Technology as a Catalyst for Education Reform

John Cradler and Elizabeth Bridgforth, WestEd



How will the integration of technology and telecommunications support educational reform efforts from the state to the classroom level?



A. National Perspective

One of the core components of the Goals 2000 initiative is that all states will develop comprehensive educational plans to support the attainment of the National Education Goals. The NII (as it develops) and related technologies can be key supports for education reform efforts. Serious consideration should be given to educational applications of technology in plans under development at the national, state, and local levels. For these reasons the NCC-TET established a requirement to: Integrate applications of the NII and related technologies into education (NCC-TET, 1994).

Participants in the FARNetÐCoSN Forum envisioned the information-age school as the locus and catalyst for active, collaborative, lifelong learning -- among educators, between teacher and student, among learners of all ages and conditions regionally, nationally, and globally, within the school, and between the school and community. For all these learners, networking and other advanced technologies are commonplace tools. The educator's traditional role expands to include facilitator, innovator, researcher, and electronic publisher. All stakeholders, including practitioners and parents, contribute to the school's site-based management and play active roles in decision-making about technology and instruction (Breeden, 1994).

In commenting on technology and reform, Forum participants concluded, "change will be neither swift nor easy." Many educational leaders have little understanding of or experience in using and managing advanced technologies; many practitioners are fixed in their attitudes toward using technology in the classroom; many communities view schools as "islands" and are accustomed to playing only a limited role in the formal education process. "The business community and schools too often continue to view one another as unfamiliar or unequal partners. However, the potential of networking to transform and revitalize education is a strong incentive for new ways of thinking (Breeden, 1994)."

Recognizing the responsibility to prepare students to work and live in a technological society, most states and school districts have adopted standards for teaching students with and about technology. For example, in a 1994 survey conducted for the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), 43 states reported that they require or recommend integrating computers or information technology into the curriculum, and 19 states require high school seniors to demonstrate computer competency before graduating (Anderson, 1994). The ability to use technology has come to be recognized as an indispensable skill for students. The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) stated this in the starkest terms: "Those unable to use . . . [technology] face a lifetime of menial work" (SCANS, 1991).


B. Linking Education Reforms and Technology

During the past decade, the need for widespread education reform became the focal point of educators, politicians, and the general public. The 1983 publication, A Nation at Risk, helped to bring national attention to the declining effectiveness of schools in preparing students to be contributing citizens. At about the same time, microcomputers were becoming increasingly available in schools. However, educators had few ideas for effectively incorporating technology into the instructional environment, escalating the growing national concern that schools were ineffective. The school reform movement had taken two different paths to address deficiencies in the educational system (Campoy, 1992):
The first approach, spurred by the shortcomings identified in A Nation at Risk, sought to improve schools through stringent accountability requirements for the existing structure (Campoy, 1992). Reformers supporting this approach view technology as playing an important role in standardizing and automating instructional and administrative procedures so educators are better able to establish and monitor achievement of measurable goals.

The second approach, triggered by the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy report, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century, called for incorporating technology within systemic change. Those advocating the restructuring approach view technology as being an essential catalyst to bring about systemic change to education reform (Campoy, 1992; and Smith, O'Day, and Fuhrman, 1992). Restructuring with technology involves a shift to learner-centered instruction, cooperative learning opportunities for students and collaborative efforts for teachers, and a de-emphasis on the traditional school/class time constraints. This approach also involves active engagement in problem solving and assessment based on performance outcomes instead of isolated pieces of knowledge as measured in achievement tests (Bagley and Hunter, 1992; Newman, 1992).

In the last 10 years, educators have attempted numerous but fragmented approaches for incorporating technology into the education reform movement. In the Educational Media and Technology Yearbook for 1990, the editors issued a warning that we are in danger of repeating old mistakes. An excerpt is cited from a 1977 speech delivered by the first U.S. Secretary of Education, Terrel H Bell, addressing the snail's pace at which educational changes take place relative to technology.

The education system is having a slow and difficult time adopting technological advances which could multiply the efficiency of instruction. Much of the task of storing and retrieving information and presenting it to students will be done by the computer . . . We must somehow learn to persuade the decision makers to shake up and change our approach to teaching and learning. The potential of technology must be used to provide the nation a more effective and productive education enterprise. American education is wobbling down an electronic avenue in an oxcart!


Bell's comment is remarkably appropriate today, given the isolated quick-fix approach often adopted for including technology to facilitate school reform (Wood and Smellie, 1990).


C. Preliminary Research Findings

Technology is rapidly emerging as a critical component, as well as catalyst, for education reform. Far West Laboratory studied the impact of educational technologies from 1984 to 1991, conducted extensive research on the California Model Technology School Projects, and conducted a comprehensive state by state analysis of state educational technology plans and legislation. A study, Accomplished Teachers: Integrating Computers into Classroom Practice, (Hadley and Sheingold, 1990), found that technology and telecommunications use changes teaching in ways that support current educational reform efforts. For example, the study reports that technology enables teachers to increase individualized student-centered work, spend less time lecturing to the entire class, better present more complex materials, and expect more from students. These findings are illustrated as follows:



The goal of systemic change -- recreating an education system in which all students can reach much more challenging performance standards -- puts the potential of technology in a different light. The question is no longer how to use technology to do the same thing better. The question is how to use technology to change practice to reach new goals -- as a catalyst for change and as a tool in creating, implementing, managing, and communicating a new conception of teaching and learning, as well as a system that supports it. The old goals assessed by standardized achievement tests will not fall by the wayside. In fact, there is evidence that "basic skills" as defined by these tests are learned at least as well, if not better, through the kinds of more intellectually challenging experiences (Knapp, 1992). The following chart presents an overview of shifts in teachers' beliefs and practices.



Numerous examples of how technology can be used to transform teaching and learning exist across a wide variety of students and settings. These examples demonstrate that, under certain conditions, technology can stimulate and facilitate the introduction of project-based activities, student and teacher collaboration, and cross-disciplinary work. These experiences also document a range of outcomes that extend well beyond skill-based multiple choice terms.

Each of these efforts demonstrates that technology can be the vehicle for significantly changing what happens in classrooms and greatly expanding how and what students learn. For example, it has been reported that high school students, after four years of exposure to computers as tools for exploration, "became independent and collaborative problem-solvers, communicators, record-keepers, and learners with the computers" (Tierney, et al 1992).

Although these interventions differ in technology applications, subject matter, student characteristics, and numerous other factors, they share three significant factors.: first, they are based on the premise that understanding and problem solving require activities that engage students in constructing knowledge; second, they incorporate intensive support for teachers' professional development; and third, they involve only a small number of classrooms or schools.

In fact, the success of these projects has less to do with technology and more to do with the philosophy of learning and conception of professional development that they embody. Project staff provide ongoing assistance, facilitation, and professional development to teachers in support of transforming their practice. These knowledgeable people are available on site and online to guide, cajole, and answer questions, as well as to offer specific training, development, and support. These support staff are learning alongside teachers what it takes to create inquiry-based learning environments. This is a far cry from the traditional workshop/training model of professional development. It is much closer to the kinds of learning opportunities teachers are asked to create for students (David, 1994).


D. Learning Reform Enhanced by and Supportive of Technology

Effective computer and telecommunication use requires a different educational model. School reform advocates have pushed for "changes to educational models" for many decades. Yet, only recently has technology presented much of an interest to them. With the advent of graphics processing and hypermedia authoring, the computer has become as powerful a tool for constructing knowledge as it has been for information consumption. Constructivism, one of the theories promoting a new educational model, requires children to invent their own ideas. The Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia University, describes the Constructivist agenda as primarily motivated by "a recognition that most, if not all, knowledge domains are complex and ill-structured in a number of ways that require a mastery and experience with a broad range of cases that reflect the complexity and diversity of the field" (The Institute for Learning Technologies, 1994). Constructivists feel that learning requires a significant degree of practical experience with the application of principles, and that the learning process operates through acculturation, like natural language knowledge and skill. More specific practices, such as 'cognitive apprenticeship' and 'collaborative learning,' emerge from these general principles, creating an ideal environment for information production via computer. Means and Olson (1994) outline five features of reformed classrooms, using a long-term class assignment called Local Heroes Project to illustrate their points:
  1. An authentic, challenging task is their starting point. Picking their own topic, a fifth grade class with limited proficiency in English at Frank Paul Elementary School decides to write about local minority leaders. This project includes creating their own materials by conducting and videotaping interviews and then composing written highlights.
  2. All students practice advanced skills. Complex tasks involve both basic skills and advanced, higher level thinking skills. Students prepare for interviews by analyzing interviews with famous people and then develop questions to elicit certain information and generate interesting responses.
  3. Work takes place in heterogeneous, collaborative groups. The class realizes the difficulty of individuals conducting interviews and taking notes at the same time, so they split into groups of three. Students help each other transcribe the interviews and log the video footage.
  4. The teacher is a coach. Unlike older practices of fading into the background, the teacher provides the structure of the project and actively supports students' performances and reflections. The teacher facilitates the higher level questions and helps students overcome self-consciousness before interviewing.
  5. Work occurs over extended blocks of time. "Serious intellectual activity" doesn't fit into 50-minute periods for a set number of days. Long term projects like this challenge the conventional schedule filled with small blocks of instructional time (Sewell, 1995).
The Local Heroes Project relies on technology to operate, while not allowing machines to become the driving force behind the learning. The authors point out that "our observations in settings that couple technology with education reform suggest that the technology certainly amplifies what teachers are able to do and what they expect from students" (Means and Olson). One reason that technology has this positive effect is that teachers see complex assignments as feasible. Database programs with graphing capabilities help teachers understand the possibilities of longer term projects with extensive data collection and analysis. When these projects combine research with other schools over the Internet, exciting new discoveries can be made. A popular activity called the Shadow Project teaches children about triangulation, the circumference of the earth, and averaging data. Students first measure the length of a shadow cast by a ruler at high noon and then they find the class average of the measurements. The results are exchanged with other participating schools across the world and provide enough information to calculate the circumference. Once again, the technology simply enables the projects to occur without controlling the content (Sewell, 1995).


E. Technology Facilitates Transformations in Thinking and Working

When the Apple Classroom of Tomorrow (ACOT) entered its third year, new insights continued to be gained. An in-depth study of a sample of students' thinking processes began to show significant change in the way they thought and worked. Teachers began teaming, working across disciplines, and modifying school schedules to accommodate ambitious class projects. Most teachers also used the technology as a tool to accomplish personal tasks. In addition, teachers' lessons and students' projects began demonstrating mastery of technology and frequently integrated several kinds of media. The comment of a teacher at the high school expressed a common sentiment:
As you work into using the computer in the classroom, you start questioning everything you have done in the past, and wonder how you can adapt it to the computer. Then, you start questioning the whole concept of what you originally did. I guess I have to realize that what I am doing is learning how to undo my thinking.
For this teacher and others, personal efforts to make technology an integral part of their classrooms opened them to the possibilities of redefining how they went about providing opportunities for students to learn.

By the end of year four, ACOT classrooms had become an interesting mix of the traditional and nontraditional. Teachers were experimenting with new kinds of tasks for students. In addition to becoming comfortable with new patterns of collegial interaction, they also encouraged far more collaboration among their students. In most instances, teachers had altered the physical setup of their classrooms and modified daily schedules to permit students more time to work on projects. They also provided more opportunities for students to use a broader mix of learning and communication tools. Finally, teachers struggled with the need for new methods of evaluation that could capture the unique ways students were demonstrating their mastery of skills and concepts. Experimentation with both performance- and portfolio-based assessment began throughout most sites (Dwyer, 1994).


F. Summary

Technology can serve as a catalyst to promote educational reform. The National perspective discusses the role of technology to support educational reform as suggested in Goals 2000 and the Improving Americas Schools Act. Both indicate that attainment of the National Education Goals can be greatly facilitated by the appropriate use of technology. Technology can increase opportunities for students to engage in the challenging and enriching curriculum -- especially in rural areas where students are typically isolated from educational opportunities taken for granted in urban regions of the country.

Many examples exist of how technology, if properly applied, can move teachers' beliefs and practices from instruction to "construction". It can shift instruction from Teacher didactic to learner-centered and interactive, from fact telling to teacher-student collaboration, from memorization to inquiry and invention, from the accumulation of facts to the transformation of facts, and from the use of standardized tests to relevant portfolio and performance-based assessments.


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