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International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
Kevin McGillivray, ISTE
Curriculum is at the heart and core of learning. Implied in that statement are the ways that teaching and learning are orchestrated, the materials and technologies we use to conduct them, and the processes and the products that culminate in student success. In this era of curricular reform, teachers in technologically advancing schools face a new layer of demands as they seek to integrate technology into a changing curriculum.
In this article series, I will discuss the role of the educational technologist as curriculum specialist, describing the three-pronged approach I have developed to support teachers outside, inside, and beyond the classroom and help them build the knowledge, confidence, and skills to integrate technology across the curriculum. Part one focuses on helping teachers outside of the classroom.
The backdrop for my work as an educational technologist has been the Hanau Model Schools Partnership (HMSP). Through this program, the four participating schools (two elementary, one middle, and one high school) have developed a community-wide planning and visioning process, participated in extensive summer professional development workshops, institutionalized clusterwide implementation teams, and had many opportunities to work on-site with curriculum and technology integration specialists.
Our school technology work depends on our being a "networked school" with adequate hardware and software resources for pervasive educational computing (Wasser, McNamara, & Grant, 1998). Every school has at least one networked computer lab, two to six networked computers in each classroom, and several peripherals available (e.g., smart keyboards, digital cameras, scan converters, and projectors).
A key component of our networked system is the common toolkit available on every computer in each of the four schools (McGillivray, 1999). This toolkit contains tools for word processing, spreadsheets and graphs, presentation, concept mapping, and communication software.
A team of four supports the use of this technology: a network administrator, a technical assistant, and two educational technologists, including me.
There are four specific ways I build the knowledge and confidence teachers will need to bring technology into the classroom and to use in the curriculum:
- Formal workshops
- Informal workshops
- Prep-period assistance
- Collegial Leadership Development
If technology is to become a tool within the classroom, sustained, formal professional development workshops need to be provided to educators. Because there are reluctant technology users in our teaching communities, many districts offer these workshops with some incentives: expenses paid, salary paid, university or district credit offered, and so on. I am aware that some districts make the workshops a contingency for placing computers in a classroom (not much incentive for a reluctant user!) and some have offered a laptop or desktop workstation to teachers who complete a workshop series. Though incentives can bring some people out who would not normally attend, it is the structure of these workshops that most interests me.
If inquiry-based learning, collaborative learning, and project-based learning are goals for our classrooms, then technology workshops need to model how technology tools will best support those goals in the classroom. Instead of holding a workshop for teachers on how to use Microsoft Word, we have found it better to introduce Word as well as other writing tools in a workshop on writing across the curriculum. Instead of holding a HyperStudio or PowerPoint "tools" workshop, we recently offered a workshop titled "Digital Portfolios and Multimedia Techniques" that taught teachers to use a variety of tools such as HyperStudio, PowerPoint, scanners, and digital cameras and illustrated how portfolios can be created and maintained in a digital format. Rather than simply learning how to use the tools, teachers learned how to use the tools by creating digital resumes, collaborating on templates that their students can use in the classroom, and discussing rubrics for evaluating multimedia projects. All of their projects were then written to CD–ROM for classroom use. Instead of the workshop focusing on a single grade level or curriculum area, teachers from grades 2–12 attended and collaborated with each other. We are building a community of learners who work across schools and grades.
Recently, I have become increasingly aware that some teachers view the computer labs as the primary—even sole—venue in which their students use or learn about technology. Though the labs certainly offer the advantage of one computer per student, they are also heavily used, which means that a teacher may have students in the lab only once a week or, sometimes, once every two weeks. The emphasis in our project has been to use technology as a tool to support all areas of the curriculum—a tool used daily and in various ways in the classroom. Using one or two computers in effective ways is very different than taking students to a computer lab once a week. Of course, when I think about the many technology workshops we have help for teachers, nearly all of them have been done in a computer lab environment. We have been modeling the concept of lab-based instruction.
I now know that if one of my expectations is that teachers will effectively use the one or two computers in their classroom, I need to model that in the formal workshop setting.
In addition, we need to allow a considerable amount of practice time in formal workshops. We often confine the explanations and demonstrations to the mornings and leave time in the afternoon for practice. If the workshop staff is large enough, the individual attention to needs during the practice session is often more valuable than the demonstration time. Our workshops for 20-25 teachers often have a staff of 4. The staff includes members of our technology support team, teachers, and, sometimes, parent volunteers.
Formal workshops in the summer and on weekends act as the launchpad for successful technology initiatives. They offer a sustained time period for teachers to begin to develop needed skills, develop collegiality, get introduced to new techniques or tools, and build the foundations to begin exploring technology with their students. However, don't expect that teachers now have all the tools and abilities they need to work on their own.
Often teachers return to classrooms following a formal workshop and find that they still lack enough knowledge to feel comfortable introducing their students to a new software tool in a project or lesson.
When it comes time to begin a project with students, teachers don't always remember the techniques they learned in a June or August workshop. We all need to reach a certain comfort level with software tools to enable us to share them with others. Using a scan converter, scanners, and digital cameras in a workshop does not always prepare a teacher to set them up with a classroom computer and load the software to use them. Teachers need support beyond the workshop experience in the form of informal follow-up sessions.
Because new equipment arrives and changes and upgrades to software and LAN standards happen throughout the year, it is often necessary to provide new information to teachers quickly. Informal workshops work well for addressing these changes.
Informal workshops are also a way to involve those who are unable to attend the formal workshops offered. In our project, we have recognized that though teachers may not wish, or are unable, to give up weekend or summer time to attend workshops, they may still wish to advance technology use in their classrooms and at home. They need to be given the same kinds of support in a different way.
Informal workshops in our schools are often initiated by small groups of teachers, school administrators, or by the school technology committees. Through a needs assessment completed at the beginning of each semester, I am able to help schedule the kinds of workshops teachers need when they need them.
Much of my time in the first two years of this project was spent helping teachers during their preparation or planning periods. These sessions were often one-on-one or with 2 or 3 teachers for 15 to 20 minutes, and they usually centered around a few how-to questions or problems, for example, using the e-mail system, configuring a computer to print to a specific network printer, conducting Internet searches, and using specific word processing features (e.g., tables, macros, and mail merge).
As our teachers have developed their technology skills, they have also begun to teach each other. Teachers are beginning to recognize that they have many experts nearby. In fact, most of them have skills in each software program that they have many experts nearby, In fact, most of them have skills in each software program that they can share with others. Though I still provide assistance in this way, my sessions with teachers in their prep periods are becoming much more closely tied to supporting their efforts to include technology in projects in their classrooms.
As an educational technologist, I have had the rare opportunity to observe and work across grades PK-12. This has allowed me to develop collegiality with a wide range of teachers. I learn a great deal from them, and I hope that I can pass on the kinds of information that will help them use technology to a greater degree of success in their classrooms. Because I work across multiple schools and grade levels, I am also able to connect colleagues to share projects and skills they may not be aware each other possesses, just as teachers are becoming facilitators in their classrooms, rather than lecturers who communicate all of the information.
I am trying to place myself in the role of a facilitator of teachers. As a result, collegiality among our teachers is spreading not only within each building, but also across grade levels and buildings. For example, it is not unusual to see elementary teachers and secondary teachers collaborate on lessons or technology use. In part two, I will describe how cross-grade collaboration has led to co-teaching by our teachers across grade levels and buildings. Next year we will involve some of our teachers in our co-teaching model with another school community.
Copyright © 2000, ISTE. (International Society for Technology in Education), 800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 541.302.3777 (International), http://www.iste.org/*. All rights reserved.
Grant, C. (1996). Professional development in a technological age: New definitions, old challenges, new resources. In K. Fulton, A. Feldman, J.D. Wasser, W. Spitzer, A. Rubin, E. McNamara, C. Grant, B. Porter, & M. McConachie (Eds.), Technology infusion and school change: Perspectives and practices (pp. 72-118). Hanau Model Schools Partnership Research Monograph. Cambridge, MA:TERC.
Grant, C. (2000). Beyond just doing it: Making discerning decisions about using electronic graphing tools. Learning & Leading with Technology, 26(5), 18-21, 31.
McGillivray, K. (1999). The tool kit: An innovative approach to technology integration in networked schools. Learning & Leading with Technology, 26(5), 18-21, 31. Available: www.iste.org/L&L/archive/vol26/no5/features/mcgillivray/index.html*.
Wasser, J. (1998a) Reform restructuring, and technology infusion. In K. Fulton, A. Feldman, J.D. Wasser, W. Spitzer, A. Rubin, E. McNamara, C. Grant, B. Porter, & M. McConachie (Eds.), Technology infusion and school change: Perspectives and practices (pp.1-31). Hanau Model Schools Partnership Research Monograph. Cambridge, MA:TERC.
Wasser, J., McNamara, E. & Grant, C. (1998). Electronic networks and systemic school reform: Understanding the diverse roles and functions of telecommunications in changing school environments. Hanau Model Schools Research Brief #4. Cambridge, MA:TERC.
An Oregon native, Kevin McGillivray was an educational technologist for the Hanau Model Schools Partnership where he worked with K-12 teachers in their exploration of technology as a tool for deeper learning. He now directs the project as it is scaled up into the Hessen district's (DoDDS-Europe) 17 schools.
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