1 00:00:17,500 --> 00:00:22,540 Does your principal want you to use technology more often in your teaching? Have you seen a new tool that you know that 2 00:00:22,540 --> 00:00:27,800 your students will enjoy using, but you're not sure how it would fit within your curriculum? Are there more tools 3 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:32,980 in your school than you know what to do with? Believe it or not, good technology integration isn't 4 00:00:32,980 --> 00:00:38,800 about technology. 5 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:44,120 Hi, I'm Mark Hofer, and I'm Judi Harris. We are faculty members in the School of Education at the College of William 6 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:49,260 and Mary in eastern Virginia in the United States. In this short course 7 00:00:49,260 --> 00:00:54,580 we will share an approach to curriculum- based technology integration that we have developed, 8 00:00:54,580 --> 00:00:59,847 researched, and tested it. What's distinctive about this approach is that it focuses 9 00:00:59,847 --> 00:01:04,947 on planning for students' learning rather than planning for technology integration. 10 00:01:04,947 --> 00:01:10,327 Here's why. Twenty-nine different software packages were recognized nationally 11 00:01:10,327 --> 00:01:15,347 several years ago for their potential to quote transform student learning end-quote. 12 00:01:15,347 --> 00:01:20,507 In a recent follow up study, most had no impact on student learning 13 00:01:20,507 --> 00:01:25,767 outcomes. Only those titles that required redesigning courses or school-wide 14 00:01:25,767 --> 00:01:31,287 by-in showed moderate positive effects on student learning. 15 00:01:31,287 --> 00:01:36,847 By contrast, in a comprehensive review of research about one-to-one computer initiatives 16 00:01:36,847 --> 00:01:41,847 in schools, multiple studies documented increased student achievement in 17 00:01:41,847 --> 00:01:46,847 science, writing, math and English. They also reported teachers using 18 00:01:46,847 --> 00:01:52,207 more student-centered individualized, and project-based approaches. Many of the studies 19 00:01:52,207 --> 00:01:57,265 also noted increased student engagement in learning. What about 20 00:01:57,265 --> 00:02:02,305 computer use with young children? The results are mixed. Story comprehension 21 00:02:02,305 --> 00:02:07,825 and vocabulary have been positively affected by the use of electronic books with animated 22 00:02:07,825 --> 00:02:12,905 illustrations and sound. However, interactive elements like hotspots and 23 00:02:12,905 --> 00:02:18,685 games did not help to improve literacy. Economically disadvantaged children 24 00:02:18,685 --> 00:02:23,705 were more sensitive to both positive and negatives effects. 25 00:02:23,705 --> 00:02:29,205 In another mix-results review of more than 350 studies about using technologies 26 00:02:29,205 --> 00:02:34,625 to learn foreign languages, the authors concluded that quote evidence of efficacy 27 00:02:34,625 --> 00:02:39,685 is limited end-quote. However, computer- supported pronunciation 28 00:02:39,685 --> 00:02:44,865 training and using chatting tools for communication in target languages were associated 29 00:02:44,865 --> 00:02:49,945 strongly with learning gains. Why are there such a large differences 30 00:02:49,945 --> 00:02:55,133 among these sytheses of research about educational technology use? A meta-analysis 31 00:02:55,133 --> 00:03:00,613 of research about computer use with elementary students attributed large differences in reported 32 00:03:00,613 --> 00:03:06,113 effect sizes to differences in the content being learned, type of technology 33 00:03:06,113 --> 00:03:12,573 use, length of technology use, and variable learning environments. 34 00:03:12,573 --> 00:03:18,033 As you can see, while some research findings about educational technology's impact on learning have been promising, 35 00:03:18,033 --> 00:03:23,113 others have reported little or mixed impact. The learning gains reported in these 36 00:03:23,113 --> 00:03:28,173 research sytheses have something important in common, however. What is it? In 37 00:03:28,173 --> 00:03:33,373 the studies cited here that documented student learning gains, the approaches used emphasized 38 00:03:33,373 --> 00:03:38,413 CURRICULUM-based teaching and learning STRATEGIES. Those strategies made productive 39 00:03:38,413 --> 00:03:43,433 USE of educational technologies but didn't focus on them. 40 00:03:43,433 --> 00:03:49,253 Sadly, for about forty years, even though we've been trying HARD to integrate technologies into teaching and learning, 41 00:03:49,253 --> 00:03:55,183 although we've made some progress, many would argue that the gains are not proportional to the amount of time, 42 00:03:55,183 --> 00:04:00,603 energy, and money that we've spent. We strongly suspect 43 00:04:00,603 --> 00:04:05,883 that this is due to the technology-focused nature of most educational technology efforts including 44 00:04:05,883 --> 00:04:10,963 professional development for teachers. MIT's Seymour Papert coined a term for this more 45 00:04:10,963 --> 00:04:19,093 than thirty years ago: technocentrism. 46 00:04:19,093 --> 00:04:22,911 [Seymour Papert speaking]: "All right, the cyber-utopian, the cyber-critic, the cyber-ostrich. 47 00:04:22,911 --> 00:04:31,192 Now you all know these people. For the cyber-topian, it's just all wonderful. 48 00:04:31,192 --> 00:04:40,768 Raves, raves, raves. Everything is changed. I was verging on talking like that in my first few sentences. 49 00:04:40,768 --> 00:04:44,703 Maybe, who's a great model cyber-topian? Alvin Toffler. 50 00:04:44,703 --> 00:04:49,042 Yeah, you read these books about the third wave, the world is changing 51 00:04:49,042 --> 00:04:50,283 within the Information Age. 52 00:04:50,283 --> 00:04:53,603 But then when you, school is going to be totally different, but 53 00:04:53,603 --> 00:04:58,384 when you try and say, Well, in what way? 54 00:04:58,384 --> 00:04:59,959 Will there be a lot of computers? In what will that do, 55 00:04:59,959 --> 00:05:02,044 everything will be different. 56 00:05:02,044 --> 00:05:04,695 There's no substance 57 00:05:04,695 --> 00:05:08,293 no real thinking about the substance 58 00:05:08,293 --> 00:05:10,741 and no concession to the fact that there are 59 00:05:10,741 --> 00:05:12,977 serious problems and that unless we face these problems it isn't going to happen. 60 00:05:12,977 --> 00:05:19,226 It's as if the technology is going to bring marvels about. 61 00:05:19,226 --> 00:05:26,314 I like to use a word for that: Technocentrism, I say. A techno-centric way of thinking. 62 00:05:26,314 --> 00:05:31,450 That the technology can bring about changes. 63 00:05:31,450 --> 00:05:33,969 So, it's not surprising that the cyber-topians, or the techno-topians 64 00:05:33,969 --> 00:05:36,296 are technocentric. 65 00:05:36,296 --> 00:05:41,246 What is more surprising is the cyber-critics 66 00:05:41,246 --> 00:05:44,153 the people who criticize 67 00:05:44,153 --> 00:05:45,841 tend to be even more technocentric. 68 00:05:45,841 --> 00:05:51,341 So what's a teacher to do? If you want to learn to use technologies effectively in your teaching, 69 00:05:51,341 --> 00:05:56,747 how can you do this without focusing TOO much on the technologies? How can you learn to integrate 70 00:05:56,747 --> 00:06:01,887 technologies in CURRICULUM- and STUDENT-centered ways? What's needed 71 00:06:01,887 --> 00:06:07,327 here is an approach to technology integration that emphasizes CURRICULUM and PEDAGOGY 72 00:06:07,327 --> 00:06:12,387 over technology. That's what this course is all about. Of course it's 73 00:06:12,387 --> 00:06:17,467 important to learn what technologies are available and how to use them in your classroom, but it's much 74 00:06:17,467 --> 00:06:22,567 simpler and quicker to learn to USE technologies than to learn HOW to use them 75 00:06:22,567 --> 00:06:28,147 with students. So, this course WILL include technology but will emphasize 76 00:06:28,147 --> 00:06:33,507 curriculum and learning. Spoiler alert! We argue 77 00:06:33,507 --> 00:06:40,279 that when planning instruction, you should choose the technologies LAST. 78 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:46,159 In this course, we will share set of free materials that you can use to help you to plan lessons, units and projects 79 00:06:46,159 --> 00:06:51,679 that will integrate technologies without being technocentric. First, we will introduce the materials 80 00:06:51,679 --> 00:06:56,979 and how to use them in your planing. Then you have an opportunity to practice using them with some of your favorite 81 00:06:56,979 --> 00:07:02,219 lessons or projects. Then you can either create a new lesson or project OR refresh 82 00:07:02,219 --> 00:07:07,299 one of your existing plans to incorporate educational technologies. And finally last, but 83 00:07:07,299 --> 00:07:12,419 not least, you'll choose technologies to use in these plans. Along the way and after 84 00:07:12,419 --> 00:07:17,719 the course ends, you'll have unlimited access to all the materials to download, customize, and share, 85 00:07:17,719 --> 00:07:23,159 plus many examples of their use in different classrooms. The course is organized in sequential 86 00:07:23,159 --> 00:07:28,199 modules. We suggest that you complete them in order. Each module will begin with a brief list 87 00:07:28,199 --> 00:07:33,219 of its contents. If you already have extensive experience with some of the content of a module, you may 88 00:07:33,219 --> 00:07:38,259 want to skip ahead to the parts that are new to you, or even skip the module altogether. You can always go 89 00:07:38,259 --> 00:07:43,448 back to review parts of the modules as necessary. Are you someone who likes to plan 90 00:07:43,448 --> 00:07:48,828 ahead? Click on the folder cleverly named Learning First Documents to download documents 91 00:07:48,828 --> 00:07:54,228 that you will be using in the short course. Ready? Let's go. 92 00:07:54,228 --> 00:07:59,708 In the next module, you'll learn about connecting content, pedagogy, and technology 93 00:07:59,708 --> 00:08:04,808 in planning. You might be tempted to skip ahead, but we encourage you to give the next 94 00:08:04,808 --> 00:08:10,468 module a look. It contains important ideas that you will use throughout the course. 95 00:08:10,468 --> 00:08:12,300 See you in Module 2.