Volume 7, Number 4 1999
Joni Falk, Jack Lochhead, Gloria Jacobs, Bridget Mooney, and Brian Drayton
TERC 2067 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02140 617-547-0430joni_falk@terc.edu
Teacher Enhancement Electronic Communications Hall (TEECH) is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), to promote collaboration, and communication among Principal Investigators (PIs) of math and science teacher enhancement grants. The paper describes a study of the communication needs of the project’s constituency, and describes some of the challenges, roadblocks, and successes that TEECH has encountered in attempting to forge a virtual community of leaders in teacher enhancement. The paper will address lessons learned along the way in developing virtual communities of practice with a special emphasis on examining the impact of varying the structure and characteristics of listserv dialogues. Lessons shared by TEECH on strategies for encouraging communication will be of value to many who are interested in building electronic communities of practice.
James D. Russell and Cheryl Butcher
Purdue University 1442 Liberal Arts and Education Building West Lafayette, IN 47907-1442, USAjrussell@purdue.edu
This article describes the evolution of student evaluations. Traditionally a major, if not the sole, method of student evaluation was a paper-and-pencil test. In the past some instructors assigned a number of small-scale, disconnected practice exercises. Later they offered a menu of projects of a larger scale. Today the trend is to encourage students to compile portfolios of professional quality work, organized around major themes. The nature of portfolios and their advantages and limitations will be explored. The use of portfolios in two different educational technology courses will be described.“ In many schools, students are being evaluated on the basis of portfolios that document what they can do in language arts, science, social studies, and other skill areas. Portfolios often include such items as student-produced books, videos, and audio-visual presentations,” (Heinich, Molenda, Russell, & Smaldino, 1999, p. 20)
Liz Stephens and Judy Leavell
Southwest Texas State University Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction 601 University Dr. San Marcos, TX 78666LCS@tenet.edu
Marta Fabris
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, CUIN University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-5872, USARhonda Buford and Margaret Hill
School of Education University of Houston-Clear Lake Houston, TX 77058-100098, USAResearch on video-case methodology in teacher education indicates that preservice teachers benefit from the opportunity to collectively view and critique methods of teaching. This collaborative analysis is greatly enhanced when video cases are delivered in a manner that makes purposefully selected segments of video, or minicases, easily accessible. CD-ROM, laserdisk, and the newest information storage format, DVD, can do that; however, creating video case based instructional programs requires careful planning throughout the process of design, development, and evaluation. Four such video-case instructional programs are outlined, and authors of the programs define and describe important considerations in the making of the programs. Considerations range from philosophical issues such as the identification of a learning theory model to pragmatic ones such as the cost of duplicating a CD-ROM or laserdisk.
Mark G. Gillingham
College of Education University of Illinois at Chicago 1040 W. Harrison (m/c 147) Chicago IL 50507, USAmarkgill@uic.edu
Andrew Topper
College of Education Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48823, USAtopperan@pilot.msu.edu
Faculty and administrators in teacher preparation programs face the dilemma of preparing teachers for an unknown, but increasingly technological classroom. We present four possible solutions to the problem of preparing teachers for the future and using technology in classrooms: single course, technology infusion, student performance, and case based. Each of these approaches has both positive and negative aspects. As an example of one college’s solution, we present a case of the preparation and implementation of technology in teacher preparation at Michigan State University. We conclude that it is imperative that faculty and administrators of teacher preparation programs learn about modern information and communication technology and incorporate them into their programs in meaningful ways.
Jean Anne Hattler
Chatham College Woodland Road Pittsburg, PA 15232, USAhattler@chatham.edu
The rapid advances in technology present challenges to collegiate departments of education in their preservice-teacher coursework. Specifically, in this paper, the use of the Internet’s World Wide Web (WWW), the information superhighway, is presented as one important way to integrate technology and the vast amount of information it makes available.
The discussion includes a look at the current and future implementations of technology in American education. If preservice teachers are to become technologically literate and bring technology into their classrooms effectively, it is imperative that preservice teachers experience online learning. Thus, websites offer “driver education” for traveling the information superhighway to preservice teachers. A myriad of websites which cover topics from children’s literature to favorite adolescent authors to specific content areas as math, science, art, music, social studies, health, multicultural, and physical education are included. Websites offer online learners a variety of lesson plans, teaching styles, and strategies for learning situations. Additionally, websites and Internet chat rooms address issues specific to developmental or academic needs of students, professional growth, and state and national reform efforts in education.
Janice M. Stuhlmann
College of Education Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USAjanice@asterix.ednet.lsu.edu
Harriet G. Taylor
Division of Undergraduate Education National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard, suite 835 Arlington, VA 22230, USAAlthough most universities are training preservice teachers to use technology, information on how student teachers incorporate technology into their teaching practices is sparse. This article describes the types of training and support preservice teachers received as part of a technology infusion initiative and then describes the experiences of four technically competent student teachers during their field placements to determine barriers, the kinds of support they gave and received, and their impact on students, cooperating teachers, and school sites in general. Several factors affected the quality of the student teachers’ experiences. Most notable were: the availability of computers and Internet access in schools; the attitude and computer competency levels of cooperating teachers; and the attitude of school principals toward the use of technology in schools. This study provides insight into the circumstances and experiences necessary to produce technically competent teachers, the importance of meaningful field placements, and the conditions under which interns practice and hone their teaching skills.
Michael Waugh
State University of West Georgia Carrollton, GA 30118, USAmwaugh@westga.edu
James Levin and James Buell
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL, 61820, USAj-levin@uiuc.edu
jbuell@uiuc.edu
The teacher education programs at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign have no single, foundational course in instructional technologies. Rather, we work with our instructors to infuse relevant and appropriate instructional technologies into each course in our teacher education programs.
Recently, National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) adopted the International Society fro Technology in Education (ISTE) developed standards that identify the critical instructional technology concepts/topics that should be included in all teacher education programs. Given the distributed structure of our approach to incorporating technology into our programs, we felt the need to develop a software tool that would assist instructors in situating specific technology experiences within a series of courses. In addition, we needed a system that would enable instructors to collaborate effectively in assessing students’ competence regarding each standard. Further, we wanted a system that would provide student access to their records and an easy means of submitting evidence in support of their attainment of the required skills and experiences.
To meet this need, we developed the Technology Competencies Database (TCD), a World-Wide Web (WWW)-based software tool that will enable a group of faculty to collaborate more effectively in providing technology experiences to their students. The TCD is a FileMaker Pro database running on a Macintosh computer that is also a WWW server. Students and instructors interact with the system at any time of day and from any location using any web browser software.
The TCD contains individual records for each student and enables them to submit statements and materials in support of their attainment of the ISTE/NCATE standards (which we refer to as the Technology Competency statements). These submissions are accessible by the students’ instructors; and the students and instructors may exchange messages regarding the competency statements, the students’ submissions and any additional work that will be required by the instructor.
The students’ submissions and the faculty responses are all preserved in the database and can be sorted in various ways to provide the faculty with reports regarding where each competency is addressed in each program and, most importantly, what kinds of activities each faculty member is accepting as evidence that each competency has been met. The TCD system may be very valuable in helping to ensure that each student is being held to the same standards of performance. In addition, it will help us to demonstrate where and how each technology competency is acquired by students. Further, it will allow the students to create an electronic portfolio of their technology expertise.
Kay Johnson-Gentile and Rosemary Lonberger
302 Bacon Hall Buffalo State College 1300 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, NY 14222-1095, USAJohnsok@buffalostate.edu
Lonberrp@buffalostate.edu
Joseph Parana and Annette West
Charles R. Drew Science Magnet School 1 Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway Buffalo Public Schools Buffalo, NY 14211, USAJPARANA@mailgate.Drew.Buffalo.k12.NY.US
This paper describes the first year of an ongoing professional development school (PDS) project designed to integrate computer technology into elementary school lessons, while simultaneously providing educational technology experiences for preservice teachers (third-year elementary education majors) and student teachers, as well as their cooperating teachers and college supervisors. College students report remarkable gains in instructionally-relevant technology skills and their lessons reflected these skills.