Nuestra Tierra: a University/Public School Technology Integration Project
Analysis of Project Findings
The analysis of the results of this collaborative university/public school study on integrating technology with constructivist and relevant learning opportunities is organized around two themes: 1) what works and assists educators to integrate technology with learning in diverse classrooms, 2) what doesn't work and how these barriers might be overcome.
What Works
As a result of this project we have identified four variables we think are important in integrating technology with teaching. These success factors are: 1) sustained professional development; 2) a constructivist and community-based multimedia learning model; 3) collaboration with higher education and community resources; and 4) technical support at the classroom level. Each of these factors are discussed in terns of the research findings.
Sustained Professional Development
The professional development model which developed during this grant is aligned with what the literature suggests about effective professional development (OTA report, 1995; Norton, and Gonzales, 1997, RETA study).
Teachers must have continuous support as they begin to integrate technology into their teaching. They must be taught how to use the equipment they have in their schools, using content they are responsible for teaching; and provided with just-in-time professional development as close to their classrooms and schools as possible. Teacher interviews, surveys and observation indicated that teachers moved during this project from anxiety about the use of technology to confident leadership. The professional development approach used in this project, in which university staff and classroom teachers collaborated to integrate technology tools with contructivist learning, and in which, they worked side-by-side in classrooms was extremely effectively in improving teachers' abilities to use technology for student learning.
The teachers-teaching- teachers model is also an important aspect of this project and has been shown to be successful in other studies as well (Norton & Gonzales, 1997, RETA study). In fact, "everyone teaching and everyone learning" is one of the themes that emerged, not only for teachers but also for students, administrators, university faculty and staff, as well as parents and community volunteers in this study. Students learned to tutor other students and even help teachers with technology-based teaching. In an elementary multi-age classroom, older and more experienced students served as "techno-pros" for students new to technology, known as "techno-pals". Everyone in this classroom had a partner with whom to solve problems using technology. Every school developed some form of a student-mentoring-student program, either in a classroom, across different classes and grade levels, or on a school-wide tutoring basis. Students also helped maintain the computers and networks, especially at the middle and high school level. As they did so, they took more responsibility for the equipment and software. A system of signed contracts by students and parents regarding responsible use of the Internet was also successful. According to our records, only two students lost their computer privileges during the period of this project as result of irresponsible behavior.
We also discovered that while instructional models for technology integration are an essential part of a successful project, technology that works is also essential. The extent of the technical problems experienced during this study, such as computers that locked up, lost data, and dead Internet connections, had not been anticipated by the project coordinators. Technical problems interfered with instruction as much as inappropriate instruction and problems with classroom management had kept teachers from utilizing technology well. Teachers must be supported in learning to manage their own technology as much as possible through technical skills workshops, mentoring, and school communication structures which make it easier than it currently is in most schools to get technical assistance. The district's curriculum and technology coordinator provided preventive maintenance workshops to teachers during the second year. This lessened their dependence on district technical assistants, who, as a result of overload, could take two or more weeks to get to a school.
A Constructivist and Community-based Multimedia Learning Model
At the beginning of this paper the questions were asked: "What would happen if technology were used as a constructivist tool rather than an electronic workbook?" and, "What would happen if the content taught were meaningful to the student ?"
The constructivist approach to integrating technology in the classroom utilizing relevant and meaningful content was remarkably successful - far more than we had anticipated. Students who had not been academically strong prior to this project asked to go to the library, or to stay in and work during recess, in order to make their multimedia reports better or more complete. The opportunity for students to choose an area of interest within different topics was also important. The combination of providing field trips, community resource people, and student choice in learning activities proved powerful. The teachers, through the constructivist use of technology, were able to provide multiple ways for students to learn and to demonstrate their knowledge. The visual, sound and kinesthetic capabilities of the computer proved especially helpful for students who were learning English while also learning content.
The use of computer and communication technologies allowed students to actively create their own meaning when producing multimedia presentations and developing web pages. When given the freedom to create their own products through constructivist learning, either individually or in groups, students felt their work to be valid. By creating these resources, more learning and remembering occurred as students connected what they already knew to new knowledge gained through the construction process. Interestingly enough, this type of instruction was especially effective in second language classrooms in which students are usually provided only with technology-based drill and practice. The role of the teacher became that of facilitator and subject matter specialist as they helped students bridge the gap between what they knew and what they were trying to learn (Brown, 1995; Butler & Clouse, 1994; Dewey, 1938; Vygotsky, 1978; Wiburg, 1994).
All grade levels used a multimedia tool to create stacks about the subjects they were studying. The students determined what was appropriate to place in their stacks. At the high school level, students created projects dealing with the local history and environment. Students at the middle school focused primarily on several interdisciplinary units their teachers had developed, such as the Desert Classroom and Inventions, in which using technology was an integral part of their work. (Available at http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/uswest/) Elementary students often did smaller projects such as surveying and graphing, writing illustrated poetry, or creating planet stacks as they learned these topics in the regular curriculum. The assessments used for these constructivist projects were also non-traditional. Students were asked to become involved in developing rubrics for evaluating projects and then evaluating products class members had created such as a web page, a book, a documentary, or a multimedia report. While completing these projects, students continuously asked questions and discovered answers with the help of teachers and peers. More of their time was used for self-directed learning and self-assessment.
Multimedia group work also provided an instructional environment in which diversity was valued. One student was appreciated for his ability to draw, while another was respected for her research skills. This provides an important alternative to traditional instructional practices which were developed around the notion of students needing to all be at the same level for efficiency to occur. These alternative designs for learning will become increasingly important as the nation's students become increasingly diverse .
Traditional classroom management problems such as how to integrate technology with only a few computers in the classroom were also addressed. The fact that students worked in groups and became comfortable with helping themselves and each other to solve problems lessened the need for the continuously teacher-directed classroom. The project center approach increased student responsibility for using computers while ensuring that computers were now turned on and used all the time. Instruction was restructured so that students moved through a variety of tasks, among them using technology for research and learning. Some tasks were done individually and some required that the student find a partner or a small group to work with. Prior to this two year intervention, we had observed that in many classrooms computers sat turned off and covered with plastic. Without a significant change in classroom management and teacher and student roles, the positive results in this study might not have occurred. This is a particularly important in response to current literature which suggests the continuous prevalence of low technology teaching even in high technology environments (Cuban, 1998).
Collaboration with Higher Education and Community Resources
Among many of the variables which seem to assist schools in integrating technology (Ritchie and Wiburg, 1994) is the presence of an outside group available to support educators in implementing new approaches. The Nuestra Tierra grant provided university faculty, professional staff, college students, and community resources and volunteers, to assist teachers in integrating technology into their classrooms. The quality of the assistance was carefully planned and monitored. The university people were not seen as outside teachers, teaching in the place of the regular teachers. Instead they designed learning activities and taught with teachers and assisted them when they were stuck with a technical or instructional problem.
University staff and teachers also facilitated involvement with local experts and resources. Students toured houses in an old town under the guidance of a pioneer family member, heard traditional ghost stories of New Mexico, camped in the Gilla National Forest, and listened to rangers describe the environment and history of a local park. They used digital cameras and took notes to document their leaning and later shared local history with others through electronic resources. Enduring relationships were developed between teachers and museums, parks, and university faculty and students. Teachers expressed feeling more comfortable approaching the university for help. Nine of the eleven teacher leaders from the first -year schools have taken university classes or enrolled in the graduate program in learning technologies. All of the data sources, from the high rating given university collaboration by project participants to the teacher interviews, support the finding that there was a strong and effective collaboration between K-12 schools, higher education, and community resources.
Technical Support at the Classroom Level
Traditionally, technology organizations in school districts were founded to assist in information management needs related primarily to administration. Mainframe computers, such as the AS 400 in the district, were used to keep track of student enrollment data and school data needed to manage the instructional process. The technology director and staff were required to know programming and data management and processing. They were not expected, nor was it desirable, for them to know anything about technology use for learning. As the early computer-assisted learning systems were adopted by the schools, technology administrators were again primarily concerned with the computer's management of instruction. Vendors were not without fault in convincing administrators that the computer could improve student learning without the central involvement of teachers. If the computers were then used for instruction it was only in a technology-directed rather than teacher-directed manner. Students were given material, tested periodically, and then passed on or asked to repeat lessons through the computer-management system.
Researchers who have studied educational technology and learning now know that the most powerful uses of technology are those which allow the computer to be used as creative and communicative tools ( Norton & Wiburg, 1998) rather than as a teaching machine. This approach requires that teachers and their students, rather than machines, become the center of technology integration in classrooms. Effective integration of technology with teaching also requires more professional development than had previously been thought necessary. This problem will not go away, but will grow as information explodes and educators and students have an increased need to critically evaluate and manage electronic resources. Teachers must learn how to use computers to create class newsletters, books, and web pages; guide student research, use databases and spreadsheets for data manipulation and communication, and facilitate student use of simulations and problem-solving software. The old technology management paradigm which required top-down control may still be useful in banks and businesses, but is no longer viable in electronic learning environments. If teachers are not provided with control of their own systems and hard drives, they will not be able to tap the power of technology for deep learning.
All of this will require a great deal of relearning on the part of teachers, school administrators and technology administrators, and it will not be easy. However, to continue to use the computer only as an electronic workbook may be worse than not using it at all, and certainly much more expensive than just giving students flash cards and letting them help each other with drill and practice problems. The results of this study in terms of teacher and student growth argue that assisting teachers to use technology in constructivist ways is worth the effort.
What Doesn't Work
Most of what doesn't work in technology integration is the flip side of what does work as presented above. For example, short workshops with exposure to technical skills the teachers can't apply in their classrooms are ineffective. However, two problem areas are worth highlighting since these are deep-rooted and serious problems that will require significant restructuring of the educational enterprise to overcome. These involve the limited time available to teachers for planning, collaboration, and developing learning activities and the way in which public school systems are organized into hierarchical and competitive departments and roles.
A Culture Which Limits Collaboration
Perhaps the reason teachers don't have telephones in their classrooms is that they are still viewed from an industrial age perspective as workers who are there only to follow what the curriculum guide tells them to do. Factory workers in the traditional assembly line didn't need telephones or time to plan with fellow workers. Administrators also exist in a school structure which does not support collaboration. In fact, they may work in departments that are forced to compete with each other for limited resources and approval. Nor do they have time or models which allow them to collaborate with other administrators and teachers to solve learning, rather than management problems. There have been no rewards for designing solutions which cross departmental or management lines.
Our schools were designed for an industrial age in which a standardized curriculum delivered with efficiency and competition served well. This industrial age world was completely different from the Twenty-first century into which our students will graduate. The information-intensive world our students will enter is one in which problem-solving, creative thinking, and, most of all, collaboration, will be required. The mismatch between school and work will only increase unless there is a rethinking of the organization of schooling. Issues of time and collaboration may only be resolved if we look openly and with a flexible view (not a view from the perspective of one's traditional job or position) at a much bigger picture of education in terms of the total learning needs of the students in the community. The teachers in this project, especially at the high school, learned the power of collaboration between themselves as they developed interdisciplinary units and discovered that students learned more if they studied a subject from the point of view of history in one class, of science in another, and of English in still a third. The teachers learned how valuable it was to have a technical expert in a room down the hall and a great learning activities writer next door. Given time and support, they far exceeded our expectations in designing learning opportunities that made a difference for their students.
One wonders what would happen if schools were reorganized so that everyone from the administrator to the janitor had to made decisions on the basis of how it would affect student learning needs? What if schools worked collaboratively with local community services, such as scout and boys and girls club programs, programs for kids in the arts, counseling and health resources, and business service groups, to design educational opportunities for all students from 8-5 every week day. This would certainly be helpful for the low-income children and families with whom we worked in this study.
The Traditional Organization of School Districts
This grant-funded collaborative research project was a tremendous boost to the local schools in getting started with integrating technology into the curriculum. In order to continue the momentum, the district will have to consider how they become partners with teachers in instructional rather than just technical aspects of technology use. In order to meet the need for a new kind of technical assistance, there will have to be change. Unfortunately, during this grant we may have unintentionally stepped on the toes of those administrators in charge of central office technology functions. Professional development opportunities must be created for administrators, principals, and technical experts on how technology can be used to enhance learning as well as for teachers. District administrators have been courted by plug-in, drill and practical systems which were described as virtually "teacher-proof". They have had very little opportunity to learn about constructivist learning using technology. As administrators are given the opportunity to learn about the potential power of technology for student-centered and project-based learning, there is likely to be stronger support for technology integration.
Conclusion
This project demonstrated that teachers, when supported with technical and instructional assistance as close as possible to their teaching, can become powerful change agents for learning for all students. At the same time, powerful barriers to teacher and student-centered technology uses were discovered during this study. These barriers revolved around nothing less than the culture and organization of public schooling. The empowerment of teachers and schools to control technology for their own teaching and learning created a challenge for those who have traditionally been responsible for maintaining technology facilities and controlling instructional processes. The use of computers for student-centered, indepth projects requires a new pedagogy, a different kind of technical support and high performance computers and networks. It also requires that technocentric administrative decisions be reconsidered in terms of how they relate to teaching and learning -- topics with which some central office technical administrators may be uncomfortable and unfamiliar.
References
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