Educational Technology's Impact and Evolution in Classrooms: An Educator's View, Slides of Computer Applications

Download Educational Technology's Impact and Evolution in Classrooms: An Educator's View and more Slides Computer Applications in PDF only on Docsity! The Uses of Technology in the Classroom (Educator's Perspective) Docsity.com Introduction ❧From overhead projectors to the Internet, educational technology reaches the student in many different configurations, though most of the research centers on computer technology. Docsity.com Basic Skills ❧Teachers found that the basic skills review practice they were providing were begun to be offered by computer programs. These programs would use colorful visuals and animations to "drill and skill" students on simple math problems or spelling words (Viadero, 1997). Docsity.com Doing Better ❧Since then, the computer's track record is getting better. In research done by Kulik and Kulik (1991), 254 studies were conducted between the mid 1960's and mid 1980's which measured students' learning comparing a classroom using computer- aided instruction with a classroom that did not. Docsity.com Doing Better ❧Overall, students in the computer-using classrooms learned more and learned it faster. ❧They gained the equivalent of about three months of regular classroom learning - progress that is about par for many kinds of classroom interventions (Mediated Learning Review, 1996). Docsity.com Taking Charge ❧As the thinking about technology in the education field changes, it becomes clear that "drill and skill" programs are not enough. ❧The old style of schooling in which a teacher stands in front of a room and is the "sage on the stage" who lectures seems very ineffective compared to "child-centered" instructors, who function as a facilitating "guides on the side Docsity.com Taking Charge ❧ ." It seems time to put learning in the hands of students (Viadero, 1997). Docsity.com Computer Games ❧Teachers have to be careful with the use of computer games in the classroom. A 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress survey found that the most frequent use 4th graders make of computers is to play games. Docsity.com Classroom Technology ❧But again, the circumstances must be right. Steven Marcus a researcher at the University of California-Santa Barbara feels that students are more willing to do more editing, to spend more time reviewing their text and improving it, but to just provide a computer and no teacher support, the students' writing not improve by itself (Viadero, 1997). Docsity.com Classroom Technology ❧Computers and word processors that are poorly integrated into the curriculum can distract students from learning. ❧Barbara Means (1993), a researcher with SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif. has seen kids spending a whole period illustrating a color cover of a report, pixel by pixel, but not get around to starting the report. Docsity.com The Internet ❧Still, even with it s shortcomings, a computer connected to Internet has an even greater potential as an agent for socialization and collaboration in education than does the stand-alone computer. ● The active environment of learning provided by a computer with access to local, national, and international networks increases interaction and communication among students, teachers, parents, and other members of the world community (Margolies, 1991). Docsity.com The Internet and the Problem ❧Put twenty or thirty computers running information like that into a classroom and it is easy to see that teachers will have difficulty keeping attention focused on the assignment at hand (Roszak, 1997). Docsity.com The Challenge ❧The challenge for teachers is figuring out how to use information management to sift out information that is educationally worthwhile from pornography. ❧Keeping children away from one kind of material and directed toward appropriate sites will become an issue all it's own (Bracewell, 1996). Docsity.com The Challenge ❧Some schools are responding by supervising students closely and asking students to sign written pledges promising not to use the Internet inappropriately. ❧Others are installing electronic filters to screen out pornographic content. Many worry that the new buffers may censor out the good with the bad. Docsity.com How to Assess the Impact ❧With the changes in the classroom brought on with the use of computer technology, how does a teacher assess a multimedia project that is being collaboratively put together and presented by a group of students. ❧A standardized test will not be the best way to evaluate the endeavor. Docsity.com How to Assess the Impact ❧Walt Haney, a researcher at Boston College finds that even performance assessments intended for students to show what they can do with what they know may be missing something if they don't use technology. Docsity.com How to Assess the Impact ❧In one study, Haney administered a writing assignment to two groups of middle school students. ❧One group wrote in longhand, while the other typed their essays on computers. ❧ All of the essays were then typed and evaluated by independent raters using the same grading criteria. Docsity.com Classrooms of Tomorrow ❧Although the project provided dozens of schools with a range of technologies, including computers, videodisc players, video cameras, scanners, and CD-ROM drives, and then set out to study the effects, several traditional teaching methods and resources continued to be used, especially in the early years. Docsity.com Classrooms of Tomorrow ❧This project gave rise to several assessments by researchers from Apple as well as other organizations, and included systematic monitoring Docsity.com Classrooms of Tomorrow ❧In a summary of that 10-year effort, researchers concluded that students in the technology-rich classrooms performed no better than students in traditional classrooms on standardized achievement tests, but that the classes were reaping other kinds of benefits. Docsity.com