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Theoretical
considerations: Why technology Integration?
Theoretical
considerations menu
Introduction
Technologies are the
machines, materials and processes we use to do work. Today technologies
are used in all aspects of our lives: to do work, produce goods, perform
services and carry out other useful activities. Post-secondary institutions
and the workplace expect high school graduates to be able to use basic
information and communication technologies. Therefore, technology education
needs to be present in schools from kindergarten to grade twelve to prepare
students to use and apply technology in effective, efficient and ethical
ways. Alberta Learning has developed an Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) Program of Studies (PDF file) that
outlines general and specific learner outcomes
related to technology knowledge and skills. Technology education is to
be integrated into all subject areas so that the learner outcomes are
achieved while students are learning other content areas such as language
arts, social studies, mathematics and science. To help learners achieve
the outcomes, the program of studies also provides sets of illustrative
examples that clarify the intent of the technology outcomes and to
convey how students might demonstrate their competencies in a variety
of contexts and across all grade levels. The government of Alberta is
also providing $105 million in technology integration funding for students
from 1996 to 2002, with $60 million being provided between April 1999
and 2001 to meet these goals.Within an effective educational setting,
technology can enable students to become:
- Capable information
technology users.
- Information seekers,
analyzers, and evaluators.
- Problem solvers
and decision makers.
- Creative and effective
users of productivity tools.
- Communicators,
collaborators, publishers, and producers.
- Informed, responsible,
and contributing citizens.
Technology in education
can be used in four different ways:
- To enhance professional
productivity. Technology is used assist administrators with such
responsibilities as keeping student records, scheduling classes, creating
school budgets, organizing library cataloguing and circulation, improving
communication and collaboration between educators and providing teachers
with tools such as computerized grade books, templates and test/worksheet
generators.
- To provide students
with knowledge about computers and technologies.
This occurs when students learn about technology or computer components
and their functions and application programs (such as a word processor
or spreadsheet). Students learn about the technology itself. This type
of learning has traditionally been taught in a separate course.
- To provide students
with knowledge in a specific subject area.
Traditionally, students have learned from technologies. That is, the
technology has been used as a delivery tool to communicate a message
to students just as students have learned from teachers. This is usually
achieved through drill and practise, tutorials and games and is known
as Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI).
- To provide students
with a cognitive tool to promote meaningful learning.
The role of technology in education should be to allow students to learn
with technologies. Technology is a tool for engaging students in the
construction of their knowledge and understanding. Students would use
computer-based tools such as databases, spreadsheets, hypermedia construction,
networks (such as the Internet) and learning environments which serve
as extensions of the mind, therefore referred to as Mindtools. Learners
enter into an intellectual partnership with computers by accessing and
interpreting information and by organizing personal knowledge.
Meaningful learning
will occur when technologies engage learners in:
- Knowledge construction,
not reproduction.
- Conversation,
not reception.
- Articulation,
not repetition.
- Collaboration,
not competition.
- Reflection,
not prescription.
Discussion possibilities
- How might and should
new technologies change the goals, processes, results and organization
of education?
- How do we define
criteria for assessing the design and use of educational technologies
in education?
- What is the difference
between technology integration and an add-on application of technology
in education?
- What is needed
to make good use of new educational technologies in education?
- Describe the instruction
in your own classroom or, if you are not a classroom teacher, describe
a classroom you have observed or participated in, then explain the curriculum
goals in this classroom. What do you want curriculum in your classroom
to look like?
- Look over your
existing teaching materials.Are there areas within your current lesson
plans where you could integrate technology effectively?
Readings and links
Hopper, K (1999).
Mastering the Invisible Technologies in Education: Who are the real technology
Prodigies Among College Teachers? Educational Technology, 39(1), 50-56.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.
Jonassen, D. H. (2000).
Computers as Mindtools for Schools: Engaging Critical Thinking Second
Edition. Chapter 1, What are Mindtools? and Chapter 2, Critical Thinking:
The Goal of Mindtools. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Norris, B. (2000).
A Dream Come True. TechLEARNING. CMP Media, Inc.URL http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/norris.htm.
Russell, S (1996).Embrace
Technology, Teachers Told. ATA News, 30(16). URL http://www.teachers.ab.ca/publications/news/_volume_30/number_16/edtech.html.
Thornburg, D. (1999).
The Second Renaissance is at Hand. PBS Teacher Source. URL http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/thornburg/thornburg0100.shtm.
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