Runninghead: TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Technology Use at Amherst Regional High School Mitchell Krieger University of Massachusetts / Hampshire College

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Technology Use at Amherst Regional High School In 2008 Bill Gates, founder of tech giant Microsoft, said that, When Paul Allen and I

started Microsoft over 30 years ago, we had big dreams about software, we had dreams about the impact it could have. We talked about a computer on every desk and in every home. Although much of their dream is almost a reality, they did not realize how much the technology they were creating would have an impact on one other area: there would be a computer in every classroom. In the past decade the rapid change in technology has created a vast amount of opportunities for schools to integrate technology into the classroom environment in a variety of ways, that will hopefully improve the educational experience. However the key word in the prior sentence is hopefully. Does technology actually enhance education? What is the best way to integrate technology? How can teachers and school districts keep up with the ever changing technological resources? What do students need to know about technology in order to be successful post their educational career? There has been much research surrounding these questions and it is critical to continue to investigate the role of technology in education. We visited Amherst Regional High School in order to explore the relationship between the recent literature and research in the field of educational technology and what is actually happening in a local school district. So, how is technology being integrated at Amherst Regional High School? What are the current views of technology expressed by teachers, administrations, and technology specialists? The Amherst Regional Public School District has a district wide department of Technology and Information Systems that works with all schools in the district with the integration of technology into their school culture. According to their website the

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL mission of the Technology and Information Systems department is to: Improve and enhance the depth, breadth, and quality of student learning. Develop the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue further education and obtain employment. Develop the attitudes, values and ethics needed to function responsibly in the emerging information society. Offer opportunities for leaning about technology as a discipline of study. Connect school, community and world-wide resources. Beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, Amherst Regional Public Schools began a revision of

their district technology plan, specifically in regards to technology integration, the technological literacy of students, and how to asses the districts use of technology. In light of this, it was a very interesting time to explore what was happening with technology at Amherst Regional High School. In 2001, Zhao and Conway created a framework to consider the phenomena that occur in the integration of technology into education. They look at this integration from four important aspects in the philosophy of education and the educational process: the technology itself, the teacher, the student, and educational goals. Each aspect has different categories into which a school or an individual can be associated with in order to gain insight into the overall use of technology in education, that is being experienced in schools. Are teachers the designers of technology use in the classroom? Or are they just who decides what technology gets used? Is the goal of education to promote social mobility and equity? Or is it for economic progress and competitiveness? Are students passive vessels for learning to be departed onto? Or are the active

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL investigators in a social learning process? Is technology something that is just a stand alone machine that provides information? Is it a network that we can use? Or can it do anything for us as deus ex machine (Latin for god in the machine)? Is technology the great equalizer? Zhao and Conways framework has been represented in a table in the Appendix. We employed Zhao and Conways rubric as our main way to analyze what is Amherst Regional High Schools current state of technology integration and the current technology plans of the Amherst Regional Public School District, the state of Massachusetts and the Nation. On the federal level, the United States Department of Education has put forth a national technology plan entitled Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. It is a lengthy document that covers, A model of learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. (US Department of Education 2010, pg. X). The plan puts a large emphasis on using education, and thus technology, as workforce preparation economic progress. The National Plan discusses a lot about the importance of keeping our youth competitive in global economic competition by using technology as a method, which lines up with many of the states views of educational goals (Zhao 2001 pg. 14).

However, the Massachusetts technology plan puts more of an emphasis on social mobility and equity of individual students rather than economic competitiveness as put forth in the national plan, although it still does reference the importance of, Massachusetts students graduate[ing] with the tools to allow them to compete not just on the national stage, but with their peers across the globe.. (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 2008, pg. 1). Massachusetts has historically been a leader in education and

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Massachusetts schools are currently the top in the nation. In the cover letter of the state technology plan, Acting Commissioner of Education Jeffery Nellhaus says, The goal of this document is to help students develop technology literacy skills to learn the content of the curriculum, as well as to be able to succeed and thrive in their adult lives. These skills will help them function effectively in a world where new technologies continue to emerge and information grows ever more abundant. The teaching and learning of these skills should be integrated into the general curriculum, not taught in isolation. As students develop technology skills, they should apply these skills in their

classroom, school, and life so that they will understand why these skills are important. An essential benefit of integrating the appropriate use of technology into the curriculum is that it can enhance the learning of the content without overburdening an already full curriculum. We will continue our work with schools and districts to prepare students for the world of work, higher education, and lifelong learning using multiple technology tools. (Massachusetts Department of Education 2008) Nellhauss statement shows Massachusetts dedication to quality education by using technology that is not taught in isolation to enhance the learning of students. The plan puts forth technology as Zhao would put it, as a great equalizing tool that can provide equal access to everyone. (Zhao 2001) Amherst Regionals district technology plan employs four benchmarks for the districts school to strive towards. They are, a commitment to a clear vision and implementation strategies, technology integration and literacy, accessibility of technology, and elearning and communications. Each benchmark is outlined with specific details and asserts that, Todays technology offers tools for developing intellectual curiosity and creativity through

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL research, analysis, problem-solving and communication. Equipping classrooms with these tools will transform them into multipurpose rooms where students can learn interactively. With

technology, the school district will create a more effective environment for teaching and learning, and our students will gain the skills and confidence they need to become lifelong learners. (Amherst Regional School District 2008). When we went to the Amherst Regional High school we sat down and interviewed Josh Nugent (a mathematics teacher), Miki Gromacki (the assistant principal) and Mark Moriarty (the technology department head and computer technology teacher). We interviewed each person on a separate occasion in their classroom using a semistructured interview format, meaning that for each person we went into the interview with a set of predetermined questions, but put forth an effort to make the interview feel like a discussion using the questions as a guide. The pre determined questions we used were based on the discussions we had in the Technology in Curriculum class at University of Massachusetts Amherst. We took notes and recorded all of the interviews which leach had a length of about thirty to fifty minutes. Later we listened to the recordings again and took notes on interesting points that stood out to us that handt occurred to us in the interview. We also had a short discussion about each participant. Josh Nugent is a young teacher in his third year of teaching. He says he sees the use of technology in his classroom in three different ways. One is, technology as presentation, multimedia materials, and presentation of media which is the use of technology to run the class, like a showing video or a website. He used the example of google docs where students could store data collectively to analyze what they found. Another is, using technology as a tool to explore some mathematical concept. He gave the example of the software program Fathom

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL that allows students to run statistical simulations in order to have personal experiences with concepts. The last is the everyday use of technology, like document cameras/projectors or using

the computer to take attendance. Much of how he uses technology was influenced by a class that he recently took at the University of Massachusetts (where he is currently getting his masters degree of education) that surrounded the use of technology in a math classroom. He said that there is not any course where [he] had been told by his department what to do in terms of you have to use technology or you must not. This is particularly interesting because it points to the view of the teacher as a designer in Zhao and Conways model. He said that, the administration is supportive of us using technology [] it is mostly a matter of a teachers own interest in pushing technology in their classroom and having the time to figure out how to use it effectively. Nugent uses technology in whatever way he wants to in his class room, and from what we saw he uses it a lot. From our conversation with Miki Gromacki we found that Amherst Regional High School was trying to convert from computer labs to laptop carts because it is more easily accessible for teachers. Nugent said that there is one cart specifically for the math department, but he usually is the only one to use it because his statistics class is heavily dependent on it. He believes that in order to really teach statistics you need to use the computer because you need to deal with large data sets, and you cant have students calculating with data sets with one thousand points by hand. Its just not practical. According to Nugent, for most teachers its not a matter of access or money to buy technology, its the time it takes to learn the programs and implement the technology into the classroom that is the issue. He is fortunate enough to have been getting a lot of great training and information about technology in the classroom because it is part of his studies going towards his

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL masters degree at the University. However as a math department in a school, technology integration is not the highest priority, but he said that, Im the kind of teacher that is pretty comfortable with technology and Im always looking for ways to bring it to the classroom. Either just to spice up the everyday life of class or to use as a tool for more in depth learning [] I think in math we gotta push technology very hard. Because there is a lot more tools that can let us get to better concepts and mathematical thinking than we used to be able to. So the fact that we can easily manipulate a thousand data point in a data set now, means that kids can see things and learn things that they couldt do ten years ago. Nugent was not aware of the district technology plan for technology literacy or integration, however he seems to be going above and beyond what the plan calls for. Next we talked with Miki Gromacki, who is the Assistant Principal at Amherst Regional

High School, but she was not aware of the details of the district technology plan because that sort of visioning is held at the district level. Miki talked a great deal about access to technology and what the school is doing to combat what Gorski calls, the digital divide. Amherst Regional Public Schools is a unique school district where there are a range of students from all kinds of backgrounds. Although the High School probably would be considered an affluent professional school due the high graduation rates, large percentage of students who go on to college, and the schools pedagogy (Anyon 1980), there are still many students who dont have access to technology (especially the internet) because of where they live. Many of the students parents are professors or high level staff members at one of the five colleges in the area, and so the environment created around the importance of education is serious. However, there still is a

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL significant portion of the student body that is of low income. Gromacki told us that the school is currently under a bring your own device policy, but in an ideal world their goal is to, get all students connected and then obviously looking at our low income population to make sure that they have what they need and then being able to provide really solid professional development for all the teachers on how to deliver [technology integration]. She mentioned that every classroom has a mimio strip (a device that can turn any whiteboard into a smart board) and a document camera. Gromacki says that she, doesnt think that these things transform teaching but its just become a lot more convenient than things that [teachers] were doing[] We are very supportive of technology, but were just having a hard time working past some of the barriers

that currently exist, the high speed connections and the number of low income students that dont have access to technology on their own. These issues that Gromacki and other administrators are facing, challenge the idea that technology and education can be a tool for equity and social mobility. According to Gorski (2009) we need to: (a) challenge the notion that computers and the Internet are or can be the great e qualizers of the United States or the world; (b) to uncover the ways in which these technologies, due to an unequal distribution of hardware, software, infrastructure, digital literacy, and other necessary forms of capital, are contributing to exist- ing inequities; and (c) to expand the digital divide concept of access beyond physical access to include social, cultural, and political access to these technologies and the resulting potentials for social and economic benefits. (Gorse 2009 pg. 352) These students who do not have access to technology at home, come into school already at a disadvantage simply because they dont have access to certain technologies because of their

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geographic location or socioeconomic class. Students who do have access to technology at home come into class already knowing how to use basic software, and therefore can begin lessons right away, while those who do not have access need to learn how to use the technology. If technology is supposed to be the great equalizer, how can it do its job when some people dont even have access in order to be equalized? On a similar token, not all teachers have had the same experience and training with technology. Gromacki says that theyd like to have more professional development to better integrate technology into the classroom but technology is only one of many things they need to cover in professional development sessions. However, she says that they really value collaboration between teachers so that they are not alone in how to figure out new technologies that have been introduced and so that all students can get exposure to experiences with technology in the classroom no matter how skilled their teacher is at technology integration. The idea of collaboration between teachers is also emphasized in the National Technology Plan. Teaching today is practiced mostly in isolation. Many educators work alone, with little interaction with professional colleagues or experts in the outside world. Professional development typically is provided in short, fragmented, and episodic workshops that offer little opportunity to integrate learning into practice[] (US Department of Education 2010 pg. 39) Teachers should be, connected to their students and to professional content, resources, and systems that empower them to create, manage, and assess engaging and relevant learning experiences for students both in and out of school. (US Department of Education 2010 pg. 40).

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But again the issue of time that Nugent had brought up before arises. Teachers are busy and dont have a great deal of time to spare learning new technologies, even though it could greatly help. Even with all of these resources and connections, if there is little time to take advantage of them, what good are they? Gromacki went on to speak about current initiatives that are happening at the High School. They use a lot of time over the summer to do technology training, and they have monthly optional technology support meetings for collaboration among teachers. Every student and teacher has a school email address, that allows them to access storage space, where they can save files from the schools computer into their personal account. The school district uses a system called PowerSchool that keeps track of grades, attendance, school demographics, teacher contact information and more, and parts of it are accessible to parents and students to check their grades, homework assignments and school announcementsIn one classroom anthropology/social studies classroom, they have received an iPad cart to use in class. Gromacki added that a lot of the technology they get is actually rented. Technology changes so fast, and to continually have to buy upgrades is expensive, so the district rents devices so that they can have up to date hardware and software. Mark Moriarty, the head of the technology education department at Amherst Regional High School, underscores a lot of what Nugent and Gromacki said. He teaches computer aided drafting (CAD) and computer graphics courses that both use software that is heavily licensed and therefore many students do not have at home access to these programs even if they do have access to technology at home. Moriarty said that some programs are only in two or three classrooms in the building because the licensing is so strict. Moriarty was originally a technology

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL resource person who helped teachers integrate technology into their classroom at Amherst

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Regional High School and at the local middle schools. However as school budgets got tighter, his job was cut. Luckily he had previously been an English teacher, and they rehired him as a technology education teacher at the high school. So although it is not his official job, Moriarty still does a lot of advising and helping other teachers with technology. He says that even though he is a technology teacher, in order to keep up with the changes in technology, he still is, constantly learning. I used to be a full time English teacher and I was getting a little bored [] I could see the horizon and so I got into this tech thing and Ive been learning ever since. And that wont stop. All three of the participants are very passionate about the great things that technology can do for education, but are well aware of the challenges that come with integrating technology into the classroom. Amherst Regional High School seems to be doing very well with technology integration, and it is in general following the Massachusetts and national plans. It seems that the state and national plans, sometimes over look many details and challenges that make it hard to integrate technology into curriculum. The time it takes to integrate technology seemed to be a largely reoccurring theme that came up in our conversations at the high school. Teachers realize the importance of technology integration, and the administration is very supportive of it, but the issue becomes that it takes effort and time to properly integrate technology in a useful and meaningful way. Nugent told us, If you said to me heres a ten thousand dollar grant, what do you want, I dont know what I would say, I also dont necessary know whats out there[...] If you walked in and said, Josh start using this program, its really cool. Like look at all this cool stuff you can do and you gave me like a wiz bang intro. Id be like, Great..wait what? Itd be not

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL helpful. The key for the future of educational technology is the process of how we go about

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implementing it. Teachers need the time to learn how to use the technology, and how to use it in an effective way to enhance their teaching and classroom environment. However, we demand so much out of teachers already, that they simply have other priorities than the implementation of technology. It might need to be more carefully outlined in technology plans. The plans do a good job of describing what we want students to gain from technology integration and what we want a integrated classroom to look like. However, it lacks the description of the procedures and steps schools will need to take in order to effectively achieve the goals outlined in the national, state, and district technology plans. Nugent, Gromacki, and Moriarty are all great examples of educational professionals working to improve technology integration, and Amherst Regional High School is lucky to have them. It will be interesting to see what revisions the district will make to its technology plan and how the changes will trickle down and affect the teachers and students. Hopefully, we will see changes that will help the problem of the digital divide and social mobility in educational technology as well as a commitment to teachers, aiding them in the process of integrating technology into their classroom.

Runninghead: TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL References Amherst Regional Public Schools. (n.d.). District Technology Plan. Retrieved from http://
www.arps.org/node/220

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Anyon, J. (1980). Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work. Journal of Education,
162(1), 6792.

Barron, A. E., Kemker, K., Harmes, C., & Kalaydjian, K. (2003). Large-Scale Research Study on

Technology in K-12 Schools: Technology Integration as it Relates to the National Technology Standards. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 35(4), 489507.

Burbules, N. (2004). Ways of Thinking About Educational Quality. Educational Researcher,

ProQuest Education Journals, 33(6), 410.

Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (n.d.). Interviewing. How to Design and Evaluate Research in
Education (3rd ed., pp. 447451). New York: McGraw Hill.

Giroux, H. A. (1999). Teachers, Public Life, and Curriculum Reform. In A. C. Ornstein & L. S. Behar-Horenstein (Eds.), Contemporary Issuses in Curriculum (pp. 3644). New York: Allyn &
Bacon.

Gorski, P. C. (2008). Insisting on Digital Equity: Reframing the Dominant Discourse on

Multicultural Education and Technology. Urban Education, 44(3), 348364.

Massachusetts Department of Education. (2002). Assistive Technology Guide for Massachusetts

Schools. Author.

Massachusetts Department of Education. (2010). Local Technology Plan Guidelines (School

Year 2010-2011 through 2014-2015). Author.

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2008, April).

Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards and Expectations. Author.

U.S. Department of Education. Transforming American Education Learning Powered by

Technology: National Educational Technology Plan 2010. (2010). Author.

Zhao, Y., & Conway, P. (2001). Whats In, Whats Out - An Analysis of State Educational
Technology Plans. Teachers College Record. Retrieved from http://www.tcrecord.org

TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Zhao, Y., Pugh, K., Sheldon, S., & Byers, J. L. (2002). Conditions for Classroom Technology
Innovations. Teachers College Record, 104(3), 482515.

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Runninghead: TECHNOLOGY USE AT AMHERST REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL Appendix

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Table: Rubric for Analyzing Images of Technology, Students, Teachers, and Educational Goals in State Technology Plans TECHNOLOGY Technology as "stand- alone" information machine Computer technology as "network" Technology as "deus ex machina" From: Zhao, Y., & Conway, P. (2001). Whats In, Whats Out - An Analysis of State Educational Technology Plans. Teachers College Record. Retrieved from http://www.tcrecord.org STUDENT Passive respondent to stimuli TEACHER Luddite EDUCATIONAL GOALS Workforce preparation for economic progress

Active solo inquirer Gatekeeper or filter Equity

Active social inquirer

Designer

N/A