Articles
by C. Paul Newhouse: Edith Cowan University
The concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) was developed in the 1970s and has been applied to research into many types of educational innovations. This article discusses the use of CBAM by a number of researchers concerned with the implementation of computers in schools. In particular, it focuses on a longitudinal study during the 1990s concerned with the use of student-owned portable computers at a secondary school. One component of this study employed the three key dimensions of CBAM to assist in an understanding of the implementation. CBAM was found to be very useful in explaining the actions of teachers and in providing a basis on which to develop a theoretical model for the implementation of portable computers in schools.
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
During the past few years, a major trend throughout the United States has been to assess teachers' technology usage in the classroom. The motivation behind the movement to assess teachers, students, parents, and administrators has varied. Some stakeholders use the data to satisfy federal grant requirements or state mandates; others use the data to plan staff development classes and workshops for their colleagues. Teachers sometimes want to self-assess their technology skills or level of technology integration to create meaningful and targeted action plans for their own professional development. Download the full article.
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
The race to get classrooms connected to the web has been unprecedented since the days following Sputnik and the rapid mobilization of resources to improve K-12 math and science education in the United States via the passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958. Today, close to 84% of the teachers across the country have at least one computer in the classroom while over half of these teachers are connected with high speed access to the Internet. The proliferation of hardware and software has provided students and faculty with fingertip access to easy-to-use, yet powerful productivity tools, multimedia applications, and virtual simulations to support the learning environment in ways never thought possible. Such a massive push to wire the schools; however, has not come without its price.Download the full article.
by Dr. Sylvia Charp
The use of technology as a tool in education for instruction and management is now accepted. But, I remember my own experiences as director of instructional systems and technology for the Philadelphia School District many years ago, when technology was thought to be a frill. Every year, when budgets were submitted and items needed to be eliminated, we had to justify our use of technology. Finally, the superintendent decided to eliminate the programs requiring technology in favor of football and other sports activities. I'm sure other school systems were similarly affected. I met the superintendent many years later, after I resigned, and she admitted she might have been wrong.
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
How exactly can we quantify how teachers are using technology in the classroom and the general academic achievement that results from their instructional technology (IT) practices? As school systems nationwide plan their purchases of additional hardware, software, and related peripherals as well as their related staff development activities, information about each school's current IT practices is critical. Recent studies have found strong links among technology, academic achievement, staff development, and classroom instructional practices. Download full article.
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
A local news station documenting the current status of computers in the schools provided a provocative comparison between the stereotyped "haves" versus "have-nots". At one school, parents, teachers, and students were viewed as trapped with aging Apple IIe computers collecting dust in some remote computer lab while their contemporaries on the other side of the tracks were seen enjoying the fruits of a recently passed-bond levy--new Power Macintosh computers with full AV capability connected by an Ethernet configuration with unlimited access to the global internet.Download the full article.
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
Since the introduction of the Apple IIe computer in the early 1980's, the term "technology" has represented a broad range of interests and has been the subject of numerous interpretations. In school systems nationwide, technology has been the focus of curriculum renewal projects and school funding debates, and has served as the rallying cry for ushering many school districts into the 21st century. Our fascination with technology stems, in a large degree, from its ambiguity within existing paradigms. Does technology represent things (e.g., computers, modems, pencils, microscopes, televisions), words or ideas (e.g., progress, change), processes (e.g., animal breeding, voting), or delivery systems (e.g., expert versus novice systems)?Download the full article.
by George W. Gagnon, Jr. and Michelle Collay
Teachers and teacher educators make different meanings of constructivist learning theory. At a recent retreat with facilitators of learning communities for teachers who were studying in a Masters of Education program, we were talking about our common reading of The Case for Constructivist Classrooms. We asked the ten facilitators to answer this question, "What is constructivism?" The results were interesting because all of their definitions were quite different and reflected their own understanding of the term and the text. This was a clear demonstration that what we read does not produce a single meaning but that understanding is constructed by the readers who bring prior knowledge and experience to the text and make their own meaning as they interact with the author's words.
by Matthew S. Eastin and Robert LaRose
Internet self-efficacy, or the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute courses of Internet actions required to produce given attainments, is a potentially important factor in efforts to close the digital divide that separates experienced Internet users from novices. Prior research on Internet self-efficacy has been limited to examining specific task performance and narrow behavioral domains rather than overall attainments in relation to general Internet use, and has not yielded evidence of reliability and construct validity. Survey data were collected to develop a reliable operational measure of Internet self-efficacy and to examine its construct validity. An eight-item Internet self-efficacy scale developed for the present study was found to be reliable and internally consistent. Prior Internet experience, outcome expectancies and Internet use were significantly and positively correlated to Internet self-efficacy judgments. Internet stress and self-disparagement were negatively related to Internet self-efficacy.
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
Precisely what should the model technology integration classroom look like? Does such a classroom imply that each student has ready access to a computer, modem, CD-ROM player, and the Internet? To the contrary, the model technology integration classrooms illustrated in this article possess relatively few computers or, in some cases, access computers exclusively through the school's computer lab or library. What makes these classrooms truly unique is the manner in which computers are used as a tool to support student thinking and reasoning skills across the curriculum.Download the full article.
