Chapter 14

TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATIONS, AND THE FUTURE

Understanding Technology
Technology: the combining of information to make

new products or processes that extend our capabilities Examples:

Reading glasses improve vision LCD projector projects digital images across a large screen

Technology is science made practical

Technology in Schools
Computer labs vs. seamless integration

Interactive whiteboards: large touch-sensitive screen

used with a computer and projector Immediate response devices: electronic device that allows students to input responses through a computer-based system; aka clickers

Source: http://www.tsp-av.com/

Virtual reality and simulations

Technology in Schools
Discussion boards, blogging and electronic records Students who create their own blogs feel that their work needs to be up to standard because their classmates will view what they post. Wiki websites collaborative learning

Professional Development
Educators have to be trained to implement new

technologies Technology should be used as an instructional tool for accomplishing an articulated educational goal. Work technology into lessons rather than trying to make technology do your work.

Technology for Students

Despite investments in computers, a study of

Maryland schools showed that only 13 % of schools reported students used technology to display data every day. Less than 10% reported students used technology for the manipulation, analysis and interpretation of information. However, in 2003 83.5% of students make some use of computers in school.

The Good News

Students will have lived all of their lives in the

computerized world. All students of whatever grade level, will eventually come into your classroom living in a world in which computers are common.

Distance Education
Distance education: delivery of instructional

programs to people in sites remote from the school setting Originally began as correspondence courses by mail Virtual school: an electronic, telecommunicationsbased presentation of coursework to students who are homebound or in remote sites, or even just as an alternative to being in a traditional school setting

Distance Education Video

Distance Education
Approximately 9% of schools provide access to

distance education courses, primarily by high schools in the southeast and central regions. Concerns:

Loss of social interaction among students Loss of interaction between teacher and student Cyber anonymity threatens to reduce multicultural awareness Different pedagogical approach to teaching

Technology and Special Needs

Assistive technology: applications of technology that

improve the educational experience for students with special needs.

Greater mobility for those with wheelchairs Increased interaction between students and teachers through touchscreen computers. Improved the ability of students to be interactive communicators

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was

reauthorized in 2004

States mandated to consider assistive technologies for children with individualized education programs (IEPs) and document their technology needs in the plan.

Technology Issues
Funding of hardware and software Nature-deficit disorder: decreased student interaction with nature How can schools effectively monitor appropriate use of electronic

resources? Students use information online to answer questions; are they losing critical thinking abilities? The internet is evolving from an information source into a commercial entity. Should students in schools be seen as an advertising market? Can electronic communications lead to a lack of socialization skills? E-mail and text messaging have given rise to a new version of English. What are the implications of this for teaching standard English to a generation of students who use alternate language when communicating with one another?

Technology and Tomorrow: Logistical Innovations

Logistical innovations: innovative changes that affect

the physical aspect of school: the building, the interior and exterior facilities, the movement of people, etc. National Defense Education Act: in the late 1950s brought a sharp national focus to education

Prefederal vs. postfederal periods

Prefederal School Design

Old building Lots of masonry work Wooden floors Tall windows Massive demeanor Often multilevel, accessed by staircase Cornerstones go back to the early 20th century Not uncommon to find modern buildings attached to older structure by hallway or breezeway

New London Academy Oldest High School in Virginia http://www.callawayfamily.org/cfanet/cfanet0512.htm

Postfederal School Design

In 1950s-1960s, education was seen

as a national defense response; building boom of American schools. Cinderblock walls Metal-framed window units Welded steel roof trusses Flat roofs Less height and more sprawl Equal access: federal requirement that buildings and facilities be structured in such a way that people with physical handicaps have access to the same information and opportunities as do people without handicaps; implemented in 1970s legislation

Langley High School Built in 1965 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Langley_High _School.jpg

Buildings of all eras

Schools take up a lot of space public schools and property account for billions of dollars worth of real estate across the country. 2. Space that schools and surrounding properties occupy is typically an open area. 3. The basic design of the school emphasizes the movement of people. Typically an arrangement of classrooms along a large hallway. Schools never seem big enough. Portable buildings add temporary classroom space to keep up with enrollment increases. In 2005, 37% of public schools used temporary buildings.
1.

Future School Buildings

Can schools generate their own power?

Solar collectors: panels that capture heat from the

sun and use it to heat water or the facilities Student power use student movements across floor to harness energy and produce electricity

Other considerations
Class size has a long-term correlation with academic

achievement Many schools and states have mandated smaller class sizes, but classrooms are designed to accommodate several dozen students. Expandability of schools to accommodate changing enrollments. Modular schools use modular units for administrative, instructional, special needs, or energy needs.

Layout of Schools
How can we change the layout of schools? Necessary facilities?

hallway with large open rooms reception office principals office Cafeteria library/media center school nurses office guidance counselors office Gymnasium parking areas for teachers parking for students (high schools) auditorium

Flow
Flow of a school: movement of large numbers of

people from one place to another; getting students to and from school as well as from one place within the building to another within scheduling constraints Elementary students tend to be assigned to one classroom with one teacher, while middle and high school students tend to move throughout the building to many different classes and teachers

Case Study: A University in China

Students were assigned to a classroom; each had a

key and the assigned students were responsible for keeping that room clean and orderly. Professors would come to that room to teach different subjects. The room became a meeting place for students after classes, a place to study and talk or have a class party. The model was that students, of whom there were many, stayed in one place, whereas professors, of whom there were few, moved from room to room.

Mobile teachers and stationary students

If implemented in middle or high schools, how

would that affect the design of a new school?

Hallway size Square footage of building Hallways surrounding a pod of classrooms

Time spent moving is lost instructional time. At the elementary level, 31 transitions occupy 15 percent of instructional time available for the day. Thats almost an hour a day without the movement of students from room to room for each subject.

Use of school facilities

Contemporary schools have a more distanced

relationship with the community; funded by a community that is often concerned with high tax rates; only visit schools for special extracurricular activities Two schools of thought on using school facilities: 1. The school is established and funded for the purpose of educating students. 2. The school is a public building that sits idle in the evenings, on the weekends, and for several months each year.

Utilizing school facilities

Year-round school Positives: better utilization of facilities, increased retention of prior learning Negatives: Parents and teachers summer vacation plans, increased facility costs

Innovative scheduling possibilities for schools and

businesses

Utilizing school facilities, continued

Community activities: public schools are public facilities

Are they owned by the community, the county or the

state? Paid for by tax dollars. Two categories of community use:

Nonprofit: community government (town meetings), civic organization meetings, summer vacation programs for community children Revenue producing: admission for concerts or lecture series in auditorium, continuing education programs in evenings, exercise equipment and membership fee

Does the community at large have a right to use the

facilities?

Ancillary businesses
Ancillary businesses: businesses with services that

directly relate to the successful functioning of the school.

Transportation services Food services Supplies Medical attention Diagnostic testing physical and psychological disciplines

Education institution but also a holistic child care

institution. Free and reduced lunch programs, after-school programs, etc. Which services should the school provide and which should be provided to the school by businesses?

Instructional Innovations
Instructional Delivery Systems The Electronic Wall: the entire wall is a display area in the front of a classroom Multimedia Academic Graphic Interface Computer Wall (a.k.a. the MAGIC Wall) a teacher could display clocks, academic objectives, class rules, emergency instructions, seating chart display, displaying students work, display individual or group responses to questions in graphical form, write on the board as a dry erase when powered off

Instructional Innovations, continued

Holographic Displays High school biology classes three-dimensional view of dissections Other science classes three dimensional models, live lectures, etc. Improve skills in mental modeling and spatial reasoning. Piagets fourth stage of cognitive development: formal operational thinking

Experiential Education
Experiential education: an approach that seeks to

make what is taught as part of school as realistic as possible; example: field trips Experience-based education can be traced to at least the beginning of the 20th century Constructivism: based on providing students with experiences on which to build from which to learn; how do you integrate an approach into classroom instruction?

Experiential Education: Vocational Education

Vocational programs represent the very practical

application of learning. An auto mechanics student will apply that knowledge very directly after leaving school. How will a student studying English or algebra apply that knowledge outside of school? What are the experiences the students will face in the real world? How do we best prepare students for those experiences?

Internet
First, a research tool that served to exchange information

from mainframe to mainframe computer. Networks provided the foundation for the information age. Three educationally important points: 1. The Internet is just as much a part of everyday life for vast numbers of people as is television. 2. Information from the Web must be accepted with the same guarded skepticism as that through other media sources 3. The Internet is constantly changing. The highly commercial aspect will develop as research and educational functions develop in their own directions.

Global Classroom
Establishment of a Global Creative Problem-Solving

Consortium as part of the curriculum to allow U.S. schools to form partnerships with schools in other countries. Topic Integration for Macro-Learning Experiences: students work in collaboration with their partner schools to consider the problem from three perspectives: 1. The causes of the problem 2. The effects the problem has on people 3. The possible effects of the problem on the future The students work together to find a solution acceptable from all cultural perspectives.

Instructional Materials
Print media vs. electronic media

Electronic books (e-books) content can be more

localized by state Textbooks several larger states influence textbook content across the country

Funding Education
Income taxes

County property taxes

Sales tax (in some communities and states) Anyone with income is paying for schools, regardless

of whether they have children in school. Is this the most equitable system? Should parents who send their children to private schools still pay local school taxes?

Funding Education
Economic pragmatics: skills in managing money Earning, using and managing money is a major

concern in adult life. Should students learn about it in school? How could this education pay off for school funding as those students become taxpayers? Spiral curriculum: students are introduced to elements of the subject that are developmentally appropriate for them Students are introduced to money as a system of exchange (identifying coins and their value) and then guides students through an understanding of the American economy, investing for the future, understanding taxes, etc.

Online Course Websites

Stanford

Coursera
Udacity MITX

edX

Homework Assignment
http://edu200wiki.pbworks.com/