range and greater depth.
* Technology is used to serve all learners, including students at risk
of school failure and the disabled, to reduce the gaps between the
information-rich and information-poor. There are websites and
technologies that assist students who need assistive technology to
learn right in the classroom with the other students.
* Technology CAN be used to adapt to and accommodate different learning
styles through modularized selfpaced, just in time learning and
nonthreatening learning environments. (Examples: Keyboarding
programs, Rainforest Researchers by Tom Snyder- there are terrific
ways within the program to cover the same material using a different
research group, or a skilled technology teacher can differentiate
learning using a combination of resources that are based on the
Rainforests - rainforest posters, books, centers for individualized
inquiry, art materials and projects, templates for creative writing
and purposeful writing, as well as hands on lessons that may involve
the whole class, exercises in geography, use of GIS, and web sites
that have information and resources and access to scientists that NO
classroom has, plus music. In addition there are CUSEEME meetings, and
technology exchanges that the teachers can facilitate using a number
of technologies. Information is more available to the students;
teachers assume responsibility for helping them better organize it and
look at it in alternative ways.)
* Technology facilitates teacher and parental contact as well.
Technology provides teachers with a way to keep student records,
organize lessons, and communicate with other teachers, parents or
facilitators to share ideas and information. Technology compels that
curriculum be more flexible. Technology provides teachers a tool to
create their own teaching materials, to go beyond required textbooks
and use alternate resources, and to reorganize information in new
ways. A central focus is placed on students and individual learning
styles, and technology is used for self-directed, integrated,
collaborative and distance learning. Students can also manipulate and
reorder what they learn, giving them greater control over their
learning.
* Teachers can find wonderful opportunities available on line. Grants,
expeditions, resources, NCREL, ENC, Ask Eric, NASA... should I go on
here?
* Passive learning or pretend sitting which acts like passive learning
is verboten. When technology is used as described above, students
assume increased responsibility for their own learning and the
learning of others. Much of the technology available for drill and
practice already has built-in assessment mechanisms that let both
students and teachers know how students are progressing. More creative
uses of technology which challenge students to organize, analyze and
synthesize information will require new means of assessment.
* Technology can have assessment built in for IMMEDIATE feedback, and
correction. Students may move as quickly as they can using computers
to assist them with basic instruction, or progress more slowly to use
technologies to explore a topic in depth. In addition, with compelling
software, students can compose their own electronic presentation or
multimedia programs to share what they have learned. A different
thinking process is created. They have to transform the knowledge
that they have learned into a form that will make sense to others. It
requires a different level of thinking.
* Technology can increase the self motivation of learners. I used to be
a teacher of the gifted prior to the use of technology. (Science'83 -
Article titled 'Schooling the Gifted') When technology entered my
life I learned more about personalizing education, increased the depth
of my own knowledge because of the resources available to me, and was
able to step back from the lecture mode and use many other types of
delivery. (My first personal computer was won for me by a student who
had been erroneously placed in special education. He came in second
in a national contest in which he wrote a futuristic essay on Acid
Rain!) Students are given increased responsibility for their own
learning and the learning of others. Much of the technology available
for drill and practice already has built-in assessment mechanisms that
let both students and teachers know how students are progressing.
More creative uses of technology which incorporate higher-order
thinking skills challenge students to organize, analyze and synthesize
information. Such technology will require new means of assessment.
* Technology can promote collaborative learning. As more and more
technology is introduced, guiding students through a wider range of
knowledge is made easier. You ought to talk to Governor Gaston
Caperton of West Virginia who says "We used to fight with Mississippi
for the last place, but now we are 18th overall in the nationwide
rankings for reading, writing, math, and computer skills." (The Aspen
Report, 'Creating a Learning Society'.) And don't look for Mississippi
to be in last place. With the use of grant materials, creative projects, and
great thinkings and innovators in education last place is left to another
state.
Bonnie Bracey
Arthur J. Galus
(The points about technology are based on the Aspen Report, 'Creating a
Learning Society: What Technology Can Do to Enhance Learning'.
TAKE THIS EXAMPLE.. TEACHERS AS PATHFINDERS
Imagine the joy, the wonder of the children as the Mars Pathfinder landed,
especially the joy of children who had been participating in classrooms where
the Challenger Center
Mars City Alpha, or Marsville was a part of their curriculum.
Many of those classrooms prior to the landing , had their own Mars Rover(
Planetary Society Home Page) and had virtually done planetary exploration
using technology, but learning was the base. There were classrooms that used
Passports to Knowledge ( Mars) satellite transmission , computers, and
project based materials to understand Mars. But there are individual teachers
who have enhanced their knowledge through online learning from NASA, and
other science/planetary resources. Surely this is an improvement
in teacher professional sharing and learning.
WHAT A TOOL!
Computers are tremendous tools in the classroom. Critics contend that
little real research exists to bolster this claim, but every classroom
teacher who has seen the interaction between students and machines has
witnessed dramatic changes in student behavior; changes that increase on-
task time, that improve retention, and that leave students more ready for
next level in learning. Currently institutions, like Boise State
University and its Educational Technology Outreach Program, are conducting
studies that will provide the missing quantitative data to answer
technology's critics. I am not speaking of technology as cure-all. I am
speaking of technology as a tool that serves both the teacher and the
learner.
THE WAYS IN WHICH TECHNOLOGY CAN ENHANCE THE TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
* Technology can enhance discovery through simulation and exploration of
new concepts. (Examples: Mars Rover, Jason Aquanauts) Knowledge is
applied in purposeful activities with students contributing to their
community and developing global understanding. Students gain an
awareness that their education has relevance and value to their
society. Technology puts vast amounts of knowledge at students'
fingertips. Data bases on every subject imaginable are made available
for study in all curriculum areas. Encyclopedias and complete
collections of literary works on compact disk and telecommunication
satellite links expand the walls of classrooms out into the world.
Many teachers have VERY limited access to currently published
materials.
TECHNOLOGY IS A TEACHER' S AIDE
- It facilitates administrative tasks.
Are we supposed to still be writing report cards and keeping records
by hand? Look at this. Need information on any topic in education?
"AskERIC" is a personalized Internet-based service providing
information to teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators,
parents, and others throughout the U.S. and around the world. It
began as a project of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information &
Technology at Syracuse University (New York). Today, it encompasses
the resources of the entire ERIC system and beyond. Do you need to
know the latest research on special education, curriculum development,
or other education topic? All you have to do is use your e-mail
account to "AskERIC." You'll receive a personal e-mail response from
one of their network information specialists within two business days.
They will send you a list of citations that deal with that topic, and
will also refer you to other Internet sources for additional
information. Send your question(s) to: askeric@ericir.syr.edu It's
that easy! Have fun!
The McGuffey Project
888 17th Street, 12th floor
Washington DC 20006
202-429-8744
Fax 202 - 296-2962
Boise State University
Educational Technology Outreach Program
1910 University Drive
Boise, Idaho 83725