A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Technology and Education Reform: Technical Research Report - August 1995

Chapter 5 (continued)

Giving Teachers Time to Learn to Use Technology

Providing time for technology-supported education reform is critical. Observers of pioneering efforts in this area argue that changes do not occur overnight. In earlier studies, researchers have concluded that something on the order of 3 to 5 years is required for teachers to become really adept at incorporating technology into their teaching practice (Sheingold, 1990; Stearns et al., 1991). Innovations can be stymied if policy-makers or the public expect tangible results in the year after the bond issue passes. Indeed, there are cases in which a disgruntled community has dismantled a technology-based innovation because of failure to find near-term positive effects on standardized test scores (Elmer-DeWitt, 1991; Means and Olson, 1994). Schools and districts undertaking technology-supported education reforms need to understand that this is a long-term process (an issue discussed more thoroughly below), and teachers need to be given the supports and the time to become comfortable with technology and to learn to use it effectively.

For new programs, an initial period for administrators and teachers to engage in critical planning, team building, and technology exploration is of critical importance. The principal at South Creek was hired a year in advance of the opening of the school. Teachers attended extensive training and planning sessions during the summer, and collaborative planning time was built into the daily schedule. The school-within-a-school staff at East City High School was brought together for a summer institute to lay the groundwork for the program and to become familiar with the technology. The summer institutes (sponsored by Apple) continued for the first few years of the project. Staffing and class schedules were arranged so that the teachers had afternoons for planning and preparation. During its first 4 years, lead teachers at the School of the Future were given year-round positions, providing large blocks of time during the summer for developing the program and learning the technology.

The kinds of challenging, complex tasks involving technology that we want teachers to pose for students take time to design (or adapt to local curricular goals). The virtue lies not in the technology per se but in the instructional context within which it is used. Teachers need time to design such activities, to try them out, and to gain feedback regarding their strengths and weaknesses. They need time to observe each other trying out new kinds of activities and making interesting uses of technology. As noted above, this kind of competence typically takes years to develop. But the years themselves will not be sufficient unless places are made within teacher schedules where these activities can occur.

Exhibit 5 describes some of the innovative ways in which case study sites provided time (and the necessary supports) for teachers to learn about technology and to work on instructional applications for their classrooms. Most of the schools provided teachers with at least a modest number of extra in-service days and specialized training in technology use. Several sites went much farther, restructuring the school day with provision for time in which teachers could confer, plan, and develop innovative curriculum units. Several other sites, while not providing supported time during the regular school day, received outside funding that compensated teachers for time spent on technology-related activities outside the regular school schedule. In a significant number of our case studies, however, teachers' main source of time for learning about technology and designing technology-based activities was before and after school and on weekends. Clearly, there are limits to the number of teachers who will devote this kind of time without compensation and to the amount of time that they can volunteer." At the Maynard Computer Mini-School, for instance, teachers had given up prep periods to have smaller class sizes and autonomy. This trade-off left them with little time to plan or learn to use technology. Most stay in at lunch with a subset of their students. Their only scheduled time in the computer room is with their students; during these periods, the regular classroom teachers tend to focus on classroom management while the technology coordinator leads activities.

Exhibit 5

Providing Time, Training, and Technical Support for
Instructional Uses of Technology

Innovative Scheduling and Staffing in a Middle School

South Creek Middle School uses an innovative schedule of four 85-minute blocks per day. Teachers provide instruction for three blocks and have the fourth block for personal or group planning (on alternate days). This schedule has provided teachers with much-needed time for mastering new skills (regarding technology and in other areas) and developing curriculum units and creates much greater flexibility, with opportunities to observe each other teach. In addition, a computer literacy teacher and an on-site technology manager (who is in charge of the school's network) demonstrate new technologies and do co-teaching, giving others a chance to observe instructional uses of new technology. Further opportunities for teachers to discuss their technology-based activities are provided at faculty meetings. The technology manager hosts a "promising practices" series at which teachers describe and demonstrate what they are doing with technology. An estimated half of the district-provided in-service days are devoted to refining skills in teaching with technology.

Support from an Outside Research Partner

In introducing large numbers of computers into the Progressive School, Apple was careful to provide a human infrastructure to support the technology implementation. For 6 years, the corporation funded a full-time, on-site technical coordinator, a half-time technical assistant, and a portion of the salary for a telecommunications coordinator. The technical coordinator in particular was credited by many teachers with helping them overcome the many hurdles to their use of technology. Although he helped solve technology problems as they arose, his greater role appeared to be in working with teachers as they thought through their instructional goals and started thinking about the specific uses of particular technologies that would enhance their activities. Teachers described calling the technology coordinator at home in the evenings and on weekends as they were working on class materials. The technology coordinator was a former teacher who took pains to play a supportive role with teachers rather than making them feel self-conscious about what they did not know about technology.

In addition, the corporation paid the teachers as consultants during their breaks to use technology to develop class materials. Teachers developed a number of interesting innovations, such as a HyperCard application that combines young students' writing with their drawing and a teacher-provided rewriting into standard English. Paying teachers as consultants not only gave them a financial incentive to participate in these activities but also gave them a tangible demonstration that their own knowledge of instructionally useful activities for various developmental levels was valued.

Our teacher interviews suggest that for those teachers who have not adopted technology within their classrooms (or who have not added new technology uses they think would be powerful), the lack of time is the most-often cited impediment to doing so.

The difficulty for me is the time. I'm married and I have two kids.... It's a real juggle.... I spend at least 5 or 6 hours a week outside of school on the computer doing something.

--Elementary school teacher
Technology planners need to come to grips with the fact that only a small proportion of teachers will develop technology skills entirely on their own time.

Scheduling Technology-Based Activities

We have already addressed the various approaches taken by the case study sites to provide a high level of computer access to their students (e.g., placing computers in classrooms, rotating portable computer labs, extending computer lab hours). At these schools, students were reported to use computers, on average, for slightly more than 5 hours a week. This level of computer access far exceeds the average of 40 minutes per week that has been reported elsewhere (Becker, 1994) and is attributable to the relatively high numbers of machines within many of the sites, as well as careful scheduling (especially in locations with fewer computers).

The importance of scheduling goes beyond the provision of technology access per se, however. The kinds of technology-supported project-based learning activities that have been advocated by education reformers, and are featured throughout this study, require a different approach to scheduling than the traditional model of education. Rather than segmenting time rigidly into discrete subject-specific periods of teacher lecture and individual seat work, project-based activities require extended blocks of time as students move from one aspect of a multifaceted task to another and work (often collaboratively) to bring their project to fruition. The need for large blocks of time is especially true of projects in which technology is being used as a tool to support a variety of tasks. At a most basic level, it takes time to move to the computers, pull up the necessary files, engage in the task at hand (e.g., word processing, database entry, calculation), and then save the file or produce a hard copy of one's work. Within the context of a collaborative complex project, it takes time to orchestrate the use of different tools for different tasks, to provide one another with ongoing assistance and feedback, and to engage in the critical thinking and problem solving that such a project entails. For this reason, a number of the case study schools chose to structure the school day around blocks of time considerably longer than those used conventionally. At the elementary level, project-based activities comprised the bulk of the school day in many case study school classrooms. At the middle and high school levels, where instruction tends to be more specialized, some schools opted for 85- and 90-minute periods, as opposed to the more traditional 50-minute allotment. Teachers found these longer blocks of time and the attendant flexibility about how they used time with their students to be important for technology-supported work:

Especially when we're working in the lab, I've got time to demonstrate something, give them samples of it, let them make something, or do a little problem solving.

--Industrial arts teacher at middle school with block scheduling

One teacher who had been accustomed to using learning stations in his class had been using 20-minute rotations with his fifth-grade students. When he started bringing technology and more complex projects into his class, he found that he needed to extend these to at least 40 minutes and sometimes more. Schools participating in TeacherNet activities found that their 50-minute periods were not compatible with network activities. A number of them changed their schedules so that students could spend more time on the network. Schools with traditional short periods that did not make adjustments found that the short blocks of time hindered their efforts to involve students in meaningful projects that included technology use.

Providing Adequate Space and Physical Infrastructure for Technology

It's an unfortunate reality in many of today's schools, particularly those serving children from low-income homes, that there is often literally no room for technology. Some case study schools found themselves basing decisions about where to place computers as much on where the equipment would fit as on any pedagogical grounds. One school used a separate "activity room" for hands-on science activities and many of its computer activities because it was so hard to fit computers physically into the regular classrooms. Another school did not have the option of setting up a computer lab because there was no classroom to spare.

Power is an issue for even more schools:

At the site we were at previous to this, we didn't have the electricity to run the computers.... We had 5 computers in each classroom, except one classroom that had 15 or 20 because they were on a different main line and they had the power to run the computers. If everyone had all five computers on at once, the fire alarm would go off!

--Elementary school teacher

Whereas schools housed in older buildings face such serious barriers in trying to introduce technology, new schools, designed with technology use in mind, experience both greater opportunities and potential pitfalls. South Creek and the School of the Future, the two case study schools totally renovated with technology use in mind, were able to include not only the proper wiring and power for computer and network use but also innovative features such as research labs structured around computer islands, spacious multimedia centers, and Discourse System classrooms resembling corporate training rooms. The disadvantage of some of these spaces became apparent, however, when there were changes in technology or in the way the room was used. For example, 3 years after the building's renovation, the Discourse Rooms and some of the labs with permanent computer islands at the School of the Future were being used as regular classrooms-an arrangement that, at best, appeared to be physically awkward and, at worst, hindered classroom management and posed great difficulty for conducting some activities. Ideally, technology-using schools should be designed for flexibility, allowing for the changing physical requirements of equipment and the activities supported by it.

In addition to the limitations of space and power described above, more and more schools are facing severe restrictions as they seek to make use of Internet resources. Most schools have neither an adequate web of telephone lines and modems nor direct connections to wide area networks. Teachers, students, and administrators participating in the TeacherNet project, for example, nearly all spoke about the inadequacy of their access to the network, which at the time of our site visit (May 1994) consisted of banks of modems connected through phone lines. One teacher in a school with 1,400 students and a staff of almost 100 pointed out that the school had only eight phone lines. He reported that nearly every time he tried to use a telephone,

All the little red lights would be on. You can't call out; you can't call in. We just don't have enough phone lines, and we can't afford to keep buying more.

--Secondary school teacher
The lack of access has both direct effects-in that teachers and students who want to participate in telecommunications-based activities have to accept very long delays or forgo them altogether-and indirect effects-in dissuading teachers from getting involved in network activities.

When I get more access, I will use it more. When my access is so limited, it doesn't make sense to spend the time getting into it because Internet changes almost every day.

--Secondary school teacher

The problem of limitations in terms of the infrastructure for telecommunications activities is a widespread one that will become even more apparent as more schools agitate to "get on the information superhighway." Chris Dede writes in a recent paper (October 1994):

Teachers' and students' access to the educational services now appearing on the Internet is problematic, because few schools have information infrastructures capable of routing data to individual classrooms. Unlike higher education, K-12 institutions typically have neither host computers powerful enough to allow direct access to the Internet nor a web of telephones and modems that could enable individual Internet usage through dialing up a provider. Further, many schools do not have networks that transmit data around the entire building, and the networks in individual classrooms often have such low bandwidth that sending educational material from computer to computer is very slow. (p. 11)
Currently, there is a great deal of excitement, uncertainty, and jockeying for position among corporations that would like to have their technology at the heart of the "national information infrastructure." Given both this degree of uncertainty and the amount of resources involved, it is difficult for individual schools to make optimal plans for developing a telecommunications infrastructure. Federal, state, regional, and district initiatives and regulatory policies will be critical.

Discouraging Vandalism/Theft/Unacceptable Use of Technology

Planning groups, administrators, and teachers contemplating the option of introducing technology sometimes argue against bringing it into schools on the grounds that there will be serious problems with theft or vandalism. In this regard, it is interesting to note how little problem our case study schools had in these areas, given the institution of reasonable precautionary measures. Despite the fact that many of the schools were located in low-income neighborhoods where graffiti is a common problem, the schools themselves created a sense of shared stake in the equipment and respect for it that was reflected in student behavior. A middle school reported that the only problem it has experienced was the occasional theft of mouse track balls, a nuisance they now prevent through a routine of having every student turn over the mouse at the end of class for a quick check before leaving the computer. An elementary school that has been using computers since 1980 reported having had only one theft in 13 years. The Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) program, which includes a take-home computer for every student, reported only one failure to return the equipment in 8 years. (Students cannot receive their school records if their computer has not been returned.) This is not to say that schools don't need security systems to safeguard their equipment. An elementary school that did not have a security system and that held many of its classes in portable units that are not very secure had 10 computers stolen over the years until the district installed a security system. The principal reports having had no theft or vandalism problems since the system was installed.

Educators and parents are concerned also over the potential for improper use of technology, increasingly so as the use of telecommunications becomes more common. They fear that students may use technology for destructive purposes, may get involved in hacker pranks, or may get access to inappropriate material while exploring the Internet.

There is so much stuff out there. There's information on pedophiles, pornography is rampant out there, and there is information on how to build bombs and how to kill someone without getting caught.

--Librarian in a TeacherNet school
Public concern about sexually explicit material on the Internet mounted during 1994 and 1995. While some media reports of the amount of sexually oriented material on the Internet appear to have been blown out of proportion (O'Connor, 1995), the potential for problems intimidates many schools and teachers.

At a recent workshop for teachers in a special project bringing Internet resources to all high schools in a city district (not one of our case studies), one teacher came up with the idea of reducing risk by allowing only two specially appointed, trustworthy students to have firsthand access to the Internet. Despite the fact that the intention of the innovation was to give all students technology-supported learning opportunities, the idea spread like wildfire among teachers who feared embarrassing incidents.(4)

Most of our case study schools did not appear to have serious problems with students' exhibiting inappropriate behavior or misusing technology, but the issue does require attention and constant monitoring. The most productive way to think about these issues appears to be within the more general context of school climate. A number of the case study schools were making great efforts to teach students how to work cooperatively and to show respect for each other and each other's opinions as part of their school reform effort. Logically this ethic extends to communication over the network and to the way in which equipment is shared with other students. During the site visit to one school, two girls who were good friends became embroiled in a tiff and exchanged angry e-mail notes that included insulting language. Their teacher and the technology coordinator reviewed the messages and planned the counseling that they would give the girls. At another school where the students had been involved in a special program to teach skills for working with others and giving constructive criticism, e-mail messages showed the pains that students took to give "helpful, thoughtful" comments rather than put-downs for ideas developed by others.

We all like the number system [that the group posting the original computer message created for their hypothetical culture], but we want to know how the number 0 looks like, and you can do more numbers not just ten like we have right now.

--Group of fifth/sixth-graders working with CSILE
Teachers involved in the program stressed that comments like the one above are the result of much modeling, support, and practice. The computer itself aided the process of developing these communication skills, as the teachers were able to review the running records of students' electronic-mail exchanges, allowing them to provide specific examples and critical feedback.

One of the high schools participating in the TeacherNet project had a formal technology use policy that provided an honor code for use of equipment and the network. Each student, along with his or her parents and a sponsoring faculty person, had to sign an application that included a detailed discussion of "Netiquette" before receiving their e-mail accounts. The discussion addressed basic guidelines for network use (e.g., not writing or sending abusive language; not revealing personal address, password, or phone) and made sure that both students and parents understood that the network was not private and that it contained inappropriate material. Both teachers and students (in separate focus groups) reported that the policy worked well overall.

There were significant problems with misuse of technology at one of our case study sites, a school where the general school climate had deteriorated to such an extent that students and teachers appeared mistrustful of each other and of their respective peers. Students evidenced a great deal of concern about their passwords. One student said that he used a 55-letter password in order to protect his files. Students said that destruction of their computer files at the hands of other students was an ongoing concern. Students reported also that teachers limited their use of telecommunications because of problems with student hacking.

The fact that this school's experience was so atypical within our case study sample suggests that technology access does not in and of itself lead to a hacker mentality, but it does provide a cautionary tale suggesting that school communities need to develop, promulgate, and enforce codes of conduct for technology use.

The best antidote to the in-house misuse or abuse of equipment is its use within projects that students value as meaningful and worthwhile. At many of the sites, students took great pride in work that they were able to accomplish with the aid of technology. During interviews, students often noted that they were "lucky" to have access to such sophisticated tools. This attitude of pride and accomplishment goes hand in hand with sharing in the responsibility of caring for the equipment.

Coping with Hardware and Software Change

As projects mature, they face a new challenge in terms of changes in both hardware and software. A number of our sites were grappling with these issues and appeared to be somewhat surprised by the extent of the difficulties posed.
We have continually upgraded the machinery and software since we began. We've been through three or four versions of MacPaint and now use Canvas as a drawing program; three or four versions of MacWrite and AppleLink.... Just as soon as you think you've got a handle on something, it disappears or version 4 comes out.

--Elementary school teacher
The frequency of changes in available software and what students are likely to be using means that teachers, like other professionals, can never expect to complete their learning in the technology area. One implication is an ongoing need for technical assistance and time for learning new technology. Nevertheless, coping with your 14th new piece of software is certainly easier than it was with your first major change, and with time teachers begin to face the inevitable changes with more equanimity.
I used to spend a lot of time, when we began, preparing step-by-step lessons that were 42 pages long, where the kids would check off their computer lesson as they came through ("Did you do this step?"), and now I just don't even bother, because they can only be used once [because of software changes]. And a lot of times the kids skip through steps that they already know. I think it really reflected growth in our confidence to be able to say, "Well, this is how you do it. Let me know when you get stuck." The printed directions are much less mechanical and often ask for student input and record keeping, which they individualize to their particular project needs.

--Elementary school teacher
Whereas new software and hardware call for new learning and flexibility on the part of teachers, old hardware and software pose other difficulties. One of the surest effects of introducing new technology is the creation of a "technology appetite" on the part of both teachers and students. As soon as more powerful computers are introduced, no one wants to use the older, slower machines. Even if the school does not get new hardware, teachers' and students' technology activities will lead them to read about newer technology available elsewhere, with an attendant frustration if they cannot have the same technology in their own school.

The superintendent in the district that set up South Creek Middle School as a model technology-using school expressed some frustration at the fact that the technology purchased for the school (over $2 million) remained state of the art for such a brief time, less than 3 years. Basically, the school's entire computer inventory was purchased for its opening at a time just before System 7.0 became standard for Macintoshes. Although the school has well-designed local area networks and a T-1 connection to the state's wide area education network, several school staff expressed frustration over the greater speed available at some other schools.

While some schools are getting on the information superhighway, we're going to be on a dirt road.

--Teacher at technology middle school
Another teacher echoed this sentiment:
We're constantly trying to get updated. Because as soon as you get the computers, you're outdated. Boom! Something else comes out. So we are constantly buying new programs or upgrading our computer systems and it's getting harder to get the funds. You know, "Well, we just gave you this...." And yes, we're appreciative, but now we want to take it a step further. Because our kids have done well with it and we want them to go a step further with it.

--Middle school math teacher
Students, too, acquire an awareness of the rapidity of technology changes and the hopeless effort to keep up:
There's a lot of things [we would like to have] like...notebook computers. It's kind of hard because the school only has a limited amount of money and you can't always get the new things. But then you kind of regret it, because in the future your kids are required to have a notebook computer instead of a pad of paper. It's like paper won't be used any more. That's the old stuff. Medieval! That's like way back!

--Fourth-grade student

Schools and districts are learning to cope with the equipment obsolescence problem in several ways. One important activity is a careful analysis of the various uses for which equipment is desired. Many uses do not require powerful equipment or telecommunications connections. Older equipment that would not be useful for Internet applications can be fine for early writing or learning keyboarding skills, for example. Allocation schemes that make the more powerful equipment and applications readily available when they fit the task at hand while making good use of older equipment can result in large cost savings.

A second important aspect of coping with hardware and software changes and obsolescence is to expect them and plan for them. One district superintendent criticized districts who were using 15-year bonds to finance the purchase of equipment that was sure to be obsolete in 5 years. An elementary school principal, coming to grips with the increasing maintenance costs for the school's aging stock of computers counseled:

Schools have to know when they are going into technology that there is a cost beyond the buying of equipment, that industry understands. Industry builds in that cost; they build in obsolescence; they build in upgrading; they build in repair. But schools think they have a one-time expense.

--Elementary school principal
4 New products and services offer a degree of control. America Online, for example, will not provide an unrestricted account to anyone under 18. Subaccounts available to younger users are restricted to those activities parents approve for their kids. Several groups are working on rating systems for World Wide Web sites and on programs that can restrict access to sites with ratings appropriate to a given age group.


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