What
Is It? How
Can It Be Implemented in Education?
"Technology Integration" has become a buzzword in education in the last couple of years. If you ask the typical district administrator or teacher what technology integration means, you will probably get a different response from each person you ask. Although technology integration is talked about a lot in education, very few educators have a clear vision or philosophy of what technology integration is all about. Secondly, if you ask educators how to integrate technology into the curriculum, very few educators know how to go about it in a meaningful and purposeful way.
To begin, educators need to have a clear vision of what is meant by technology integration. The United States Department of Education's definition is:
- "Technological literacy is defined as computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance."
What is interesting to realize when one looks at this definition is that technology is only a tool to improve education. In the past too many educators have felt that technology was a separate subject, such as Science, that had to be taught. Technological skills need to be taught, but the power comes in when these skills are taught in an integrative way, when they improve the learning process.
So how can educators integrate technology into their curriculum in a meaningful and purposeful way? It does not take a vast amount of effort to integrate technology as long as educators remember that technology should only be used to improve or enhance the curriculum. For example, one of the Language Arts' standards in my school district requires that students learn how to write poetry. I have taught a Poetry Unit for over ten years but this past year, I integrated technology into the unit. The following is an outline of how I integrated technology into my poetry curriculum.
1. Expose students to all kinds of poetry using big books, small books, tapes and poetry on the Internet. The teacher can read the poems to the students and/or the students can read poems out loud in-group or silently to themselves.
2. Discuss the different forms of poetry...limerick, haiku, ballad, cinquain, couplets, etc. Have students find different types of poetry by researching poetry books and poems on the Internet.
3. Visit the Jack Prelutsky or Karla Kuskin Site, Writing with Writers, in Scholastic.
4. Have the students follow the poetry writing agenda in the Jack Prelutsky or Karla Kuskin Site.
5. Have students start writing poetry in their writing journals or on the computer using a word processing program, such as, AppleWorks Word Processing or Microsoft Word.
6. After the students have created a few poems, let them choose their favorite poem and start the revising process in-group. Students that used the computer to compose their poems can use the Edit Tools for revision.
7. After the student has revised their poem, let them write the final copy out by hand or type it on the computer.
8. Have the students submit their poems to the Jack Prelutsky or Karla Kuskin Site to receive an autographed certificate from the authors and to get their poem published online.
9. As a culminating activity the students can create a Poetry Book of all the poems the class has created. The book can be typed and illustrated on the computer using a word processing/drawing program, such as, AppleWorks or it can be turned into a multimedia presentation using HyperStudio or PowerPoint.
10. When the Poetry Book or multimedia presentation is completed, the students can present it to another class or at a faculty meeting.
The outline reflects the way that I usually teach my Poetry Unit. The text typed in red shows where I integrated technology into the unit. As you look at the outline, you will see that I did not make drastic changes to my unit. I used technology to enhance the curriculum not to replace it. The best outcome of adding technology to this curriculum was the enthusiasm and motivation my students showed when we did this unit. In fact, when I first started the unit and told my students that we were going to study and write poetry, one of my students blurted out that he hated poetry. After going to the Internet and using the Jack Prelutsky Poetry Site in Scholastic Network he created a poem about how much he loved poetry. His distaste for poetry changed by incorporating a new element to the poetry curriculum…technology.
See
the newest version of this unit redesigned as a
Webquest.
Before technology integration can take place school districts need to put some components into place. The goals of the National Educational Technology Plan developed by The U.S. Department of Education are a good place to start. The four goals are:
- All teachers will have the training and support they need to help all students learn through computers and through the information superhighway.
- All teachers and students will have modern computers in their classrooms.
- Every classroom will be connected to the information superhighway.
- Effective and engaging software and on-line resources will be an integral part of every school curriculum.
These goals sound simple and succinct, but how can school districts accomplish them? The operative word is money. None of the goals can be accomplished without an infusion of some kind of monetary source. My school district passed a multimillion dollar bond issue to start the process. The school that I work at developed a business partnership with a technology business in our attendance area. There is a lot of grant money available for schools to apply for, including the federally funded E-Rate Grant. Money is getting more and more available for technology in education. It just takes some time and effort to find and access these sources.
Once the funding is in place, the district needs to develop technology goals and standards that embody the vision of what technology should become in education, a tool to improve curriculum. These goals and standards need to be in place before anything is actually purchased. Too many districts go through the acquisition stage before technology goals and standards are developed. If equipment is purchased without being aligned to the needs of the curriculum, the equipment stands a good chance of not being utilized. Educators need to have a purpose for using technology not because it is placed in their classroom.
Information on Technology Standards provided by Dr. Alice Christie
The next step that needs to take place is exactly what Goal 1 is all about…training and support for all teachers. This is probably the most neglected area when districts decide to integrate technology into the curriculum. The technology is usually dumped into classrooms without any training and support for the teachers on how to use it. Administrators think that teachers will automatically figure out how to use the hardware and software. Of course, this philosophy causes a lot of frustration for the teachers to the point, that in some cases, teachers are totally turned off to technology. Training needs to happen right away and in a format that is conducive to being a support to teachers. Some of the technology classes that my district offered a few years ago, were taught by 'tech heads' that talked above the participants' competency level and progressed so quickly that most of the classes were extremely frustrating and a big waste of time. People that train teachers, should have experience as educators and know how to monitor and adjust so that they are meeting the needs of all the members of the class. Administrators need to make teacher training and support their number one priority if they want technology integration to succeed. One way to accomplish this is to have a technology staff development person on each campus that would guide and support the staff's growth in technology. District classes that show educators how to integrate technology into curriculum would also be very important. The district classes need to go beyond just teaching software applications and incorporate integration into curriculum in the classes. Beyond training, comes the notion that educators need to be supported in this new quest.
Another way to be a support for teachers is to have a Technology Committee on each school campus. The Technology Committee should be composed of representatives of all grade levels and special subject areas on a campus and a school administrator. The committee should have defined goals that are in alignment with the district goals. The main purpose of a Technology Committee should be to find ways to support teachers in their quest for ideas to integrate technology into the curriculum. As long as all the members of the committee have this vision, the committee will become an integral part of teacher support.
Technology integration into educational curriculum can be an exciting and informative adventure as long as educators have the motivation to make changes in educational practices. This motivation needs to by guided by a clear vision and philosophy for making these reforms in education. Most importantly, educators need the support of the administrators and parents in the community to affect change. Together we can prepare out students for the 21st Century, which is right around the corner.
The following is a compilation of many Internet sites that contain many articles that are very helpful in understanding the whole picture of technology integration and how to go about integrating technology into the curriculum.
The following articles focus on what technology integration is all about and what needs to happen to prepare for technology integration.
Constructivism,
Technology, and the Future of Classroom Learning
By: Erik F. Strommen
How do we educate the "new child," raised in a world of instant information, where interactive technologies have led them to believe they can act on the world with the press of a button? Not by simply thinking up clever ways to use computers in traditional courses. Such exercises relegate technology to a secondary, supplemental role that fails to capitalize on its most potent strengths. What is needed is a guiding philosophy that suggests principled changes in the curriculum, and effective uses of technology as part of these changes. We think that this philosophy must be constructivism, a theory of cognitive growth and learning that has gained many adherents in recent years (c.f. Forman & Pufall, 1988; Newman, Griffin, and Cole, 1989; Piaget, 1973; Resnick, 1989;Vygotsky, 1978).
Interpersonal
Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st
Century
ISSN: 1064-4326
January, 1995
Volume 3, Number 1, pp. 67-81
This article addresses the questions: What support do teachers need when learning to use information technology in the classroom? What is the role of gender equity in the integration of technology and what is the best way to provide teachers with supportive in-service training?
District
Technology Planning for All Students: Helping to Meet the IDEA '97
Mandate
School districts today are faced with multiple needs generated by standards-based reform, the implementation of technology, and the mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Through the collaboration of general and special education in its technology planning, Concord, New Hampshire has worked to align those efforts.
Developing
a School or District Technology Plan
An article from the North Central Regional Laboratory that details the steps that need to be taken to develop a technology plan for schools and/ or districts.
What
Technology Can Do for Education
By: Robert Tinker
The most useful educational perspective on information technologies is to see them primarily as tools that help students accomplish more. The tool role is of primary importance, because it extends the capacity of students to undertake investigations, to attack computational problems, to communicate, and to access information resources. Secondarily, information technologies can be used for interesting simulations,
which students can learn about through exploration and interaction.
Dr.
Alice Christie's List of Educational Technology Plans and
Resources for Tech Plans
Dr. Christie has listed many references for resources on technology plans for education.
Wired
schools: It takes a village
By Courtney Macavinta
This article is about the process that two diverse schools in California went about integrating technology into their schools
Now
That Schools Have technology, It's Time to Let the Technology
Transform Schooling
By Howard D. Mehlinger
American education lacks powerful visions of the future. Most school reformers base their visions on successful schools today or in the past. While lecturing others on what schools of the future should be, they seem to be blind to the possibilities of all that is around them.
Connecting
School Science and Mathematics
By: Donna F. Berlin and Arthur L. White
The integration of school science and mathematics has received much attention in current education reform documents as a means for improving student performance and understanding and for developing realistic and positive attitudes and perceptions related to science and mathematics. A plethora of terms can be found in the literature to refer to "integration," including connections, cooperation, coordination, correlated, cross-disciplinary, fused, interactions, interdependent, interdisciplinary, interrelated, linked, multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and unified (Berlin 1991). Throughout the literature, there is a general sense that integration is a "good" thing. However, very little has been reported that explicitly describes what it means to integrate science and mathematics, and even less research has been done to explore its benefits or detriments (Berlin 1991). All this points to the critical need to develop a common language through the elaboration of a model for the integration of school science and mathematics.
Technology
and the New Professional Teacher
Preparing for the 21st Century Classroom (1997)
This report is the culmination of a year of deliberations by NCATE's Task Force on Technology and Teacher Education. NCATE commissioned the task force to help guide the development and implementation of technology expectations for teacher candidates and for accredited schools of education, and to guide the organization's use of technology in the accreditation process.
Who
Creates Curriculum? New Roles for Teachers
Michele Pahl Monson and Robert J. Monson
A model for curriculum inquiry can help districts and teachers decide which decisions to make collectively and which to leave to individual choice.
Policy
Issues in Using Technology for Engaged Learning
This article identifies several sets of policy issues that affect a school's ability to use technology for engaged learning experiences.
This link discusses creating a new model for educators with technology as the key element.
Integrated
Curriculum for Restructuring Public Education
Educators are beginning to recognize and accept the fact that public education has to be restructured to provide a curriculum that is universally inclusive, gender-free, flexible, competency-based and outcome-focused.
By: Mark V. Lorson, Joe E. Heimlich, and Sigrid Wagner
Education for a Changing Future, a proposal from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (American Association, 1989), suggests that students need to understand how science, mathematics, and other subjects strongly depend upon one another.
Dr.
Alice Christie's Links to National And State Technology
Standards
Dr. Christie's list of sites to go to for State and National Technology Standards that would be helpful in developing District and/or school technology plans.
An
Interview with Jamie McKenzie: K-12 Technology
Issues
By Emily Buser
Jamie McKenzie has published and spoken extensively on the introduction of new technologies to schools. In recent times he has paid particular attention to information technologies and how they might transform classrooms and schools to support student centered, engaged learning.
Staff
Development Articles by Jamie McKenzie
Dr. McKenzie has done a lot of research on staff development particularly in the field of technology. These are just a few the articles that he has written on the subject. Check out FNO for more ideas.
Research
You Can Use: Staff Development
This article comes from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. It contains pertinent information on how to support educators in their quest for learning the new technologies.
The following articles give specific ideas and resources to help educators begin the process of integrating technology into the curriculum in their classrooms.
School
Renewal Online: One-Stop-Shopping for School
Improvement
By Mark Hawkes
By now, you've no doubt experienced the joys and frustrations of searching for useful information on the Internet. How about a site dedicated to providing meaningful and current information for educators seeking to improve their schools?
Articles
on Using the Internet and Writing
This link contains many articles that give specific information on using the Internet and the writing process.
Use this page to find primary resources, projects, a weekly newsletter, units of study, and a tutorial to help you plan projects and class homepages.
As schools rush to connect to the Information Highway, what are the best ways to employ the Internet in support of the curriculum.
Brave
New World Technology Makes Social Studies Come
Alive
By: Maggie Hill
Social studies teachers in growing numbers are finding that technology helps them approach learning from new directions. And though technology by itself won't resolve the debates over which of the social studies--history, geography, and the social sciences--are most important, it can link those multiple perspectives in a richer, more content-specific way.
Teachers
and Students Tackle New Technologies Side by Side
By Sue Adams
Critics say colleges of education are turning out graduates with little or no preparation in using technology effectively in the classroom, and staff development programs sponsored by school districts tend to leave many teachers confused and/or uninspired. At Indian Hills Elementary School in Topeka, Kan., we've stopped wringing our hands and started working on a solution. As a result, we think we've found a great way for teachers to learn how to use educational technology effectively: alongside their students.
Integrating
Collaborative Learning Across the Curriculum
By Karen D. Wood and Jeanneine P. Jones
In this article we have combined the benefits of collaborative learning with the benefits of cross-curricular integration and have designed a model for integrating collaborative learning across the curriculum.
Using
Technology to Reform Teaching & Learning
This innovative experiment challenges dozens of young people studying in separate locales linked through technology, to work together in a shared learning activity. The project was designed by members of the Maryland Virtual High School of Science and Mathematics (MVHS) and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Teaching
Mathematics with Technology:How Big is a
Million?
By: Janet Parker and Connie Carroll Widmer
The following activities and guidelines suggest ways to use such relative terms to make large numbers more meaningful to students. Calculators or computers are indispensable aids in facilitating this process.
Highlighted here are some Internet sites that provide electronic professional development opportunities. While many relevant organizations and programs have Web sites, there are few that provide professional development online.
First
Graders Using the Internet to Study Birds
Our birds research project began with a summer class, a week of sessions about the Internet. The goal was to produce accessible curriculum using online resources. I decided to focus on birds, a unit I'd done successfully in the past several times. It seemed logical that I'd feel secure doing something familiar while using an unfamiliar resource--the Internet.
Electronic
Elementary Magazine
This is another great resource of interactive Internet projects involving elementary school students.
An online magazine that contains Internet projects for middle school students.
An extensive site that includes several Internet projects for educators.
Dr.
Christie's List of Interactive Internet Projects
Dr. Christie's list includes actual Internet projects and resources for finding Internet projects.
Classroom Connect provides this site for educators free of charge. There are lots of resources for educators including Internet projects.
Global School House has lots of resources for educators and parents that include lesson plans and interactive Internet projects.
WebQuests are a wonderful way to integrate technology across the curriculum. The following links describe what WebQuests are, plus they include quite a few actual WebQuests that educators can use with their curriculum.
Bernie
Dodge's Definition of a WebQuest
Bernie Dodge is one of the foremost educators in the area of WebQuests. Read all about his definition of WebQuests and his blueprint for making one.
By: Bernie Dodge
This site goes through the step-by-step process of building a WebQuest.
This web site has everything you need to know about WebQuests.
Bernie
Dodge's Matrix of WebQuests
By: Bernie Dodge
This site contains many WebQuests that can be used to integrate technology into the curriculum.
By: Carmen L. Gonzales
WebQuests offer an ideal model for teachers who are searching for ways to integrate
By Dr. Alice Christie
Dr. Christie defines what a WebQuest is and discusses the components of a WebQuest.
Dr.
Alice Christie's Matrix of WebQuests
By: Dr. Alice Christie
Students in Dr. Christie's classes have designed the WebQuests that are included in the matrix. All WebQuests can be used to integrate technology into the curriculum.
This is a group of WebQuests from Educational Media and Technology.
WebQuests from Louisiana State University
This is a list of WebQuests created during a teacher's workshop at Macon School District.
WebQuests from the University of New Mexico.
WebQuests
from Spartanburg County
Spartanburg County has several resources about WebQuests plus actual units to use.
Our Lady of Peace School has several interesting WebQuests to access.
This link will take you to several sites that have Internet projects that can be integrated into the curriculum.
Here are some more sites that are quite helpful to educators that want to develop technology-based units and/or lesson plans. Take a look at these sites for some great guidance.
James MacKenzie, editor of "From Now On-The Educational Technology Journal" has developed the Module Maker to assist educators in developing technology infused lessons and units.
This site includes lots of information, resources and samples to help educators create dynamic web pages for their students.
Teachers can use Filamentality to create Web-based learning pages that include the teacher's choice of Internet links and activities focused on achieving a specific goal.