Course Outline

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Topic of the Day: Current practices, issues and research about use of technology in educational settings

Housekeeping:

Class listserv: Just a reminder that I can only put your U of L email address on the listserv. This means that you can only send to the class listserv from your U of L account as well. :-)

Using WebCT: During this course we will be accessing WebCT. I would like you to log onto the WebCT site using your U of L email username and password. At the site, go to My WebCT under Students. You will be prompted to enter your info (username and password). Once you are logged onto your WebCT you can select this course. The only features of WebCT that I will be using are: Communication and Assignments.

In past courses, students have used the Communication section for diaglogue amongst themselves. I would like to suggest that if you are online working on the course that you log onto WebCT, select Communication and then select Chat. Select a room and then just type in a saluation (or something else for that matter!). By doing so, other students logged on, can 'see' you. If you go into Communication and select the Chat feature, you might be able to 'talk' with your colleagues. You might even just leave the window open and 'watch' the conversation. Often times, you may have a question or a comment about something. The online 'chat' environment in WebCT gives you a virtual place for you to 'go' and talk with your peers while working. In some courses in the past this form of dialogue has worked very well for participants asking each other about questions and issues raised in the course. Another option is to open a discussion. If you want to 'talk' about a particular issue, I would like you to open a discussion. This is a wonderful tool.

If you are unfamiliar with WebCT and you want to learn more about discussions in WebCT, you simply go into WebCT, log onto Communications, select Bulletin (WEBCT word for discussions) and then select 'help' from the top menu.

Assignments: Typically I like to mark assignments immediately after the due date. I expect to do so for this course and will have marks to you asap. Please begin to think about your major assignments. Your next assignment "Annotated Bibliography" is due October 12. You might use the email activity from module one as a starting point.

Email Activity One: Please contintue to use the format requested (paste into a body of email message--much easier for my marking). In your responses many of you identified words like sharing, collaboration and team work as key to successful technology integration. On that note, I would like to suggest that each of you to log on to WebCT (use email username and password) and share the resources/references that you used in the module one email activity. You might be surprised at how many references we can collect (collaboratively). I created a discussion entitled references. By the end of this course you should have access to a great collection of titles. :-)

Comments:

The first module got you started looking at online materials. This module looks at current practices, issues and research about the use of technology in educational settings. By thinking carefully about teaching and by evaluating current practices, educators can make informed decisions about how to change teaching and learning. What may have been unexamined habits or acceptance of customary ways of teaching can be examined.  Educators may identify practices they want to change to help their students learn.

Why do some schools seem to be doing a lot more with technology integration and in what ways can we evaluate the effectiveness of technology being used? Link to Assessment Strategies and Practices to see a list of several ways to evaluate technology.

A consideration for you...from Franklin's quote above I want you to think about how prescriptive technologies are very effective for production and invention but, by their nature, require control and managment. When tools improve the efficiency of a task, it encourages further acceptance (think education here) of new technologies. Sometimes it is felt that using a tool is the best or only way to deal with a task. This reminds me of a research project done with computers in the classroom. A study by Miller and Olsen (1995) suggests that when arguments are made for computers developing higher order thnking skills in students, the observation of teachers' prior practice is very important. In their study, they observe a teacher who uses dbases with young children and they judge that the teacher has her students engaging in high level thinking. However, upon further notice, they see that she did the same thing without the newer technology (she used charts). I wonder if one is better than the other? Your thoughts? I believe the outsider watching the same two lessons would think that the lesson using the advanced technology would be considered better?

How does a leader reconcile these issues? How does one decide when, in fact, the new technology does enhance schooling?

Another question to consider, is when school communities are faced with new technological solutions to existing problems it is important to ask what these techniques may prevent and not only to check what the technologies promise to do. (Franklin, p. 57) Think of a technology that was implemented that limited you in your teaching/leading/learning.

Thoughts, ramblings and critical questions

Theordore Roszak (1997) provides an interesting point when he poses the following question: "Is it wise to commit the soicety so massively to a technology that is so vulnerable to widespread breakdown, error, sabotage, and criminal tampering?" (p. 32) The current reality of computer technology in schools is filled with the kind of daily problems that Roszak alludes to in his question. (didn't one of our own participants have difficultly connecting? ;) Oddly enough, however, the question itself is given little, if any, opportunity to critique the image that has been given to the computer within society in general and schools in particular; the image of the computer as a highly progressive, intellligent and an example of leading-edge technology which is needed to attain any acceptable and hence, profitable degree of success in the workplace.

Many school boards are pushing for technology implementation. They seem to be seeking an image. They hope to be seen as an up-to-date school board which is able to provide the best education for its students; best being understood as that which most involves use of the technology. In this way, there is an image of the computer as a superior teaching tool. Although I truly believe that the value of computers surfaces only with good pedagogic practices, even I am impressed by high-tech schools. Moreover, when making decisions about where to send my children, those decisions are significantly affected by the image of the computer as a superior teaching tool. Those schools having that technology, therefore, have more weight throughout the selection process...why is that? Obviously, (and sadly) this particular view places more emphasis on the technology and less on the schooling that uses the technology. What do you think?

How do these issues impact one's leadership style?

Making Technology Standards Work for You-A Guide for School Administrators Brooks-Young, S. ISTE, 2002.

Module Activities:

• Post your references from module one on the discussion tool of WebCT.
• Please read the Preface and Chapter One: A Remarkable Convergence of Fullan's book.
• Respond to the text reading in an email (email activity two). Email Activity Two is due by the beginning of the next module (Sept 25).
• In the subject line of your email always include an appropriate subject line that includes the course name and activity. For example for this activity include: 5850, email activity two.

Created by Lorraine Beaudin, PhD

University of Lethbridge, 2003