JTATE / Volume 4, Number 3/4, 1996

Researchers at Southeastern Oklahoma State University conducted two studies to determine the use of and need for educational technology in both teacher education course work and public school classrooms. The ultimate aim of both studies was to acquire information pertinent to the task of curriculum development related to educational technology in the teacher education curriculum. The first study, conducted in the spring of 1993, assessed current course offerings in educational technology by teacher education institutions at universities in Oklahoma. Almost all course work was audio-visually oriented. The second study, conducted in the spring of 1995, consisted of the survey of new teachers, veteran teachers, and school administrators in the 11-county focus area served by Southeastern in order to determine current levels of use and of need for educational technology. Results showed that traditional audio-visual media dominated teacher and administrator uses of educational technology and that a perceived need of increased use of the modern components of educational technology was prevalent. Serendipitous findings showed an almost unanimous demand for increased course work in educational technology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

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Investigating Ways of Supporting Teacher Use of Interactive Multimedia

BRIAN FERRY, JOHN HEDBERG, AND BARRY HARPER

University of Wollongong

Wollongong NSW, Australia 2522

This study asserts that teachers need training in order to become effective and critical users of multimedia. It reports on findings from an evaluation study of a training process that provided teachers with information about how to use an interactive multimedia package for classroom instruction. When the ways in which the teachers accessed relevant printed text and hypertext information were mapped and analysed, it was found that structure of the support materials influenced the cognitive strategies applied by the teachers.

Their search patterns were tentatively classified into two cognitive strategies labelled as "sequential search strategies" and "goal-oriented search strategies." Sequential search strategies broke down in the nonsequential hypertext environment and teachers had to be supported by advanced organisers to ensure meaningful outcomes. The findings also suggest that those involved in training teachers in the use of interactive multimedia should consider the attitudes that teachers bring to new instructional technologies as this can restrict the range of teaching strategies used.

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Getting Technology-Reluctant Teachers Published on the World Wide Web: An Empowerment Strategy

SCOTT SLOUGH

Department of Chemistry

Sam Houston State University

Huntsville, TX 77341, USA

ROBIN MCGREW-ZOUBI

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Sam Houston State University

Huntsville, TX 77341, USA

It is critical that we reverse the 1995 Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) conclusion that graduates of our teacher education programs are not capable of integrating technology into teaching; it is important to do so because preservice teachers have the potential to be leaders in the technological revolution that is taking place in our classrooms by modeling the potential of technology. In this article, the authors present a strategy to allow technology-reluctant preservice science teachers to publish on the World Wide Web without a course in HTML programming. The publishing had at least three positive effects: (a) The preservice teachers were more professional in their work; (b) instead of learning about technology, the preservice teachers used technology; and (c) the preservice teachers had a chance to see their names and projects on the World Wide Web. Consequently, these preservice teachers see themselves as more likely to use technology in their classrooms.

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Bibliographic Database Competencies for Preservice Teachers

BEE GALLEGOS AND PETER RILLERO

Arizona State University West

College of Education

Phoenix, AZ 85069, USA

Although flooded with data, people will always search for information. Finding needed information is facilitated by technologic and bibliographic knowledge. Professionals from all fields need to be able to access information. Teachers need to maintain currency in their knowledge of content, uses of pedagogy, mastery of regulations, and understanding of technology. The importance of bibliographic database searching competencies for teachers necessitates preservice teacher education programs include experiences that develop these skills. Teaching goals are best reached when clearly articulated. To this end, the authors formulated a list of core bibliographic database searching competencies. These competencies are presented, explained, and then illustrated in an Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) search. Teacher educators, technology educators, and librarians working in partnership can ensure students acquire these competencies through infusion into the curriculum.

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Rural Telecommunication for Educational Professional Development and Instructional Improvement: Two Federally Funded Models

LYNNE SCHRUM

Department of Instructional Technology

University of Georgia, 607 Aderhold Hall

Athens, GA 30602, USA

This research documents the processes by which two federally funded rural teacher education networking programs introduced telecommunications to practicing educators. The researcher sought to describe similarities and differences, successful practice, and unmet needs of these two projects through a qualitative approach and ethnographic techniques.

The first project took place in a rural, climate-impacted location in the northeast corner of the United States. The second project was located within a Native American Band school system in the southeastern United States. Both projects provided a laptop to teams of educators, offered university telecommunications connections, and provided training on major network applications. Strong differences were also apparent, most particularly on the models of training provided, support from school administrations, and the demands and expectations placed on the participants through the ensuing months.

Results and recommendations conclude this article. In general the results serve to reinforce the need for educators to use and see telecommunications in their undergraduate programs, by College of Education faculty, and as part of an ongoing staff development. It also lends support to a "trainers of trainers" model and reinforced the need to offer far more time than expected for exploratioon and reflection.

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Refining Knowledge in a Virtual Community: A Case-Based Collaborative Project for Preservice Teachers

KEITH CAMPBELL

Linfield College, 900 S. Baker Street

McMinnville, OR 97128, USA

ZHAO YONG

Willamette University

Language Learning Center, 900 State Street

Salem, OR 97301, USA

The authors of this paper examine issues of integrating technology into teacher education. By looking at a case-based project that is designed to help preservice teachers at two United States higher learning institutions examine and refine their beliefs about teaching and learning through collaboration via electronic mail, the authors attempted to investigate how computer networks can effectively enhance constructivist learning. Major findings include: (a) Case-based projects promoted critical thinking and knowledge revision; (b) collaborative thinking and critiquing were affected by many factors-technology was only one of them; and (c) technology was more effectively learned when embedded in content-based projects.

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Facilitating Reflective Thinking: Technology-Based Portfolios in Teacher Education

SUSAN M. TANCOCK AND KAREN L. FORD

Ball State University

Department of Elementary Education

Muncie, IN 47306, USA

In this paper, the authors describe how technology-based portfolios were used for assessment in both a corrective and content literacy course at the undergraduate level. Two university professores tailored an electronic portfolio system (Grady Profile) to accommodate the frameworks within which their course assignments were situated. As students completed their assignments, artifacts of these assignments, which took the form of audio, video, word-processed, or scanned data, were entered into the electronic portfolio profile. Results of using the technology-based portfolios showed that they provided a more complete picture of student progress and achievement than more traditional approaches to assessment. Students were able to demonstrate a wide variety of competencies, and they took much greater responsibility for their own learning. Students became skilled at accurate self-evaluation which also increased the level of responsibility.

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Incorporating Computer Applications Into Inservice and Preservice Education: Mathematics Teachers Explore the World Wide Web

REGINA HALPIN

Curriculum and Instruction

Mississippi State University, Box 9705

Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA

The purpose of this study was to determine if inservice and preservice mathematics teachers found the World Wide Web to be a useful resource as a supplemental instructional tool for the precollege classroom. The sample for this two-part study consisted of 32 inservice and 69 preservice teachers participating in a 2-hour discovery workshop using the network browser Netscape. A questionnaire was administered and quantitative and qualitative research techniques were used to analyze the teachers' ratings and responses.

This teacher training model involved inservice teacher training as the initial component in an effort to improve and modify the integration of computer applications into preservice education to prepare our future teachers with the essential computer skills to enter into a competitive workforce. The average ratings among the inservice and preservice teachers on the usefulness of this resource in the classroom on a Likert scale of 1 - 5 was 4.75 and 4.38, respectively. The F-test results indicated there was not a statistically significant difference in how the inservice and preservice teachers rated the usefulness of the computer application. Both groups of teachers reported that the World Wide Web was a valuable and user-friendly computer application. Similarly, there was not a statistically significant difference between novice and experienced computer users' ratings. The conclusions were that the World Wide Web could be a valuable and timely computer application for inservice and preservice teacher technology training.

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Integrating Technology Into the University Teacher Education Curriculum in Music

RODNEY SCHMIDT

School of Music

East Carolina University

Greenvillle, NC 27858-4353, USA

This article includes a discussion of teaching methodologies that integrate software and hardware into university teacher education in music. Problems and successful solutions in software, hardware, and multimedia methodology for teacher education in music are examined within the context of Merrill's (1987) component design theory.

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