Integrated education works best when it is well planned, well-integrated, closely monitored as to effectiveness, and given a fair chance. 'A fair chance' only can be guaranteed, however, if computer-based teaching and learning is constructed on these ten pillars of success."
Active support must come from the top.
A technology program will succeed only when school authorities commit to it in word and deed. That support would take the form of practical allocations in terms of money and all necessary release time and training for those teachers and administrators who are responsible for implementing technology-integrated systems. Grant proposals must include written commitments of support from those who hold the local reins of power.
A non-dictatorial approach is best.
Technology should never be forced on teachers; its use should never come as a mandate from "on high." The best leadership enables teachers to do their best work through consultation, collaboration, communication, support, respect, and encouragement. The best leadership also must work to supply and maintain an "appropriate environment" that will function as fertile ground for educationally sound outcomes.
Every school should have a core of teacher-computerists.
Teacher-computerists are people who are committed to using computer-based educational technology and who have been given the opportunity to gain a sufficiently high level of expertise to qualify them to act as role models, advisors, trainers, and trouble shooters in matters having to do with computer-based educational technology. In every school, there should be one or more teacher-computerists, depending on the size of the school and, of course, on the school's commitment to educational computing.
A teacher-computerist is not a technical support person as such. Teacher-computerists are the right people to mediate between teachers and technical support because they understand both the technical and pedagogical aspects of the problems teachers face, and can accurately describe them to tech support personnel.
Teacher-computerists should be given adequate release time to fulfill the following roles and tasks:
- work with other teachers, individually or in groups, to introduce them to new systems, arrange product demonstrations, and help them with any technical or pedagogical problems that might arise;
- work with administration, planning short- and long-range computing strategies, and mediating on behalf of teachers to ensure that their needs are addressed;
- to work with vendors (suppliers of hardware and software), to organize product demonstrations, make sure products are delivered as ordered, and ensure that warranties are negotiated and fulfilled.
Teachers are the ideal people to work with other teachers because they understand their needs. Teachers who are also computerists are best suited to help their colleagues learn about computers because they are trained as teachers, and have experience working with computing novices. They are, therefore, less likely to frighten off teachers who might be timid about using technology.
User-friendly technical support must be available -- ideally onsite and on demand.
To quote Debbie Drewien, instructional technology specialist for the Blaine (Idaho) County School District: "I whole-heartedly support [the] view that being on-site, where you can respond to teachers' needs just-in-time and build relationships with them so they are willing to invite you in is so important. They will rarely call you if you are [squirreled away somewhere] at the district office. Out of "site," out of mind (if you'll pardon the pun)!"
Sometimes an adversarial relationship can develop between the technology support team and teachers, because the tech support team might be understaffed and overwhelmed with problems that arise on a daily basis. Also, tech support might not understand teachers' needs because they have not been trained as teachers. But Jeff Hogan, instructional technology resource teacher at the Blankner School in Orlando, Florida, puts it well when he says: "In the best possible world (which is the one I live in because I choose to make it the best), instructional technology (IT) is faculty and staff. We are a team and we do it all for the students."
Teachers must come first.
Too many schools put computers in the hands of students and then magically expect teachers to take advantage of the situation in the classroom. Teachers should be the first to receive hardware and software systems and should be the first to receive ongoing training in the effective use of those tools for teaching and learning.
Teachers must be given the time and freedom to restructure the curriculum around the technology.
Lesson planning and preparation that involves computer technology puts greater demands on the teacher in terms of time than do more traditional methodologies. Typically, teachers have far too little time to prepare and follow-up on classes. It is all very well to say that teachers have long summers off when they can plan new lessons, learn new methodologies, and incorporate them into their curricula. In fact, many teachers already do that. But long-range (what is also called "remote") preparation can accomplish only so much. Immediate preparation -- designing classes to meet students' needs today -- must be done in the context of the live, day-by-day situation while the semester is underway.
An ongoing technology program must be in place.
On-going training is important -- for obvious reasons. Computer technology is changing all the time. Anxiety generally accompanies those changes. The technology is advancing so rapidly that faculty skills quickly become obsolete as new hardware and/or software systems are introduced. Commitment to a technology-based teaching and learning program will wane unless teachers are routinely helped with the process of learning new skills.
Parents and students must be involved in the evolutionary process.
There should be continuity between home and school. That applies to all aspects of education. Parents should feel that their child's classroom is their classroom, too. Parents should be provided with feedback on the effectiveness of the technology program in their child's classroom. Schools -- administration and faculty -- have to appreciate the value of getting parents directly or indirectly involved.
The best schools appreciate the power of parental involvement and actively foster close relationships between parents and the school. Information has been defined as "a reduction in uncertainty." Effective communication can help remove much of the uncertainty that surrounds many parents' perceptions of the education their children.
Do not underestimate the ongoing cost of technology-integrated teaching and learning.
There should be a line item in every school's annual budget that allows for technology hardware and software upgrades, routine systems maintenance, tech personnel, teacher training, printing supplies, and so on. Many attempts at technology-integrated teaching and learning have foundered because of a lack of financial support.
Everyone involved -- administration, teachers, parents, and students -- must be committed to the ongoing changes in teaching and learning methodologies that accompany technology integration.
Successfully integrating technology into teaching and learning changes everything. Teachers are able to plan learning opportunities that are routinely student centered. Students have the opportunity to learn anything, anytime, anywhere, and they need help from teachers, parents, and peers in that "zone of proximal development" as they travel along constructivist, discovery-learning highways. Planning for that kind of teaching and learning can involve a significant adjustment in traditional ways of "doing" education. Everyone must be committed to that change and embrace it wholeheartedly if success is to be assured.
The ten pillars were excerpted from chapter 14 of Education for an Information Age: Teaching in the Computerized Classroom, by Bernard J. Poole with Lorrie Jackson. The entire book is available free at http://www.pitt.edu/~edindex/InfoAge4index.html.
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| Bernard J. Poole |
Bernie Poole, currently an associate professor of education and instructional technology at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has been a teacher since 1966. For the first 15 years of his career, he taught English, history, French, or English as a foreign language primarily to middle school children in England, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia.
In 1980, Poole moved to the United States, and now is a naturalized citizen. Soon after his arrival in the U.S., Poole began studies in data processing at Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, Pennsylvania. After completing that degree, he entered the master's degree program in information science at the University of Pittsburgh, which led to his 1983 appointment as an assistant professor of computer science in the Division of Natural Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, and eventually to his current position in instructional technology.
Poole has published several books related to instructional technology. Two of the latest editions of those books are available free of charge online at http://www.pitt.edu/~poole. He also has developed and maintains with Yvonne Singer the EdIndex, an extensive index of Web resources for teachers and students that can be accessed at http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/edmenu.html. |
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Article by Bernard J. Poole
Education World®
Copyright © 2004 Education World
04/07/2004
Updated 04/10/2008
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