IMPACT OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 2

IMPACT OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Impact Of Educational Technology on Teaching and Learning

Tammi P. Gearhart

Boise State University

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for EdTECH 501

Dr. Dennis Beck

July 28, 2009


Abstract

In reviewing the research on the practices that will make teachers successful in their use of integrating technology, indications are that providing mentors and opportunities for training in how to combine content, pedagogical, and technological knowledge strengthen teachers’ ability to integrate technology seamlessly. Once teachers are adequately prepared, this changes the type and quality of questions students are asking, leading to higher order thinking skills. In equipping teachers and challenging students at a higher level, the classroom environment is transformed in ways that can be measured both qualitatively and quantitatively.


Impact of Educational Technology on Teaching and Learning

Technology integration may make a significant difference in students’ abilities to use higher order thinking skills and dramatically reform the classroom. This may be achieved by combining pedagogical and technical knowledge. This paper will examine research on the following questions:

1.  What are some of the roadblocks to teacher adoption of technology?

2.  What factors go in to making teachers successful as they integrate technology?

3.  What role does technology play in developing higher order thinking skills?

4.  How does technology integration change the classroom environment?

Roadblocks to Teacher Adoption

Throughout the literature that was examined, numerous ideas surfaced as to what were roadblocks in implementing integration. In the older research, infrastructure and equipment were frequently mentioned. Lack of preparedness for pre-service teachers, time constraints, and general frustration were also included. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2000), one of the most frequently mentioned topics was insufficient preparation in how to integrate effectively. In a survey conducted in the United States in 2000 by the National Center for Education Statistics, less than 25 percent of teachers felt adequately prepared to teach their students the use of computers and the Internet. According to another survey by National Teacher Survey, taken in 2005, one third of teachers had not been trained on how to integrate technology into their curriculum (Zhao & Bryan, 2006, p. 53). Strudler and Wetzel (1999; as cited in Brush and Saye, 2009) and Willis, Thompson, and Sadera (1999; as cited in Brush and Saye, 2009)\\ stated that whether it is due to lack of proper training or lack of support that comes in the form of follow-up, teachers are continuing to use technology for low-level functions such as word-processing, drill and practice, games, or computer-based tutorials.

Another significant issue that stands in the way of a teacher’s effective technology integration is the his or her concept on learning. Technology integration dramatically shifts the focus to a constructivist view, taking the classroom from teacher-led to student-centered. Instructors who are not willing to embrace the student-centered shift in their classroom may also be less likely to embrace technology integration. Koç (2005, p. 10) stated the following:

These types of changes emphasize a modification in a teacher’s pedagogical belief system, not simply a change in the tools that are used to facilitate this process (Hasselbring, Barron & Risko, 2000). Change will not occur by simply adding a course or recruiting a new faculty member who understands technology. What is required is a transformation of the culture of teacher education, one in which technology is seen as changing relationships between students and teachers and between learners and knowledge.

The links between constructivism principles and practices involved in using computers and/or technology integration can be seen in the table below:

Constructivism Principle / Technology Integration
Prior knowledge / Drawing on the knowledge of the use of computers at home
“Knowledge is constructed uniquely and individually, in multiple ways, through a variety of tools, resources, and contexts” / Use of a variety of software in which to complete tasks and represent learned information
“Learning is developmental. We make sense of our world by assimilating, accommodating, or rejecting new information.” / The need to constantly test the reliability of information on the Web; developing a broader/global perspective due to broader exposure of cultures and concepts
“Social interaction introduces multiple perspective on learning.” / Collaborative nature of the Internet, social networking sites, and Web 2.0 tools.

(Technology Assistance Program, 1998, p. 2)

Teachers who have not been trained in constructivism learning theory may have an arduous challenge adapting their teaching methods to effective integration because of the close alignment of the two practices.

Success Factors

In addition to the research on roadblocks to teacher integration of technology, studies frequently site practices that may make a teacher successful in moving away from computer use merely for administrative tasks, drill and practice, and into seamless integration of technology. McMillan Culp, Honey, and Mandi (2003, p. 13), cite the recommendation of the eLearning report of the U. S. Department of Education (2000a) and its suggestion of improving technology instruction by supporting teachers’ utilization of technology and improving the preparation of new teachers in the area of technology integration. In addition to offering training, increasing the types of training opportunities was also recommended.

In the 2002-2003 academic year, school districts in Georgia mandated professional development attendance for instruction on integration of technology in the classroom. As part of this instruction, a study was conducted that followed two groups of teachers to see what factors made a difference in the adoption of technology (Zhao & Bryan, 2006)

The results of the study showed that the more successful group was the group that had mentors who worked with them after the professional development. Key to the group’s success were mentors showing them how to work with integration based on state standards and working with them based on their skill level (Zhao & Bryan, 2006).

In addition to establishing mentoring roles, researchers are developing a model known as Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) (Brush & Saye, 2009). The premise is that teachers have both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. This information is organized in a very complex manner, and some of the best teachers are able to successfully bring the two together. (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) Applying this theory to technology integration would mean that teaching technology skills apart from content causes the main focus to be on the technology, and a modest amount on the content. However, when using the TPCK approach, pedagogy and content are brought together and integration happens seamlessly.

(http://tpack.org/)

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) provides a much stronger basis of understanding in terms of how to approach teaching. According to Koehler and Mishra (2006, p. 1027), PCK is:

…concerned with the representation and formulation of concepts, pedagogical techniques, knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn, knowledge of students’ prior knowledge, and theories of epistemology. It also involves knowledge of teaching strategies that incorporate appropriate conceptual representations in order to address learner difficulties and misconceptions and foster meaningful understanding. It also includes knowledge of what the students bring to the learning situation, knowledge that might be either facilitative or dysfunctional for the particular learning task at hand. This knowledge of students includes their strategies, prior conceptions (both ‘‘naı¨ve’’ and instructionally produced), misconceptions that they are likely to have about a particular domain, and potential misapplications of prior knowledge.

Brush and Saye (2009) discuss efforts and strategies they have used with pre-service teachers to help them effectively model the TPCK method. Role-playing, developing online resources, and learning how to utilize social networking sites, are just several of the tools they have used. They have also developed PIHNet (http://www.pihnet.com), an online resource of problem-based historical inquiry activities that has the capability to provide online collaboration between the pre-service teachers and their instructors.

While TPCK may be a strong model for teaching students, the other part of the equation is placing pre-service teachers in technology-rich environments during their professional semesters. Moreover, providing upcoming teachers with mentors who will be able to model technology integration and extending their professional experience long enough to facilitate a wide variety of technology lessons may ensure confidence and integration (Brush & Saye, 2009). It is suggested that continued research in this area would help determine the usefulness of the TPCK model; however, early indicators suggest that the students who use this model are feeling better prepared than those without the TPCK model.

Apart from the research results of the effectiveness of the TPCK model, it is evident that “merely knowing how to use technology is not the same as knowing how to teach with it” (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, p. 1032). As simple as this might seem, the research states that when changes are made in the way teachers teach, changes are made in the way students learn.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

During 2007, schools in Victorian, Australia participated in a study to determine how or if Web 2.0 technology could promote higher order thinking skills (Chitttleborough, G., Jobling, W., Hubber, P., Calnin. G., 2009). While the program provided professional development to help teachers become familiar with Web 2.0 tools, the focus was on developing higher order thinking and problem-solving skills rather than on technology skills.

Case studies for three teachers were presented, and in each study, it was not the technology itself, but rather how it was used that encouraged the higher order thinking skills. Through the use of tools such as video clips, animations, and podcasts, the students began to take ownership of their learning, thinking for themselves, and generating their own definitions. The types of questions that were being asked changed, requiring a deeper level of analysis. As the tools and the approaches to learning changed, so did the students’ thought processes.

Change in the Classroom

The idea that technology could reform the classroom was being discussed in research literature in 1993. In Using Technology to Support Education Reform (United States Department of Education, 1993), the author wrote, “Technology supports exactly the kinds of changes in content, roles, organizational climate, and affect that are at the heart of the reform movement” (Fouts, 2000, p. 9).

If technology is impacting the thinking skills of students, then the classroom as a whole cannot help but be transformed. The table below, from the Apple Classroom of Tomorrow –Today2 (ACOT2) shows the type of reform that takes place when a classroom becomes technology-infused.

Traditional Classroom / Classroom of the Read/Write Web
Textbook / Staggering breath and depth of content. Open-source type classrooms in which everyone contributes to the curriculum.
School teachers / Knowledge of primary sources such as authors, historians, and researchers.
Do your own work / Produce work in collaborative work for larger audiences.
Lecture / Conversation.
Textbooks and more “closed” sources of information / Create own texts from different content providers such as blogs, wikis, websites, discussion groups, and so on. Teachers and students employ the many ways to find information on the web.
Reading as passive and “trusted” process / Active engagement in reading for truth and accuracy.
Paper-based content / Electronic learner portfolios.
Text-based writing / Write in many different genres.
Mastery of content as measured by passing a test / Electronic online portfolios.
Handing in assignments / Contribute ideas and work to larger body of knowledge that is the web.

The teacher is no longer the giver of knowledge and the student the independent worker. Instead, learning can take place any time, any place, with anyone, and is often collaborative in nature.

According to the ACOT2 report, as of 2006, more than 24 percent of the school districts in the United States had transitioned to a “1 to 1” computer model. Benefits of this program include greater independence, self-directed learning, students are more engaged and motivated, improved attendance, and fewer discipline problems (2008, p. 32). If we are looking for quantifiable results of the 1 to 1 program, we can look at a program in Maine. When in seventh and eighth grade, 33,000 students were given their own laptops, and continued to use them through twelfth grade. In twelfth grade, these students scored higher than 85 percent of their peers on the last Maine Educational Assessment (ACOT2, 2008, p. 32).

Conclusion

It was thought for many years that technology would be what would transform the classroom. However, implementing it correctly has been a critical element of technology integration being successful. Teaching software or hardware skills in isolation does little, if anything, to create a difference in students’ skills or in the classroom climate.

While the TPCK model shows promise, especially with pre-service teachers, more research is needed to demonstrate that this is an effective model, and if it’s effectiveness carries over to in-service teachers.

Another area of continued research would be the 1 to 1 laptop distribution mentioned in the ACOT2 report. While the report was able to cite qualitative and quantitative benefits, these results need to be duplicated, preferably by a source that is not a laptop manufacturer.

Based on the research, it would appear that the change in using technology to transform classrooms will need to begin with effectively training teachers. The training will need to include both pre-service and in-service teachers, but the benefit is that students can then be challenged at a higher level, thus, changing the classroom environment.


References

Apple. (2008, April). Apple classrooms of tomorrow—today: Learning in the 21st century. [White paper]. Retrieved July 17, 2009 from http://images.apple.com/education/docs/leaders/Apple-ACOT2Whitepaper.pdf

Brush, T., & Saye, J. W. (2009). Strategies for preparing preservice social studies teachers to integrate technology effectively: Models and practices. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 46-59.

Chitttleborough, G., Jobling, W., Hubber, P., Calnin. G. The use of Web 2.0 Technologies to promote higher order thinking skills. In P. Jeffery (Ed.) AARE 2008 International Education Research Conference – Brisbane. Queensland University of Technololgy, Kelvin Grove Campus: The Australian Association for Research in Education