The Impact of Technology on Education

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The Impact of Technology on Education

• Liz Adkins
• Erik Green
• Holly Miller-McGuire
• Annemarie Rajnicek
• Jennifer Tedeschi

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• We must open the doors of opportunity. But we
  must also equip our people to walk through those
  doors.
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• video

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Pre-Assessment

• What is the importance of technology in the
  classroom?
• How do you think technology effects school
  budgeting and funding?
• Who do you think makes funding decisions
  regarding technology in a school district?
  Building? Department?
• How do you see technology impacting the future of
  education?

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Why Technology? Why Not?

• Brian McElfish, technology coordinator and math
  teacher at Serrano Intermediate School in Lake
  Forest, CA, is concerned that students who use
  outdated equipment and old technologies risk
  boredom and lower interest in schoolwork. In fact
  giving them the freedom to use current
  technology in what, for them, may be new and
  creative ways seems to create a sense of buy-in
  to the material.

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Why Technology?

• Academic Content Standards
• Nature of Technology
• Technology and Society Interaction
• Technology for Productivity Applications
• Technology and Communication Applications
• Technology and Information Literacy
• Design
• Design World

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Why Technology?

• Students learn best by doing and exploring on
  their own.
• To engage our students in learning activities
  that are relevant and exciting.
• To differentiate instruction for our students to
  enhance learning.

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Political Implications

• In a January 2005 report entitled The National
  Technology Plan, President George W. Bushs
  Education Department praises the No Child Left
  Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 as a chief reason why
  schools are looking to technology to help kids.
• According to a 2000 research study the percentage
  of classrooms with Internet access has gone from
  twenty-seven percent in 1997 to eighty-two
  percent in 2000. In fact, in the year 2000 Ohio
  ranked fourth in the nation when it came to
  integrating technology into its schools.

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Political Implications

• Students on Individualized Education Programs
  (IEPs) have a right to services, even when they
  are not in school
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (P.L.
  105-17, 1997) FAPE
• LRE
• Online learning communities, electronic
  textbooks, assistive technology, digital
  academies

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Political Implications

• Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPA)
  and the Child Online Protection Act (CIPA).
• BESS- filtering systems
• Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

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The Enhancement of Student Achievement

• Basic Uses
• Computer assisted instruction to drill
• Multi-media software
• Video and audio technologies - bring material to
  life
• Distance learning, online learning communities,
  and digital academies
• Web quests and Telecollaborative projects
• Interactive Tools
• Virtual Experiments/labs
• WiMAX
• Podcasting
• Video Games

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The Enhancement of Student Achievement

• Assessment of Student Progress
• More comprehensive with multimedia
• Assessments which require students active
  participation
• Electronic portfolios

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Then Enhancement of Student Achievement

• Student Motivation
• They like it better (intrinsic motivation)
• Increased family involvement
• Improved teachers skills
• Improved School Administration and Management
• Multiple Intelligences and Blooms Taxonomy

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Professional Development A Key Ingredient to
Success

• School districts currently spend an average of
  nine percent of their technology budget on
  training, far below the thirty percent
  recommended by U.S. Department of Education.
• (MacPherson, 2000)

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Professional Development A Key Ingredient to
Success

• "Best practices" are likely to emerge according
  such alternative paradigms as the following (1)
  A well-developed and well-taught course using IT
  may require a team of instructors from different
  disciplines (e.g., engineering, art). (2) A
  well-developed course using IT may require
  substantial development time in advance of the
  actual presentation of the course by a
  collaborative team of instructors and research
  assistants.

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Professional Development A Key Ingredient to
Success

• There will need to be a robust and financially
  supportable model of team teaching, of adequately
  compensating instructors for course development
  work (e.g., through course relief or stipends),
  and of more flexible use of TA and RA funds.

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Professional Development A Key Ingredient to
Success

• District or building wide workshops
• etech Ohio offers a variety of workshops
• Teachers teaching teachers
• Online professional development and training

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• And now
• examples of emerging educational technology

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Digital Academy

• These schools were established to reach students
  that currently do not attend traditional brick
  and mortar schools. Digital Academies use
  certified teachers. They are able to serve
  full-time and part-time students. All courses are
  taught using the internet and e-mail. The
  curriculum follows state standards established by
  the Ohio Department of Education. Students are
  admitted at no cost and the digital academy
  usually provides a computer, a printer/scanner
  for the students use.
• This type of technology enables students who are
  home-bound, hospital-bound or on an IEP to learn
  in their specific LRE.

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Online Learning Communities

• An Online Learning Community is a common place on
  the Internet that addresses the learning needs of
  its members through proactive partnerships.
  Through social networking and technology, people
  work as a community to achieve a learning
  objective as defined by the educator. (Examples
  Moodle and Blackboard)

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Wimax

• According to Grabianowski and Brain (2006) WIMAX
  is a wireless network similar to WiFi, but
  operates at faster speeds, over greater
  distances, and for a greater according to
  Grabianowski and Brain (2006) WIMAX is a wireless
  network similar to WiFi, but operates at faster
  speeds, over greater distances, and for a greater
  number of users. The same authors contend that
  the biggest benefit of WIMAX isnt speed its
  distance. (up to 50 miles)
• Some schools are buying into this so that
  students have Internet access 27/7 365 at home
  in school.
• number of users. The same authors contend that
  the biggest benefit of WIMAX isnt speed its
  distance. (up to 50 miles)
• Some schools are buying into this so that
  students have Internet access 27/7 365 at home
  in school.

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Podcasting

• One does not need an iPod for podcasting b/c any
  digital music player that plays MP3s, including
  a PC or iMac with audio software, can download
  and play podcast audio.
• According to Robert Craven, coordinator of the
  Orange County Department of Education in
  California, Theyve got them, theyre bringing
  them to class lets find a way to use them for
  class.
• Home, school, in the car with mom,
  exercisingstudents can listen to podcasts
  everywhere
• Example

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Technology Games

• We should give individuals the opportunity to
  exhibit their understandings by means of media
  and representations that make sense to them
  (Veenema and Gardner, 1996)
• According to Veenema and Gardner (1996),
  technology can become a valuable educational
  tool, but only if we use it to capitalize on our
  new understanding of how the human mind works.

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Multimedia Software

• Multimedia- The combined use of media, such as
  movies, music, lighting, CD-ROMs, and the
  Internet, as for education or entertainment.
• KidPix
• Microsoft Office Suite
• Hyper Studio
• Inspiration/ Kidspiration
• Story Book Weaver
• Web Based
• Graphic.org
• Activestudio

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Webquests

• In education, a Webquest is a research activity
  in which students collect information, where most
  of the information comes from the World Wide Web.
  It was first invented by Bernie Dodge in 1995.
• An inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all
  of the information that learners interact with
  comes from resources on the internet, optionally
  supplemented with videoconferencing
• Students typically complete Webquests in groups.
  Each student in each group then has a "role," or
  specific area to research. group work also makes
  them popular examples of cooperative learning.
• Example

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Telecollaborative

• A Telecollaborative Project is an activity where
  students collaborate using the Internet to solve
  an information problem. Telecollaborative
  projects can be done in any subject at any grade
  level. They include opportunities for integrating
  technology, exchange of information and
  development of critical and creative thinking to
  occur.  An Internet project can be many, many
  things. It can be as simple as an exchange of
  email between children in different locations,
  developing a new web site on your next classroom
  topic or it can be as ambitious as collecting
  original data from the ends of the earth to
  produce new knowledge and original insight into
  the nature of our world.
• Example

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Assistive Technology

• AT promotes greater independence for people with
  disabilities by enabling them to perform tasks
  that they were formerly unable to accomplish, or
  had great difficulty accomplishing, by providing
  enhancements to or changed methods of interacting
  with the technology needed to accomplish such
  tasks. According to disability advocates,
  technology, all too often, is created without
  regard to people with disabilities, and
  unnecessary barriers make new technology
  inaccessible to hundreds of millions.
• Screen readers, eBooks, computer programs, voice
  recognition software, universal design

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Virtual Experiments/Labs

• Being able to perform the experiment anytime,
  anywhere, is one of the major benefits of a
  virtual lab. Muniram Budhu, a professor of civil
  engineering at the College of Engineering and
  Mines at the University of Arizona, says the 24/7
  access was a blessing for a disabled student.
• One virtual dissection lab can be found at
  http//teach.virginia.edu/go/frog/

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Distance learning

• Distance learning is a field of education that
  focuses on instructional system design that is
  effectively incorporated in delivering education
  to students who are not physically "on site" to
  receive their education. Teachers and students
  may communicate asynchronously (at times of their
  own choosing) by exchanging printed or electronic
  media, or through technology that allows them to
  communicate in real time (synchronously).

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The Costs

• Billions of dollars are spent each year in
  enhancing our schools with the most up to date
  technological equipment.
• Technology includes televisions, telephones,
  computers, copy machines, DVD/CD players,
  internet connection, software, printers,
  scanners, interactive equipment, and the list
  goes on

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The Costs

• Schools continue to invest money into their
  programs.
• In 2004, eighty-six percent of teachers reported
  having desktop computers in their classrooms.
• Student to computer ratios have dropped to one
  computer per every four students.
• Some schools do not have the funding to keep up
  with the changes while others let equipment sit
  and collect dust because of the lack of knowledge
  on how to effectively use the equipment.
• (ODwyer, 2004)

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The Costs

• The initial costs for setup include hardware,
  printers, peripherals, webcams, digital cameras,
  memory cards, projectors, tables, chairs,
  software, speakers, licenses, tech support,
  professional development.
• This can result in over seventy thousand dollars
  in initial set up costs alone for a computer lab
  of twenty-five computers.

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The Costs

• A funding plan helps to balance expenditures.
• Very easy to overspend on hardware and leave too
  little for staff development, instructional
  materials, and technology support.
• Financial plan should include infrastructure,
  maintenance, and support services.
• Baseline allocations fifty percent should be
  spent on hardware, twenty percent for
  instructional software and media, and thirty
  percent for training and teacher support.
• Things to considerIT costs, including what is
  imperative, short-term, and long-term

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Teacher Resource

• Edline
• Edline is a web based communication program
  between school and home.
• Homework assignments
• Upcoming projects, test, quizzes
• Grades
• Podcasts
• Links
• Calendars that consolidate information
• http//www.edline.com