TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

MAROBA M. ZOELLER

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS

AUGUST 5, 2000

HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY AFFECT SCHOOLS?

• 3 CENTRAL QUESTIONS POSED BY KERR (1996):

• 1. The overall level of adoption and acceptance of technology into schools

• 2. The impact of technology on specific patterns of organization within individual classrooms and schools

• 3. Organizational changes under conditions of technological change

FACTS ABOUT OVERALL LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY

• Office of Technology Assessment, 1995:

• Approximately 5.8 million computers in use in schools in U. S. (1 for every 9 students)

• In 1992, average high school: 54 computers

• “ “ average elmentary: 25

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

• ENGLAND , WALES & NORTHERN IRELAND:

• SECONDARY SCHOOLS: 8-10 Microcomputers per school

• Elementary campuses - computers usage varies depending upon the enthusiasm of teachers & administrators

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

• China - School Administrators hold a collective vision for their schools: – Upgrade teacher competencies in technology – Locate quality instructional software– Secure more private funds for instructional

technology

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

• Korea -

• Many problems and difficulties

• School curriculum is not appropriate to the integration of technology

• Focus has been on programming skills and operating knowledge

• Need software beyond tutorial and drill-and-practice

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

• SINGAPORE • Government Intervention: Report of the

Economic Committee in 1996

• Computer to Student Ratio 1:2 with target use of 40% of class time

• $2 Billion for Instructional Technology

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

• SINGAPORE

• Masterplan for IT - Trains 23,000 teachers in 4 dimension framework:

• curriculum & assessment

• learning resources

• teacher development

• physical and technological infrastructure

Falling Through the Net ‘99

• FACTS ABOUT THE GAP IN INTERNET USAGE:

• Gap expanded from 13.5% to 20% in 1999

• 32.4% OF WHITE HOUSEHOLDS

• 11.7% OF BLACK HOUSEHOLDS

• Gap between Hispanic & White - Rose to 19.5% in 1998

Falling Through the Net ‘99

• ISSUES OF ACCESS IN SCHOOLS

• LOWER LEVEL INSTRUCTION

• LOWER SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND MINORITY STUDENTS RELEGATED TO DRILL-AND-PRACTICE AND DEFECTIVE, OUTDATED HARDWARE

Technology Counts

• Education Week - October 1998

• Perspectives on Education Technology

• Impact on Test Scores, Policy perspectives, statistics on how technology is taking hold in public schools

• Archer cites NAEP links 4th & 8th grade scores to computer math learning games and simulations

Cuban(1986) Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use

of Technology Since 1920 • 4 Reasons why Educational Technologies failed

to meet their potential– 1. Teachers lack training & skills – 2. Equipment and media expense – 3. Equipment reliability & dependability – 4. Instructional material does not fit student’s

instructional needs –

Kozma & Croninger (1982)

• 3 Aspects of School Failure that Educational Technology can successfully address:

• 1. Gap between in-school and out of school learning

• 2. Overemphasis on lower order skills

• 3. Low engagement and motivation

David & Roger Johnson (1996)

• Failure of schools to adopt available instructional technologies attributable to 2 factors: – 1. Individual assumption underlying most

hardware and software development– 2. Failure to utilize cooperative learning – “The best way to conduct technology-assisted

instruction is to embed it in cooperative learning.”

Robert Holloway(1996)

• Factors related to frequency with which technology is used in classroom: – 1. Availability of hardware in classroom,

building and district media center – 2. Amount of teacher input into purchase of

hardware and software – 3. Level of administrative encouragement – 4. Amount of training teachers had in use

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• CUBAN (1993) Computers Meet Classroom: Classroom Wins

• “Certain cultural beliefs about what teaching is, how learning occurs, what knowledge is proper in schools, and the teacher-student focus on human rather than machine interaction”

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• Mehan(1985) & Becker (1994b) • Technology teaching teachers appear to be in

schools: • 1. Where there is a strong social network of many

computer using teachers • 2. With a full-time technology coordinator on staff • 3. In a district that provides teachers with formal

staff development . . .

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• 4. That have made long-term commitment to students using word-processing. . In subject matter classrooms

• 5. That have policies ensuring equity of access between boys and girls.

• 6. Where pattern of use extends beyond basic math, language arts, and computer literacy to fine arts, social studies

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• 7. That allocate time at school for teachers to use school computer. . . For their own professional tasks.

• 8. That are faced with additional maintenance

• 9. That need, perhaps most costly of all, smaller class sizes for computer using teachers.