JTATE / Volume 4, Number 3/4, 1996

Researchers at Southeastern Oklahoma State University conducted two studies todetermine the use of and need for educational technology in both teacher education coursework and public school classrooms. The ultimate aim of both studies was to acquireinformation pertinent to the task of curriculum development related to educationaltechnology in the teacher education curriculum. The first study, conducted in the springof 1993, assessed current course offerings in educational technology by teacher educationinstitutions at universities in Oklahoma. Almost all course work was audio-visuallyoriented. The second study, conducted in the spring of 1995, consisted of the survey ofnew teachers, veteran teachers, and school administrators in the 11-county focus areaserved by Southeastern in order to determine current levels of use and of need foreducational technology. Results showed that traditional audio-visual media dominatedteacher and administrator uses of educational technology and that a perceived need ofincreased use of the modern components of educational technology was prevalent.Serendipitous findings showed an almost unanimous demand for increased course work ineducational 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 andcritical users of multimedia. It reports on findings from an evaluation study of atraining process that provided teachers with information about how to use an interactivemultimedia package for classroom instruction. When the ways in which the teachers accessedrelevant printed text and hypertext information were mapped and analysed, it was foundthat structure of the support materials influenced the cognitive strategies applied by theteachers.

Their search patterns were tentatively classified into two cognitive strategieslabelled as "sequential search strategies" and "goal-oriented searchstrategies." Sequential search strategies broke down in the nonsequential hypertextenvironment and teachers had to be supported by advanced organisers to ensure meaningfuloutcomes. The findings also suggest that those involved in training teachers in the use ofinteractive multimedia should consider the attitudes that teachers bring to newinstructional 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 EmpowermentStrategy

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 integratingtechnology into teaching; it is important to do so because preservice teachers have thepotential to be leaders in the technological revolution that is taking place in ourclassrooms by modeling the potential of technology. In this article, the authors present astrategy to allow technology-reluctant preservice science teachers to publish on the WorldWide Web without a course in HTML programming. The publishing had at least three positiveeffects: (a) The preservice teachers were more professional in their work; (b) instead oflearning about technology, the preservice teachers used technology; and (c) the preserviceteachers 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 theirclassrooms.

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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 neededinformation is facilitated by technologic and bibliographic knowledge. Professionals fromall fields need to be able to access information. Teachers need to maintain currency intheir knowledge of content, uses of pedagogy, mastery of regulations, and understanding oftechnology. The importance of bibliographic database searching competencies for teachersnecessitates preservice teacher education programs include experiences that develop theseskills. Teaching goals are best reached when clearly articulated. To this end, the authorsformulated a list of core bibliographic database searching competencies. Thesecompetencies are presented, explained, and then illustrated in an Educational ResourcesInformation Center (ERIC) search. Teacher educators, technology educators, and librariansworking in partnership can ensure students acquire these competencies through infusioninto the curriculum.

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Rural Telecommunication for Educational Professional Development and InstructionalImprovement: 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 teachereducation networking programs introduced telecommunications to practicing educators. Theresearcher sought to describe similarities and differences, successful practice, and unmetneeds of these two projects through a qualitative approach and ethnographic techniques.

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

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

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Refining Knowledge in a Virtual Community: A Case-Based Collaborative Project forPreservice 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 teachereducation. By looking at a case-based project that is designed to help preservice teachersat two United States higher learning institutions examine and refine their beliefs aboutteaching and learning through collaboration via electronic mail, the authors attempted toinvestigate how computer networks can effectively enhance constructivist learning. Majorfindings include: (a) Case-based projects promoted critical thinking and knowledgerevision; (b) collaborative thinking and critiquing were affected by manyfactors-technology was only one of them; and (c) technology was more effectively learnedwhen 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 forassessment in both a corrective and content literacy course at the undergraduate level.Two university professores tailored an electronic portfolio system (Grady Profile) toaccommodate the frameworks within which their course assignments were situated. Asstudents completed their assignments, artifacts of these assignments, which took the formof audio, video, word-processed, or scanned data, were entered into the electronicportfolio profile. Results of using the technology-based portfolios showed that theyprovided a more complete picture of student progress and achievement than more traditionalapproaches to assessment. Students were able to demonstrate a wide variety ofcompetencies, and they took much greater responsibility for their own learning. Studentsbecame skilled at accurate self-evaluation which also increased the level ofresponsibility.

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

This teacher training model involved inservice teacher training as the initialcomponent in an effort to improve and modify the integration of computer applications intopreservice education to prepare our future teachers with the essential computer skills toenter into a competitive workforce. The average ratings among the inservice and preserviceteachers on the usefulness of this resource in the classroom on a Likert scale of 1 - 5was 4.75 and 4.38, respectively. The F-test results indicated there was not astatistically significant difference in how the inservice and preservice teachers ratedthe usefulness of the computer application. Both groups of teachers reported that theWorld Wide Web was a valuable and user-friendly computer application. Similarly, there wasnot a statistically significant difference between novice and experienced computer users'ratings. The conclusions were that the World Wide Web could be a valuable and timelycomputer 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 softwareand hardware into university teacher education in music. Problems and successful solutionsin software, hardware, and multimedia methodology for teacher education in music areexamined within the context of Merrill's (1987) component design theory.

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