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Taking On Technology: How and Why to Make Computers a Classroom Tool
By Christina Elston
TeachSpace http://www.education.com/teachspace/

Most of us old enough to have or teach children didn't use a computer until our high-school or college years, when word processing slowly replaced our electric typewriters as the preferred way to get our reports done. But with the National Center for Education Statistics reporting that there are computers in 99 percent of public schools, things are obviously different for the next generation.

Expectations are also different. Ninety-seven percent of people responding to a Gallup poll commissioned by the International Technology Education Association last month said that technology should be included in the school curriculum, and 61 percent felt students should be evaluated for technological literacy before they graduate. Some 35 states have even established technology standards for students.

"Technology has moved education to change faster than just about anything else we have experienced," says Karen Smith, executive director of TECH CORPS, a nonprofit organization that provides technical support volunteers for teachers and schools. And experts say there is every reason to believe the changes are for the better.

Technology and Student Achievement

Despite the fact that many teachers say the current push toward basic skills and academic standards leaves them little time to incorporate technology into their instruction, research supports the fact that use of technology actually improves students' basic skills. "I don't think that this actually conflicts with the basics," says Abbie Brown, Ph.D., co-author with Timothy D. Green of Multimedia Projects in the Classroom: A Guide to Development and Evaluation (Corwin Press, March 2002). "We're talking about communication skills, and the development of these essential communication skills."

Key Building Blocks for Student Achievement in the 21^st Century, a report released in June by CEO Forum, an organization that focuses on the integration of technology into America's schools, cited several examples of technology's impact on student achievement:

An Educational Testing Service study of an eighth-grade math class found that student knowledge increased one-third of a grade level when computers were used to apply higher-order thinking concepts in math.
Studies of statewide technology programs in Idaho and West Virginia with large-scale integration across the curriculum found that these programs improved student test scores across all subjects. In West Virginia, the Basic Skills/Computer Education technology program implemented 10 years ago resulted in an 11 percent increase in all basic skill areas.
A study of students in Project Explore, a technology program in Union City, New Jersey, found that student scores on standardized math tests improved 15 to 25 percent, and that their scores on problem-solving assessments improved 50 to 100 percent.
A 1999 case study of students taking the SAT-1 found that students participating in an integrated technology curriculum scored 54 points higher in verbal and 34 points higher in math than other students.

The CEO Forum report also found that by adding current information and the opportunity to study real-world events to the curriculum, education technology improves students' motivation, which also contributes to boosting achievement. The report cited studies showing that students who had the chance to use simulations, microcomputer-based laboratories, and video to connect science lessons to real-world problems outperformed students who were only offered traditional instruction.

Studies have also shown that students can improve their persuasive writing skills by writing to real audiences regularly via the Internet and e-mail, and that students who used hypertext discussion as part of their homework boosted their achievement. Sixty-eight percent of those students also reported spending more time on their homework.

Technology Start-Ups

Teachers don't have to be technology experts, or have state-of-the-art computer stations for every student, to incorporate technology into their teaching. According to Smith, primary author of The Switched-On Classroom Technology Planning Guide produced by the Massachusetts Software Council, even a one-computer classroom with a dial-up modem can have the technology fully integrated into the curriculum. In terms of tools, she says, all you really need is a computer and a printer, and access to the Web.

Smith recommends that teachers who want to bring technology into the classroom start their exploration at the beginning. "They need to get the basics about what the possibilities are," she says. "Then they can figure out how they want to use it in their classroom." For most teachers, Smith contends, not knowing what technology can do for them is the main barrier to working computers into the curriculum. "Teachers are without a doubt one of the most creative groups of people that we have. Once they know about the technology, they will come up with plenty of ways to bring their creativity to it," she says.

The basics teachers need to explore, says Smith, include general computer use. "The computer needs to be demystified for teachers," she explains. Teachers don't need to know how to repair computers, but they should know how to reboot the machine if it crashes, how to restore lost files, and how to perform basic backup and maintenance operations. Smith also recommends that teachers learn to use basic office software, such as spreadsheet and word-processing programs and PowerPoint, as these have many uses in the classroom.

Internet literacy, Smith says, is an absolute essential for teachers. "We are becoming an Internet-driven society," she says. "That's the workplace kids are going to be going into." So teachers should know how to refine an Internet search so that they can find the information they need quickly and efficiently, and they should know how to use the tools available to create a simple Web page.

But fear not. This doesn't mean you have to toss out all of your lesson plans. "The thing we hear most often is that teachers don't have time to make radical changes in what they do," says Brown, an assistant professor of educational technology at the Washington State University College of Education. "My primary recommendation is to take things slowly in terms of the technology itself." So rather than coming up with entirely new lesson plans and projects for your students, look at the ones you already are using, and find ways to add an element of technology to them.

Working Technology In

If you're wondering where a classroom teacher with standards to meet and high-stakes tests to prepare for is supposed to find time for technology, you're not alone. Eighty percent of teachers surveyed by the Department of Education in 1999 said that lack of time in the classroom schedule kept them from making computers and the Internet a part of their teaching. The trick, both Smith and Brown say, is not to think of technology as an extra, but as a tool like any other. Your students can use graphs, charts and spreadsheets to present math, science and social studies information. They can use software to create and explore art and music. And they can use desktop publishing, the Internet, and multimedia software to exhibit information on almost any subject.

Desktop Publishing

If you've never tried using technology with your students before, Brown recommends desktop publishing as a good place to start. You can use this technology with students in second grade and up, and all you need is basic word-processing software. You don't need to change the content that students are working with, or even the way you evaluate their work. All you have to do is help your students produce their finished report or presentation using a desktop publishing program.

Explore the features of your word-processing software, and you'll find that it includes the tools to create brochures, pamphlets, and other types of documents. Your students can even experiment with adding graphics, if that makes sense.

Creating Web Pages

If you are a bit more comfortable or experienced with technology, and your students are a bit older—fourth or fifth grade and up—you can try creating Web pages as a next logical step. Brown reminds teachers that you don't need to post the pages you create on the World Wide Web in order to for your students to experience working with Web-page design. You can leave the pages on your hard drive.

Here again is technology that can work with any type of content, and any existing lesson plan. You're just having students create the page—rather than write a paper or give an oral report—as a way to display their mastery of the material. Because Web pages offer the opportunity to create links, they give students more leeway in how they organize their content. Brown highly recommends storyboarding, allowing students to plan the project on paper before incorporating the technology. This lets them get feedback before they've invested the time in translating it to html.

The software you need for this—such as Netscape Composer, which comes with the Netscape Internet browser—is available free. You can also make use of free html tutorials. Brown says that one of the best is www.htmlgoodies.com. A book he recommends is HTML 4 For the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide by Elizabeth Castro (Peachpit Press, 2000; $19.99).

Multimedia Presentations

Another way for students to present their information is through multimedia presentations. Brown says that HyperStudio is one of the more popular multimedia development tools and he recommends it, adding that students enjoy it, and it's easy to work with and includes many interactive components. Older students might also like to use PowerPoint, which is already available on many classroom computers because it comes with the Microsoft Office software schools often purchase.

Multimedia tools allow students to incorporate sound, moving images, and some interactivity into their work. And because of this, teachers have to be careful to provide direction so that students don't lose focus on the content. Brown's book includes many ideas on how teachers can manage multimedia projects in the classroom. He also recommends The Non-Designer's Web Book by Robin Williams and John Tollett (Peachpit Press, 2000).

Brown, who was an English teacher, had one student spend an entire week animating a spaceship in HyperStudio for his presentation on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The student used up all his time with the animation, and didn't create any actual content for the presentation—even though he had read and enjoyed the book!

Teacher Preparation and Training

Of course, no matter where you start or what tools you have, it will go much more smoothly if you've got some training under your belt. And research shows that many teachers don't. In 1999, according to the Department of Education, only about one-third of teachers reported feeling well prepared or very well prepared to use computers and the Internet for classroom instruction.

Smith says that the fallacy at work has been that teachers can teach themselves how to use these new tools. In fact, the Department of Education says that 93 percent of teachers responding to a 1999 survey said that "independent learning" was at least a part of their technology training. Often, teachers are just given a computer, a manual and some software and told to learn to use it. "But this is like handing a child all the recordings of Mozart and telling them to teach themselves how to play the piano," says Smith.

In the business world, for every dollar spent on new technology, an additional dollar is spent on training and technical support. In schools, for every dollar spent on new technology, only about 10 to 20 cents is spent on training and support, according to Smith. She says that this situation is improving, but still has a long way to go.

When technology training is provided for teachers, it is sometimes on what Smith calls a "drive-by" scale, meaning a teacher attends a seminar or workshop, but then has no follow-up support when they actually try to use the technology in the classroom. Some schools are lucky enough to have someone on campus for tech support, but often this is just someone who happens to know, or a teacher who just "loves computers." They aren't often professionally trained to provide this support.

Smith's company, TECH CORPS, helps fill this role. They tap into the community to match schools with technology professionals willing to volunteer to provide one-on-one technical support for teachers. Smith says it can be immensely valuable to a teacher to have someone available on the phone or in person to help them try new things or solve problems. "There needs to be not just technical support, but moral support," she explains.

For schools that don't have community volunteers available, Smith's organization offers Web Teacher, a series of online tutorials that represent about 80 hours of total training. It is available free of charge to teachers, and they can use it at their own pace, on their own time. Techs for Schools is another free tool from TECH CORPS. It puts educators and IT mentors together into an online community, where they can ask and answer tech support questions. "Our focal point is providing the technical support that will enable them to create the good classroom activities that they know how to do," says Smith.