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Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII)

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Integrating technology

Educational technology offers much promise for making learning more relevant to students. However, it is important to remember that learning goals drive the selection of technology tools. For example, an online game in history will help students only if the content of the questions reflects grade-level standards. In addition, technology purchases must be tied to the School’s Single Plan for Student Achievement and the district’s state-approved technology plan.

Three questions will help to guide educators in integrating technology:

• How is student learning different because of technology?
• How is your teaching different because of technology?
• What evidence supports the effectiveness of the technology in improving student engagement in learning?

For the most part, American adolescents are technology natives who were born into the world of computers, the Internet, cell phones, blogs, and e-mail. Millennials are children born between 1980 and 2000.1 For most of these students, technology tools and games are a way of life. School professionals can uncover a multitude of opportunities to engage these technology natives by using the learning tools that matter to them. (Also, refer to Acceptance of Young Adolescent Priorities Leads to Reciprocal Identification with Academic Values, Appendix 5-B from the original Taking Center Stage.)

According to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, students should be technology literate by the time they complete eighth grade. A successful, technology-rich school must integrate technology into the curricula, and teachers need training to use the technology and maximize its potential.2

However, one aspect of the achievement gap is that students in low-income families often do not have equal access to technology, particularly at home, leading to a digital divide. Providing technology for use by teachers and students can be a challenge, but many schools—even those from the poorest neighborhoods—have been successful in acquiring technology through grants, community partnerships, Title I funding, and donations. For more information on funding for technology, go to the California Department of Education (CDE) Web page on education technology.

The State of California currently has no technology standards for students, although technology is embedded within the academic content standards. For example:

• Grade six, English language arts standards 1.4 and 1.5  in Research and Technology—states: “Use organizational features of electronic text (e.g., bulletin boards, databases, keyword searches, e-mail addresses) to locate information. Compose documents with appropriate formatting by using word-processing skills and principles of design (e.g., margins, tabs, spacing, columns, and page orientation).
• Grade seven, the English language arts standard 1.6 in Research and Technology—states: “Create documents by using word-processing skills and publishing programs; develop simple databases and spreadsheets to manage information and prepare reports.”
• Grade eight, the English language arts standard 1.4—Research and Technology—states: “Plan and conduct multiple-step information searches by using computer networks and modems.”
• Grade six, the science strand Investigation and Experimentation, standard 7b, states: “Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.” (Grade seven includes the same language in standard 7a.)

Breaking Ranks in the Middle (PDF; Outside Source) recommendation number 30 underscores the importance of making technology available for all students: “Schools will develop a strategic plan to make technology integral to curriculum, instruction, and assessment, accommodating different learning styles and helping teachers to individualize and improve the learning process.”4

Research on the use of school and home computers showed gains in student achievement. Penuel et. al. (2002) conducted a meta-analysis of 19 research articles about the effects of computers on improving home–school connections. “Technology integration programs designed to improve home–school connections typically result in:

• A modest increase in student reading ability. However, this improvement is smaller than in other sorts of intervention programs, such as class-size-reduction, computer-assisted instruction, tutoring, individualization, increased homework, coaching for achievement tests, and parental involvement programs.
• A substantial increase in student writing ability. This improvement is comparable in size to that typically found in integration programs that stress computer-assisted instruction and is also larger than the effect sizes associated with intervention programs that stress class-size reduction, individualization, or coaching for achievement tests.
• A modest increase in student mathematics ability. This improvement is comparable in size to that typically found in integration programs that stress coaching for achievement tests and is larger than that typically found in class-size reduction, and individualization intervention programs.
• Significantly improved communications between parents and school."5                                

 

Although the term Web 2.0 suggests a new version of the World Wide Web (Outside Source), it actually means changes in the ways the existing Web can be used. Software developers have created Web tools to allow a more personalized, interactive Web experience. Many of the Web tools and resources are free and require little more than a high-speed Internet connection and a receiver, such as a computer or a hand-held device.

The variety of Web 2.0 tools continues to expand with increasing numbers of options for social networking sites (Outside Source), blogs (Outside Source) (Web logs), photo sharing (Outside Source) and image sharing (Outside Source), RSS (Outside Source) (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary; several similar forms of Web syndication used by news Web sites and Weblogs), newsfeeds (Outside Source), wikis (Outside Source), real-time, online applications for group collaboration, podcasts, and more. Although students seem to have no trouble maneuvering their way through this smorgasbord of technology, others—including some classroom teachers—may find jumping into Web 2.0 to be a daunting experience.

The California School Library Association has created a professional development tutorial to assist teachers with the use of Web 2.0 tools. Classroom Learning 2.0 (Outside Source), is an on-line guide that will allow you to try out and experience Web 2.0 tools. The tutorial features 23 tasks to complete. Each task will showcase one more Web tool that you can use with students. In addition, the tutorial provides ideas on how to use these tools to motivate student learning.

Many teachers are experimenting with using new technology tools to enhance learning, including podcasts, blogs, and video games. The following resources provide a few ideas to help teachers use technology effectively: 

Related Links

• California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards Grades Seven Through Twelve, (PDF; 4MB; 441pp.), California Department of Education.
• Clearinghouse for Specialized Media and Technology, (CSMT), California Department of Education.
• Computer-Using Educators, Inc. (CUE), (Outside Source)
• Education Technology, California Department of Education.
• Education Technology K-12 Voucher Program, California Department of Education.
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), (Outside Source)
• Sections that incorporate technology for teaching in Taking Center Stage—Act II include:
  • Algebra, Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention , TCSII.
  • English language arts instruction, Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention , TCSII.
  • Ethics and plagiarism, Recommendation 1—Rigor, TCSII.
  • Foreign/world languages, Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention , TCSII.
  • History-social science instruction, Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention , TCSII.
  • Science instruction, Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention, TCSII.
  • Technology Support for Leaders, Recommendation 9—Leadership, TCSII.
  • Visual and Performing arts (VAPA), Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention , TCSII.
• Standards (Outside Source), Standards for Global Learning in the Digital Age, Information Society for Technology in Education.
• Standards of Quality and Effectiveness for Professional Teacher Induction Programs (PDF; Outside Source), California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, State of California.
• Statewide Education Technology Services (SETS), California Department of Education.
• Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge, (PDF; Outside Source), Michigan State University, the Teachers College Record.
• Today's Middle Level Educator Podcast Series, (Outside Source), National Middle School Association.
  
  

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Footnotes
1 Neil Howe and William Strauss, Millennials Rising; The Next Great Generation. New York: Vintage Books, 2000.
2 Chad Vander Veen, “Technology and the Three R's” (Outside Source), Government Technology (June 1, 2006).
3“Toward a New Golden Age in American Education” (PDF; Outside Source) Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education National Technology Plan, 2004, 33.
4 Breaking Ranks in the Middle: Strategies for Leading Middle Level Reform Executive Summary (PDF; Outside Source). Alexandria, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals.
5 W. R. Penuel et al., Using Technology to Enhance Connections between Home and School: A Research Synthesis (Outside Source). Washington, D.C.: Planning and Evaluation Service, U.S. Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, 2002.
6 C. Jerome Crow, “Maywood Students on the Cutting Edge,” Red Bluff Daily News, January 1, 2006.

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