Ten Tenets of Technology

by Roberta Niche

1. Teach through computers, not about them

• Computer skills should be integrated into the curriculum, not taught in isolation
• Technology should serve the curriculum, not be "one more thing" added to it

Example: Sophomores are examining how media messages are created in English class and are learning about the Holocaust in history. Working in cooperative teams, they research an assigned modern genocide and learn to create their own impactful media messages to inform watchers and persuade them to take action. In the course of the project they learn how to edit images, video, and music, then combine them for the greatest effect using multi-media software such as PhotoStory.

2. Training and educating teachers is key

• Staff development must be an ongoing commitment. Teachers need opportunities to have intensive training, to try out their new knowledge, then come back for more training once they know what their needs and challenges are. 

• Technical and software skills are not the only important thing or even the most important thing. No effective change will happen unless mindsets and methodologies develop. Spending time broadening teachers' understanding of project-based learning, Understanding by Design, differentiated instruction, multiple intelligences, and cooperative learning is invaluable. It makes teachers into fertile fields where technology integration seeds can take root.

• Teachers need time to think, plan, and collaborate. Lots and lots of time.

• Teachers need access to computers and other technology. Let them learn and get comfortable.

Example: A third grade teacher attends a district sponsored  "Technology Camp" for five days over the summer. She learns about instructional design and pedagogy (multiple intelligences, cooperative learning, etc.) as well as technology. The atmosphere is collegial and non-threatening. She returns to her classroom and tries out some new ideas. She teaches the basics of Google spreadsheet to her class. Students make spreadsheets to calculate purchases at the classroom store. The teacher attends a one day grade level “alumni training” a few months later. She shares her ideas with other third grade teachers and gets an idea for using blogs to improve her assessment of student understanding. She gets a refresher on how to leave comments which will improve the project for next time. The following year, she attends Tech Camp II and spends a week working to improve and refine her project. She examines standards and looks for ways to address them. She writes out detailed directions for teachers and creates task cards for students. She develops assessment rubrics and gathers additional resources. The project is posted on the district web page for all teachers to access. She regularly communicates with other third grade teachers in small group sessions, and online by means of email and a threaded discussion forum.


3. Computers must be available in places where the core curriculum is happening (i.e. in the classrooms)

• Students are working to develop the basic skills of collaboration, communication, and critical thinking/problem solving in classrooms every day. They need easy, every day access to the best tools for the job.

• Labs serve their purpose, but students need tools at hand to use immediately with no more effort and angst than is involved in picking up a pencil or calculator. They don't need to wait until their teacher can book the lab for a class visit.

• Although much can be done with 1-3 computers, a critical mass of at least 4-6 computers will allow much more to be accomplished.

Example: An sixth grade teacher has four computers in his classroom. The students are working in cooperative teams, researching attitudes about smoking. The statistician for each group takes survey results to a computer and uses Excel to create a graph for a presentation. The group studies the graph and determines a positive correlation between parents who smoke and the odds of their child smoking. They add this information and the graph to their presentation.

4. Don't put your money into subject specific tutorials, drill and practice programs or pre-packaged learning games. Well-designed projects that use basic software tools are more effective.

• Teachers must integrate use of basic software (word processing, Internet, spreadsheet, multimedia, desktop publishing, and database) into lessons. Video editing and sound recording software have a place, too. You can get them for free.

• Hundreds of wonderful lessons and projects can be found or created that use only the basic software. You might start with Bernie Dodge's WebQuest model. 

•  Even very young students can learn important basic computer skills without any special software.

Example: A kindergarten teacher uses one computer in the classroom as a center. The class is creating a multimedia project about farm animals. Each student is responsible for a slide. The teacher sets up a template where each slide has the sentence frame “My favorite farm animal is….” Students complete the sentence and illustrate the slide their own art which the teacher has scanned to a file.  An older student buddy helps the kindergartners do this and shows them how to use a microphone to narrate their sentences. The students can soon do this independently.

5. Human interactivity is more important than software interactivity

• The best non-tool software encourages kids to work together cooperatively, stimulates discussion, encourages debate, and focuses on problem solving and decision making. Much supposedly “interactive” software has lots of colorful graphics, animation, video, and sound, but if it doesn’t engage students with each other, it’s not truly interactive. The worst software is nothing more than an electronic worksheet.

Example: A seventh grade class has been studying feudalism. They use Tom Snyder's “Decisions, Decisions” software to role-play being the leader of a fief who is faced with a food shortage crisis, a rebellion, and a struggle against the power of the church. They use a five-step model for critical thinking and decision making to gather and review information, discuss options, and take action. As each team makes a decision, they go to the computer to see the results. The computer presents the problem and runs the scenario. The students talk to each other to set goals, evaluate information, and make decisions. They learn history and social studies concepts along the way.

6. Technology should allow students and teachers to do new things, not just do old things in a new way.

• Learning activities aren’t necessarily improved simply by using technology

• Access to lots of technology does not ensure that students are acquiring skills necessary to succeed in the communication age. Some software and lessons replicate old models using new tools. This won’t give students the necessary skills or improve their learning.

Example: A group of fifth grade teachers wanted to use multi-media and the Internet to enliven their traditional state reports. They were dissatisfied that students’ supposed research was usually little more than copying the encyclopedia. After discussion, they decided that using new technology to perpetuate an old lesson was the wrong approach. They remodeled the lesson to move away from gathering of isolated facts (state bird, state seal). They put the students in teams and assigned each team a region and a problem to solve: “Your family (with parents who telecommute) is moving to the new region. You must use the Internet to research factors like the cost of living, the weather, education/recreation opportunities, etc. and determine the best place for your family to relocate.” Students gather and synthesize real data, set priorities, come to consensus, and present their findings to the class in a multi-media presentation.

7. Technical support is key

• Teachers and students grow disenchanted if the machines don’t work. No one has time to waste.

• The cost of technical support should be factored into all new purchases

• Technical support services should be staffed to level that allows them to be proactive rather than reactive

• Each site must have one paid person who is capable of performing basic troubleshooting and repair and who is not tied to a classroom

• Purchasing business grade machines will reduce the demands on tech support

Example: The high quality business grade Hewlett-Packard computers in the labs and classrooms don’t often need attention. When they do, a teacher can quickly get help from an on-site person. If that person can’t fix the problem, the tech support help desk is notified and a job order is created. A technician is dispatched to fix the problem in a timely manner. Technicians visit schools regularly to perform routine maintenance and upgrades. The network is highly reliable and all district personnel do all their routine business (grading, attendance, data collection, correspondence, etc.) electronically without much thought for the underlying technology. Teachers are confident that the technology will work when they plan to use it with students.

8. All use of educational technology should improve student achievement and motivation

• Technology should not be “one more thing to teach”. It should be a tool to help students meet and exceed standards.

• Technology can ignite and draw out students whose type of intelligence may not normally be valued at school (visual-spatial, musical, interpersonal, etc.)

• In the face of hardware glitz and software bells and whistles, never lose sight of the main focus: improved student achievement.

Example: Ben is an eighth grader who has been in resource since first grade. He struggles with reading and resists writing more than a few sentences for any assignment. He is an excellent designer and artist. His visual-spatial intelligence has been largely unappreciated and Ben does not know how to use it to help him learn. His teacher puts him on a team of students whose task is to design a multimedia project on endangered species for a fourth grade class to use. Ben is the graphic designer for the team and is immediately motivated and empowered. He designs the layout and color scheme for each slide. He sketches different animals and scans them. When his team members are too busy with their own roles to write any copy to go with his exquisite drawing of a Narwhal, he researches and writes it himself. It is the first time he has ever produced more than a few scratched-out sentences. The technology enabled him to engage with the content via his strongest intelligence.

9. Technology should promote project-based learning and collaboration

• Technology presents an opportunity to engage students in relevant, real-world challenges. 

• Teachers must create learning experiences which engage students in complex, authentic projects through which they develop and apply skills and knowledge. In the world of work in the information age, the three big skills are collaboration, communication, and critical thinking/problem solving. Technology should be a means to develop these skills.

• Student projects should expand the walls of the classroom and allow students to interact with their communities and the wider world, enriching all.

Example: Fourth grade students create an online field guide to local birds. They work in cooperative groups to research and write about the characteristics and habits of the birds. Each group takes on a different bird. Their teacher has taken time to teach essential group skills such as coming to consensus and conflict resolution, so the groups function smoothly and have a sense of positive interdependence. Each student in a group has an area of responsibility. Students are facilitators, copy editors, graphic designers, statisticians, etc. They observe, photograph, record, and videotape bird behaviors. The students use email to consult with ornithology experts at Cornell University and the Audubon Society. They also interview local birding experts. Their work is posted on the web and is a valuable community resource.

10. The basic skills of the information age are (in addition to literacy and numeracy) communication, collaboration, and critical thinking/problem solving. Technology must serve to develop and enhance these skills.

• The old paradigm where the teacher’s primary role was to deliver content (the “sage on the stage”) will not help students acquire these skills.

• As researcher David Thornburg says, “The educational models of the past operated on the assumption that content was king. In fact, content is free and overwhelming in size. In a world of rapid information growth, it is context that matters. Context is king". 

• Teachers who are fluent users of technology and who are willing to adopt a new pedagogy, influenced by research on cooperative learning, multiple intelligences, and project-based learning will use technology to its fullest potential with students.

Summary: The "failure" of technology to make a difference in student achievement has been trumpeted from the headlines. Where that is so, it has less to do with the technology than the failure to pay attention to the needs described above. Author Jamie McKenzie writes, "Technology is a false god, unlikely to do much for children unless schools focus on learning and make huge investments in professional development." It's about the teaching and the learning, not the wires, the boxes, the bells, and the whistles.

Roberta Niche