Knowing the Technology Tools: The First Step in Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Integrate Technology in Classroom
Kuldeep S. Rawat
Department of Technology
ElizabethCityStateUniversity
United States
Abstract:In this paper author discusses the hardware and software tools that teachers can use to create technology enabled classroom to enhance active participation in a classroom. One barrier to integrating technology in classroom is the difficulty many teachers face in finding and using appropriate instructional hardware and software technologies for instruction. In addition, the lack of time and experience to make informed decisions about what particularhardware and software products have the potential of fostering learning goals can make technology integration a frightening prospect. Introducing various instructional hardware and software technologies available is the first step in preparing teachers to integrate technology in classroom. Details of mobile Tablet-PC technology, note-taking applications, classroom management tools, and wireless learning environment that teachers can adopt in their classrooms will be discussed in this paper.
Introduction and Background
Good teaching principles involve student-faculty contact, collaboration among students, active learning, provide rapid feedback, task on time, communicating high expectations, and diverse talent and ways of learning (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). These seven principles of high quality teaching can be easily accomplished with the positive attitude towards use of instructional technology tools in classroom.Technology integration not onlybrings changes to teachers’ instructional roles in the classroom, but also dynamics of classroom as students become more self-directed. The teachers’ roles in a technology-infused classroom shifts to that of a facilitator rather than a lecturer (Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon & Byers, 2002). Teachers need to develop their understanding of the value of technology and then achieve proficiency in using technology to enhance student learning experience.
A large body of literature supports the idea that to effectively infuse technology into the curriculum, teachers need to participate in an intensive curriculum-based technology training that move them beyond the attainment of basic computer skills to activities that teach them how to seamlessly integrate technology into the curriculum (Baylor & Ritchie, 2002). Exposure to various instructional technologies and proper training will help teachers develop a positive attitude towards technology and encourage them to integrate technology into their curriculum.
Tablet-PCs with pen-based computing and hand-written recognition software, has the potential to unite the freedom of drawing on paper with the power of educational software and enable the creation of educational tools that make students a more active part of the learning process. The ink-based presentations can be made available to students with different accessibility needs. Electronic distribution of lecture materials creates the possibility of tailoring course materials to meet the needs of individual students. Electronic distribution could also enable deaf students to submit (in real-time) written questions about the lecture materials. The Tablet-PC lectures can be saved on the computer, allowing teachers to make their notes available to students for review, helping students to concentrate on the lecture rather than worrying about taking notes from the blackboard or overhead projector screen.
Recently, wireless and mobile technologies are being used to effectively change the teacher’s instructional practices. Studies have demonstrated that wireless learning environments can increase students’ usage time of instructional technology and improve their learning achievement and attitude (Swan, van’t Hooft, Kratcoski, & Unger, 2005). Wireless technology has many features which benefit the implementation of learner-centered instruction. Introducing wireless learning environments into the classroom will encourage teachers to change the instruction to fit the features of the mobile technology.Wireless mobile Tablet-PC can help students to access online courses and communicate with other students or teacher. With classroom management software (CMS) tools teacher can improve course delivery by centrally instructing their students on their Tablet-PCs, maintain student attention by monitoring application and Web usage, save time by quickly polling the class and showing results instantly, and provide feedback with no latency. The software tools also provide teachers with insight into each student’s level of understanding and performance through instant surveys and feedbacks.
Fully adopting the features of these available technologies will necessitate changes from traditional style instruction, thereby causing significant changes in classroom, such as types of classroom interaction, social relationships between students, and the nature of teaching materials and assignments. Due to theoverwhelming profusion of instructional technology options available in the market, teachers at novice stages of technology integration may need guidance in deciding on the hardware and software tools to support the school’s learning goals and fully benefit from them. Teachers in the past have reportedchallenges in finding and using appropriate software tools or courseware for instruction (Zucker, 2004).
Whenever possible, hardware and software-selection decision should be made in a team with consultation with computer technology coordinator or an instructional technology specialist. Teachers working together can plan curricular projects, develop and apply criteria for selecting software and reflect upon how their teaching is changing through technology integration. In this paper a detail overview of available hardware and software tools that can be used to create technology enabled classroom are discussed.
The paper is organized as follows. In next section,author discusses the current state of teachers’ knowledge and usage of technology. Section 3 will present various hardware and software tools that can facilitate technology-based teaching and learning. Tablet-PC technology, classroom management tools, note-taking programs, and screen recording tools are presented in this section. This is followed by a section on setting up a wireless and mobile classroom. Finally, the relevant conclusion is presented.
CurrentState of Teachers’ Usage of Technology
Given the technology-driven nature of our global, information based society, lack of technology integration among teachers in classrooms is a major concern in education today. A study conducted by U.S. Department of Education found that many teachers do not know how to incorporate computer skills into classroom instruction (U.S. Department of Education, 2000). According to this report almost two-thirds of all teachers reported no preparation at all or were slightly prepared to use technology in their teaching.The importance of establishing technology literacy and integration as a part of effective teacher development has beenobserved and reported by professional organizations, accreditation boards, and state departments of education across the nation. In fact, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has published national standards for teacher competencies in technology use, which have further been adopted by the National Council for Accreditation ofTeacher Education (NCATE).
Integration of instructional technologies into education has become a high priority for schools nationwide. A wealth of initiatives is currently being funded by federal, state, and local governments, as well as private industries, to bring a variety of these technologies into schools.Technology skill level among teachers ranges from nonuser to experts (Dexter & Riedel, 2003). Today both state and national organizations involved in teacher standards recognize that teachers need to be trained in technology skills if they are to develop a foundation upon which to build their understanding of technology integration. Preparing teachers to use technology and how that technology can support learning is an integral skill for all teachers. Studies suggest that teachers who obtain higher levels of technology training are better prepared to integrate technology in their curriculum (StetsonBagwell, 2002).
Several studies and surveys have been conducted to assess the level of participation of teachers in integrating technology in their classrooms. In one such nationwide survey of teachers, students, and administrators conducted in 2003 for the Gates Foundation, found that over 53% of the teachers they surveyed do not routinely use technology in the classroom and over half the students responding to questionnaires reported they use technology no more than once a week (Abbott, 2003). In another National Teacher Survey in 2005, commissioned by CDW Government, Inc., found that 80% of K-12 teachers use computers mainly for administrative functions and only slightly more than half are integrating computers into their routine instruction (National Teacher Survey, 2005). The survey revealed that teacher technology training has focused on administrative applications, rather than instructional applications. Even more concerning was that approximately one third of teachers have received little or no training with integrating computers in classroom instruction or training on instructional software.
Instructional Hardware and Software Tools
The author uses Tablet PCs both in the laboratory and the classroom lecture to provide students with access to notes at all times and direct feedback during lectures. The Tablet PCs are loaded with software programs such as Microsoft Windows Journal, NetSupportSchool, Classroom Presenter, Microsoft OneNote and other subject related software tools. The Tablet-PC and supporting applications help students to take notes, draw diagrams, retrieve assignments, access electronic textbooks, organize class work, and mark up handwritten notes that can be publicly displayed, and used as the basis for class-wide discussions. A brief description of Tablet-PC and pen-based technology is presented next.
Tablet-PC and Pen-Based Technology
Tablet PC is a recent innovation in laptop computers that promises a significant advancement in instructional technology. The screen of Tablet-PC doubles as a writing board, with an electronic pen taking the place of chalks or markers. Attached to a multimedia, the tablet-PC acts as a virtual blackboard, with the lecturer writing on the tablet screen and with the writing saved as electronic strokes on the computer. Teachers may drag multimedia files onto the presentation screen and annotate them, which would not be possible using traditional lecturing methods. PowerPoint-based lecturers can use the electronic pen to write directly over their slides, thereby customizing their presentations on the fly.
As a Windows XP machine, the Tablet PC has the benefit that it can directly execute any program that runs on a standard Windows machine (e.g. PowerPoint, Word, Excel) without needing a translation step. Tablet-PCs are available in both “slate” and “convertible” form factors as shown in Figure 1. The slate is a form factor that looks like a large personal digital assistant (PDA) with a separate detachable keyboard. The convertible looks like a traditional laptop except the screen may also be turned 360 degrees and turn to lie flat on the keyboard to become a slate.
Figure 1: Convertible and Slate form factors
Tablet-PC features a full-sized color screen, an internal hard drive, and other features associated with a standard computer. This greatly enhances the use of a tablet for public presentations. The moderately highresolution color screen is suited for use with a video projector, and the large amount of on-board storage (20-60 GB or more) allows even a complicated multimedia presentation to be loaded into a tablet without the risk of running out of space. The latest Tablet-PCs come with built-in wireless networking capability. The HP Tablet-PCs used by the author and his students in the classroom also have built-in fingerprint identification. This might be useful for teachers who need to carry confidential information (grades, exams, research data, etc.) on a Tablet PC. The key features and capabilities of a Tablet-PC, which can be considered as a quasi-hybrid of laptop and palmtop computers, are (i) work from anywhere, (ii) take notes electronically, (iii) import documents into journal, and (iv) edit, search and convert handwritten notes into typed text.
Classroom Management Software
There are varieties of classroom management software (CMS) tools that can be used in conjunction with Tablet-PCs to facilitate mobile technology-based learning. Some of the most popular and commercially available classroom management software (CMS) tools are NetSupportSchool, DyKnow Vision, and WriteOn. When used in conjunction with a Tablet PC, these CMS tools allow teachersto choose to broadcast the dynamic screen contents along with electronic ink in real-time. Alternatively, the CMS user can save the ink annotations and desktop activity as a movie file (or individual screen captures) and then later broadcast these files to the students. Using WriteOn CMS tools the teacher can utilize electronic ink to annotate on top of any application visible on the Tablet-PC display screen. This capability can be useful in improving both the presentation of information as well as the teacher-student interactivity in classroom instruction. The CMS tools allow the teacher to capture individual screen images for use in subsequent review of material presented in the lecture.
The NetSupport School CMS networks students’ tablets to the teacher’s tablet; supports sharing and viewing student screens. This feature provides teachers with insight into each student’s level of understanding and performance. Figure 2 shows screen captures (superimposed) depicting chat and survey features of NetSupportSchool. CMS tool, such as DyKnow Vision fosters interaction through collaborative note-taking, student response tools, content replay, and anywhere, anytime access. Teachers can use DyKnow Vision or NetSupportSchool to instantly transmit content to student screens for annotation. DyKnow Vision works with desktops, laptops, Tablet-PCs, and interactive whiteboards in fixed, mobile, and distance environments.
Figure 2: NetSupportSchool screens depicting chat and survey features
Dynamic Presentation Tools: Classroom Presenter and Ubiquitous Presenter
An important part of any lecturing is adjusting material in response to audience reactions and developing spontaneous examples and explanations to clarify and expand on topics. The commonly used presentation using electronic slides tend to script a lecture and do not provide mechanisms to adapt the presentation to the audience. To overcome this weakness a distributed Tablet-PC application called as Classroom Presenter (CP) was developed by Richard Anderson, University of Washington, in partnership with Microsoft Research. This application, first deployed in 2002, allows a teacher or presenter to handwrite notes on computer-projected PowerPoint slides. The slides and ink are broadcast to students’ computers where the students are able to add their own private annotations. The application allows for students to submit inked responses to teacher questions, and the teacher may select responses to be displayed to the entire class. The whiteboard feature makes it possible for the teacher to add handwritten slides on the fly. The Deck Builder utility, which comes as a part of CP can be used to convert regular PowerPoint files to conference slide deck (.csd) file format suitable for Classroom Presenter. A screen capture of a CP slide showing ink annotation created on the fly is depicted in Figure 3.
The main limitation of CP is that it uses multicast networking to broadcast the slides to the student tablets. Many routers at universities have been configured to block multicast packets, and in such cases, CP cannot be used. Furthermore, each student PC had to have the CP applications installed and properly configured to joining the multicast network. The Ubiquitous Presenter, an extension to CP, is a Web server-based application that eliminates the need to set up a multicast network. It is similar to CP and enables students without tablets to access key components of CP with any Web-enabled device. Using a Web browser, students can view slides and ink that are broadcast by the teacher and submit typed text overlaid on the teacher’s slides. No custom software is required for the student machines. The server generates simple HTML and some JavaScript, so all students need to use all of the features is a Web browser with JavaScript enabled.
Figure 3: A screen capture of Classroom Presenter showing ink annotation
Note-Taking Tools: Windows Journal and Microsoft OneNote
Windows Journal and Microsoft OneNote are note-taking programs which are included with Microsoft Window XP Tablet Edition. Windows Journal has several useful features, such as importing documents created in various applications into Journal and ability to annotate imported documents. Microsoft Word documents, Web pages, Microsoft PowerPoint slides, pictures, and several other printable formats can be easily imported in Journal. These features enable teacher to import a file their student has created and grade them or make comments on that file in his or her own handwriting electronically. Journal can also be useful for presentations, meetings, and collaborative work between students. All the information, including ink, imported documents, text boxes, and pictures can be saved in the note file. Figure 4 shows a screen shot of notes taken in Windows Journal.
Figure 4: Screen shot of notes taken in Windows Journal
If teacher or student wants to share their Journal notes with someone who does not have a tablet, and therefore does not have Journal, can export the note either as a Web archive file (.mht) or as a Tagged Image File Format image (.tif).
Microsoft Office OneNote, usually referred to as Microsoft OneNote, is also a very useful tool for note-taking, information gathering, and multi-user collaboration. OneNote also adds modern features such as drawings, pictures, multimedia audio, video, and ink as well as multi-user sharing of notes. Audio and video recording can be synchronized with notes as they are written during a lecture or interview. Any set of notes created in OneNote can be send to Word to create a document. Handwritten notes in OneNote are searchable directly without having to convert to text. Using the current 2007 version of OneNote one can also create server-hosted shared collaborative notebooks that any user can edit online or offline at any time. The changes are automatically merged as well as marked with who made them and when. One drawback of using MS OneNote is that it requires the end user to also have a copy of the program, unlike Windows Journal that allows exporting a Journal file to an Internet (.mhtml) file.