Preparing teachers for tomorrows technology enhanced classrooms

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Preparing teachers for tomorrows technology
enhanced classrooms

• Michael L. Connell, Ph.D.
• 344 FAH
• College of Education
• University of Houston
• Houston, TX 77204
• MKahnl_at_aol.com

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A Few Thoughts On Educational Technology and
Change

• Students today can't prepare bark to calculate
  their problems. They depend upon their slates
  which are more expensive. What will they do when
  the slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be
  unable to write.
• ...Teachers Conference, 1703

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• Students today can't depend upon store bought
  ink. They don't know how to make their own.
  When they run out of ink, they will be unable to
  write words or cipher until their next trip to
  the settlement. This is a sad commentary on
  modern times.
• ...Rural American Teacher 1829

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• Ball point pens will be the ruin of education in
  our country. Students use these devices and then
  throw them away! The American virtues of thrift
  and frugality are being discarded. Business and
  banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.
• ...Federal Teacher, 1959

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• Calculators and computers will be the ruin of
  Math education. Students will never learn math
  concepts. How will they calculate when they
  don't have their calculator with them.
• ...Many Teachers Today

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Changes in Society

• Society is rapidly changing from an industrial
  focus emphasizing manufacturing to a highly
  information-centered orientation. This change in
  focus has created dramatic changes in the nature
  of life and environment in the society we live
  in.

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Harnisch, D. L. Connell, M. L. (1991). An
introduction to educational information
technology. 3rd Edition. NEC Technical
College Kawasaki, Japan.
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Change is not a constant!

• We have already seen dramatic changes in the
  nature of life and society. Furthermore, changes
  in an information-based society occur at a
  continuously accelerating rate.

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Information Overload

• As information management tools become more
  common in the work place, in school and at home,
  the time that is spent in dealing with
  information will become greater.
• Furthermore, we are often at a loss to evaluate
  the reliability and accuracy of the information
  we are buried under.

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Drinking from the Fire Hose

• Notice we haven't even mentioned the internet and
  its implications for education yet!
• It is often said that researching a topic on the
  internet is like trying to drink from a fire hose
  you get more than you want, or can even handle,
  but it certainly is what you need!

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So now what?

• How can we help prepare teachers to manage this
  flood of information for effective teaching? And
  what kind of teachers should we prepare?

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Who will teach in an Information-Based
Society?

• Some people still imagine a teacher-replacement
  scenario when thinking of technology in the
  classroom. In this view discussion concentrates
  on replacing teachers with machines, and the
  perceived efficiency of teaching.

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The Human Case

• Such an approach comes from a basic
  misunderstanding of the foundational role of
  teacher. In this simplified perspective a
  teacher is viewed as a mere provider of stimulus,
  evaluator of results, and guide to next stimulus
  in other words a human Skinner box.

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Does this look familiar?
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Teaching Thinking

• However, education involves human growth. Thus
  the mere development of new information sources
  and presentation schemes does not immediately
  lead to improvements in wisdom -- or pedagogical
  methods.
• We cannot limit ourselves to simplified models of
  teaching which reproduce a Skinner box!

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Expert Teachers in Technology Enhanced Classrooms

• The role of the teacher, far from being replaced
  by a simple instructional delivery system, is
  actually more critical in a technologically
  enhanced classroom.

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Teachers Roles Are Enhanced As Well

• The tremendous flow of information possible in a
  technology enhanced classroom, coupled with the
  immense modeling and tools which technology
  enables, makes the role of teacher of critical
  importance.

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How should we teach in an information society?

• Clearly we must enable our teachers to become not
  just skilled at using technological tools, but to
  become skilled at knowledge creation, validation,
  and enabling these same skills in others.

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Teacher Competencies in an Information Society

• A competent teacher is not only skilled in
  observing students' behavior, analyzing student
  data and evaluating student performance but also
  is skilled in using technology to gather
  information and prepare instructional materials,
  present lessons, and obtain students' feedback.

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A Guide to Information

• A competent teacher serves as a guide to
  information resources. The teacher must be able
  to analyze new information and evaluate existing
  information within the context of a meaningful
  problem setting.

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Problem Solving in an Information Society.

• A legitimate problem for investigation using a
  computer might involve
• Identification and selection of what data to
  include in a problem
• Identification of problem goals
• selection of appropriate procedures and control
  statements
• Verification of obtained results.

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Thoughts on the Role of Teaching

• The best environment for students is not created
  solely by installing an expensive CAI system or
  by preparing fine instructional materials. It can
  only be created by having a pool of capable
  teachers.
• Such teachers must be as comfortable with
  pedagogy as they are with content. They must be
  as comfortable with a student as they are with a
  computer mouse.

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Student Skills in an Information Society

• A primary objective of education in an
  information society should be to enable students
  to
• receive information and respond to it
  intelligently,
• create information that is considered to have
  high value by others,
• select and comprehend information required for
  creation of new ideas,
• communicate one's thought accurately and
  concisely using appropriate representations.

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Closing Thoughts

• We must ask the difficult questions concerning at
  what point technology enters into educational
  efforts and the affects upon desired educational
  values. If not, we run a great risk of
  misapplication which could seriously damage the
  educational enterprise.
• On the other hand, when the goals, values and
  assumptions of education - including a careful
  examination of the role of the teacher - are
  carefully considered the adoption of technology
  may well live up to it's promise as a powerful
  educational tool.

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References

• Harnisch, D. L. Connell, M. L. (1991). An
  introduction to educational information
  technology. 3rd Edition. NEC Technical
  CollegeKawasaki, Japan.
• Connell, M. L. (1997). AI or IA The Choice is
  Yours! Educational Technology Review, Summer(7),
  27-29.