Mainely Middle
Journal of the Maine Association for Middle
Level Education
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2001/2002 |
Beyond Content Delivery: Instructional Designs for Technology• Maine's Governor Angus King surprised the country in 2000 when he announced that he wanted to place $50 million in a trust to fund giving every seventh grader in the state a laptop computer. Schools all over the country have computers sitting in classrooms, unused or under utilized. Why aren't competent teachers making better use of them? Sometimes it is hard to imagine, with computers apparently everywhere, that the common, household computer is only about 15 years old. Mosaic and Netscape, two of the first web browsers, came out in the mid 1990s. In Maine, the PUC settlement, offering to bring the Internet to every school and public library in the state, came only a year or two later. Within this context, it's not hard to imagine the answer to the previous question: The teachers, whose classrooms have those computers, didn't have the advantage of growing up with computers and probably started teaching before there was much in the way of training in educational technology. Fortunately, there are also teachers all over the country who are taking on the challenge that technology poses to education. What are they discovering in their classrooms? How can technology help students learn? How can it be integrated into teaching? What resources does technology make available to teachers? What new issues is technology posing to education? This article attempts to explore answers to these questions, and to offer educators resources as they decide how they will use the computers in their classrooms.
What Is Known About Teaching With Technology? According to "Technology in American Schools: Seven Dimensions for Gauging Progress" (Lemke & Coughlin, 1998), while further research studies are needed, emerging trends indicate that under the right conditions technology: • Accelerates, enriches and deepens basic skills. Further, "The Impact of Educational Technology on Student Achievement" (Schacter, 1995) reflects the analysis of more than 700 studies and concludes that students who had access to educational technology showed positive gains in academic achievement. But the document makes clear that to be successful, technology initiatives have to focus on teaching and learning: "One of the enduring difficulties about technology and education is that a lot of people think about the technology first and the education later." (Schacter, 1995, p. 11) Such research reminds us that the classroom activities we select to help our student learn curriculum content are the center of all we do, with or without technology. Computers, the Internet and other technologies simply give us more instructional options.
Teaching With Technology As teachers explore how they might use technology to engage students, it is important to keep in mind that there are two general approaches to using computers. Business and industry have long recognized that they can use technology either to automate an existing process or to create a new innovative process. Education, too, can use technology either to automate or to innovate. The "automation" approach to educational computing (sometimes called "Type I") is using computers to mimic the same behaviors and procedures that teachers do without the technology. That would include using technology to create worksheets and keep track of grades, to create PowerPoint presentations instead of using the blackboard overheads, to post coursework and content online, to practice skills or learn new information through educational software, or to have online discussions. Much of our early educational software, for example, was really direct textbook automation - we called it computer-assisted instruction. Later on came computer literacy, the computer-as-a-tool movement, and distance learning - which also repeated the basic practice of schools. Teachers still instruct in the same manner as before the technological innovation, delivering a content-based curriculum. (November, 1990) There may be advantages to these kinds of uses. Students have access to more information through the Internet than through some school libraries. Computer learning systems and educational software can provide direct feedback and can adjust difficulty level based on the student's successes and failures (this is credited with learning gains over simply using worksheets). Handouts and forms created on a word processor are more easily stored or modified than those that are typed. PowerPoint presentations may appeal to students more than notes on the black board. For example, more and more teachers are making use of websites as texts for their classes. MarcoPolo (http://marcopolo.worldcom.com/) is a foundation that provides no-cost, standards-based Internet content for the K-12 teachers and their classrooms, developed by the nation's content experts. Online resources include panel-reviewed links to top sites in many disciplines, professionally developed lesson plans, classroom activities, and materials to help with daily classroom planning, and powerful search engines. All this with no advertising! The MarcoPolo search engine (http://www.marcopolosearch.org/) provides access to all of the educational resources created by the MarcoPolo partners plus partner reviewed materials. Automation, ease of access, ease of modification, and looking good: these are real advantages of Type I computing. There are lots of times that it is appropriate to simply automate conventional practices. The problem, however, is that educational technologists do not generally feel that Type I applications alone are a cost-effective use of technology. For example, according to Maddux, Johnson, and Willis (2001, p. 96) Type I applications by themselves, no matter how well applied, cannot justify educational computing to media critics, other educators, school board members, legislators, or the public at large. Type I uses are insufficient because educational computing is too expensive to devote entirely to relatively trivial problems. In some places, Type I computing is equated with the educational use of technology and it is not surprising that it has met with a great deal of criticism. Read "The Computer Delusion" (Oppenheimer, 1997) to see this kind of computing heavily criticized. Business and industry have found the same to be true of their use of technology: automation does not provide sufficient return on their investment. The real gains that come from new technologies (in education, or in other fields) are not from Type I applications, but from Type II applications: innovation. Within education, Type II applications make available new and better ways of educating students; innovation in teaching and learning. The challenge to us is to find those approaches. Most professionals and blue-collar workers alike need higher order-thinking skills because of technology implementation. Technology usually creates work environments that challenge professionals to use higher, not lower, levels of thinking This is true for banking, insurance, automotive, paper, electronics, and a host of other major industries. It can also be true for education if we, as teachers, ask ourselves what can be done with this technology to help children make powerful gains in learning. (November, 1990) Sometimes innovative uses of technology emerge as unforeseen benefits of automating other processes. E-mail not only simplifies communication with others, but it can put students in direct contact with experts, authors, and others who can share their experience and knowledge. Word processing does more than allow students to use fonts, type styles, and other layout tools to make their writing more attractive. Word processors allow easy revision and editing without having to completely redo a paper. In fact, students who do most of their writing with word processors are more likely to revise their work, even when they are writing a paper by hand. More often, however, Type II uses of educational technology involve empowering students to do work they could not do before (or do as easily). Innovation often involves looking beyond how teachers can use technology for their teaching, to how students can use technology for their learning. There is often a focus on the process of learning content, not just how to make content available to students. Here we'll explore four instructional designs that have emerged within Type II computing: • Making Media & Project-Based Learning
Making Media & Project-Based Learning Students love to show what they have learned through the creation of projects. The idea of teachers involving students in creating dioramas, posters, displays, models, and other projects is not new. What is new is the ways that students can create with media using computers. With fonts, styles, and layout tools, even text becomes a visual medium. But students aren't limited to text-based projects such as newsletters and brochures. Using programs like HyperStudio (http://www.hyperstudio.com/), KidPix, or PowerPoint students have powerful multimedia tools at their disposal, allowing them to craft informative projects using sounds, images, and animations, as well as, text. By creating informative web pages, students can expand the audience for their work from the teacher and their classmates to the entire world! Even supposedly high tech ventures such as robotics are being used to engage students. For example, look at LEGO Dacta's Technic Control Lab and Mindstorms Robotics Labs, or at the KISS Institute's hands-on program in robotics, Botball (http://www.kipr.org/botball/), which is trying to stimulate interest in math and science. Teachers looking for ideas and help with technology-based projects should check out California's Project-Based Learning with Multimedia Project (http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/) with its extensive list of resources and examples. Especially read the "Project Overview" (http://santacruz.k12.presedia.com/p94004159/flash/), and "Why Do Project Based Learning?" (http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/PBLGuide/WhyPBL.html). Another medium supposedly too complex for students is movie-making. But like the Brownie brought photography to the common person, so, too, programs like iMovie (http://www.apple.com/imovie/) bring digital movie making to the common person. According to Apple Computer, storytelling is the most familiar way that we communicate to one another. By writing, editing, and producing desktop movies (http://www.apple.com/education/k12/imagine/0203/), students grow their problem solving and critical thinking skills that will come in handy in the real world. Tools like iMovie help students visualize and create reports and presentations that help them master not only the subject matter, but also collaboration and teamwork. Movie making is the curriculum at The Educational Video Center (http://www.evc.org/), an alternative high school in New York City. They engage students in learning core content by involving students in researching, writing, and producing documentaries about issues of importance to themselves. It has proven to be very successful even though their clientele are students that did not seem to be motivated in school. Many teachers turn to rubrics as a way to assess learning and grade student projects. There is an enormous list of rubrics for almost any kind of project on the Ontario Teacher's Staff Room web site (http://www.odyssey.on.ca/~elaine.coxon/rubrics.htm), and (http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/) has rubric generators for almost any subject .
Examples of Student Projects: • 7th & 8th Grade students on the Cedar Team at Skowhegan Area Middle School (Skowhegan, Maine) complete quite a few technology-based projects, including an extensive web site about their home town (http://www.msad54.k12.me.us/MSAD54Pages/SAMS/cedarsite/index.htm).
WebQuests & Problem-Based Learning Good teachers know that students can be motivated and engaged by a compelling problem. WebQuests contextualize learning (and make it engaging) by giving students a situation, a role, and a task. WebQuests are web pages presenting problems for students to solve, using Internet-based resources. They include an introduction to the problem, a description of the task students are to complete, and links to resources to help students complete the task. WebQuests are well structured and, because helpful websites have already been linked, students easily stay focused on the task. Learn all you want to know about WebQuests from The WebQuest Page at San Diego State University, the origin of WebQuests (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/webquest.html), or by visiting Tom March's WebQuests and More site (http:/www.ozline.com/learning/index.htm). There already exist lots of WebQuests that you can use with your students right now. The WebQuest Page has numerous examples, listed by grade level. Here are examples of Middle Level (grades 6-8) WebQuests (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/6-8matrix.html). The Maine State Department of Education maintains a WebQuest Page, as well (http://www.state.me.us/education/technology/webquests/webquest1.html). If you know how to make simple web pages (text, graphics, & links), or have a friend, student, or colleague who does, then you can make your own WebQuests. All you need to do is learn about the six parts to a WebQuest, think of a compelling problem for your students to solve (a situation, role for the student, and a task to perform), and locate websites that will help your students find a solution. Do this WebQuest to learn about creating WebQuests (http://www.geocities.com/techlabloms/Quest.htm). The task is the single most important part of a WebQuest. It supplies a goal and focus for students. "A Taxonomy of WebQuest Tasks" outlines a variety of tasks (with wonderful examples) that you might use as the structure of your WebQuest (http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/taskonomy.html). It's also a terrific resource for thinking about structuring class projects and problems even when you aren't going to be using technology.
On-line Research The Internet opens new opportunities for students to look up information. But with new opportunities come new challenges. What works and what doesn't? How can students be sure that what they read on the web is reliable? How can teachers design research activities that make good use of the web? The resources below will help answer these questions. Online and Electronic Research by Middle School Students. This is a review of professional articles, reports, and doctoral dissertations which highlights "best practice" instructional constructs that combine technology with opportunities for middle school students to conduct research (http://www.mff.org/publications/publications.taf?page=293). The Module Maker will show you how to design Online Research Projects that will challenge students to make up their own minds while supplying them with rich information to support such decisions (http://questioning.org/module/module.html). What's the difference between a Search Engine and a Directory? - An informational web-based slide show by Kathy Schrock (http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/mystery/mystery1.html). Is it true, just because it's on the web? Students can't believe everything they read on the web. The Web &emdash; Teaching Zack to Think (http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/med/class/teamed2/zack.html), an activity, based on an article by Alan November, exploring strategies teachers can teach students to evaluate the resources they decide to use. The original version of the article is available at http://www.anovember.com/articles/zack.html. Becoming good consumers of information becomes vital in an environment where anyone can publish anything, good or bad. Do this webquest, Making Sense of the Tangled Web (http://www.libsci.sc.edu/dan/classes/761/webquests/amanda/intro.htm), on evaluating information from the web. Web Site Authenticity (http://www.mlc-wels.edu/grunwald/website.htm) is another site with activities to explore the reliability of information on the web. Evaluating Web Sites (http://www.brophyprep.org/links/evaluating.htm) has a collection of articles on the topic. One of the best resources for teaching students how evaluate information is The Quality Information Checklist (http://www.quick.org.uk/menu.htm). It has a great list of questions for students to use when thinking about the value of information found on the web.
Virtual Experiences Students are experiential learners. Given the chance, teachers take their students out of the classroom to visit lakes, rivers and rock formations, museums and zoos, historical sites and archeological digs. The Internet offers classrooms additional possibilities for similar possibilities, including Virtual Field Trips and Museums, and Web Cams.
Can't take the students there in person? Then visit it over the web! Virtual field trips bring museum exhibits and famous places into the classroom. Below is a sampling. Schools and museums are finding lively synergy as they collaborate to make learning happen in new ways. Museum - School Connections in the Digital Age (http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/200103/museum.html) explains how with plenty of examples for each discipline. Can't take the students out of their home town? Then expand their world over the Internet with Virtual Field Trips (http://www.field-trips.org/). MUSÉE (http://www.musee-online.org/) is an interactive directory to museums' collections including art, science, history, zoos, archaeology and aquariums, etc. providing links to their educational, entertainment, archive and shopping features. As Ben Franklin said, "The doors of wisdom are never shut." This is true at the Franklin Institute (http://www.fi.edu/) in Philadelphia, a premiere science museum. They have numerous online exhibits for students to experience. Two other great online museums are Honolulu Community College's Dinosaur Exhibit (http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/dinos/dinos.1.html) and San Francisco's famous hands on museum, the Exploratorium (http://www.exploratorium.edu/).
Web Cams allow students to see live images from all over the world (and beyond!). Below is a good sampling: • A nice collection: http://www.mathtrainer.com/global/c-webcams.htm
Exemplary Instructional Uses of Technology Want to learn more about what real teachers are doing in their classrooms with technology? Visit these sites: • Maine's own SEED Project (Spreading Educator to Educator Developments) helps outstanding educators share their technology-based lessons, units, and activities with other educators (http://www.mainecenter.org/seed/).
Resources Lemke, C. & Coughlin, E. C. (1998). Technology in American Schools: Seven Dimensions for Gauging Progress. A Policymaker's Guide. The Milken Exchange on Educational Technology, (Available at http://www.mff.org/publicationspublications.taf?page=158). Maddux, C., Johnson, D., and Willis, J. (2001). Educational Computing: Learning with Tomorrow's Technologies. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn Bacon, 2001. November, A. (1990). "Moving Beyond Automation." (available at http://www.anovember.com/articles/automation.html). Oppenheimer, T. (1997). "The Computer Delusion." Atlantic Monthly. July (available at http://www2.theAtlantic.com/issues/97jul/computer.htm). Schacter, J. (1995). The Impact of Educational Technology on Student Achievement. The Milken Exchange on Educational Technology, (Available at http://www.mff.org/publications/publications.taf?page=161).
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