Module 1: Overview of Technology in Education

Introduction

Let's fast forward five years. California is riding the economic boom that began in 1996. President Al Gore is thinking about running for a second term. The US/Soviet Space Station currently houses 10 inhabitants. And you've just been hired as the new Assistant Superintendent in Charge of Technology in a northern California school district which has six elementary schools, two junior high schools, and a high school.

One of the enticing opportunities that drew you to apply for the position was that it was just selected by the Department of Education (DOE) as a member of the Goal 2010 Consortium. As a member (of which there are only nine other districts throughout the country), your school will be obtaining a large influx of funds -- $3,000,000 per year for the next six years -- to make it a showcase of how technology and dedicated teachers can work together to create a school of the future. The Department of Education expects that students progressing through your school will be well adjusted, technologically literate, high achievers who will help lead our country in the future. As you can see, there's a lot riding on your school and how well you succeed in transforming the district. But where do you start? What needs to be done? How will you be judged?

Task

Fortunately, you won't be alone in trying to hammer out what needs to be done in your district. In one of the email messages sent out by the DOE you saw the names of the other districts included in the consortium, and you've been able to contact a few of the other people in similar positions.

Your superintendent is anxious about what you plan to do, and has given you a week to generate answers to the following questions. Fortunately, the technologists in the other schools are facing a similar deadline. Maybe you can all work together as a team to structure the answers. The questions from your superintendent are found below.

  1. "What do you think the DOE means by a school of the future?"
  2. "I'm a bit concerned by the expectation that technology can solve educational problems. What sort of problems do you think technology will be best to solve (and what's your rationale?)"
  3. "If we get $3 million per year, how do you propose we spend it? What percentage should go to computers? To training? To software? What's your justification?"
  4. "Speaking of training, we're going to have to get a strong buy-in by the staff to make this succeed. Any suggestions?"
  5. "In addition to the faculty, I'm a bit concerned about the parents and community members (remember the back lash we had when we tried the New Science curriculum in 2002)? What should we be concerned with pertaining to this new initiative, and how do you suggest we intervene before it becomes a problem."
  6. "Finally, what do you see as your role in the district? I know we had vague statements of "technology leader," but what do you really think you'll be doing over the next few years? How do you think these expectations of yours will help bridge our district into the school of the future over the next few years?"

Advice

There will be three people on your team. You may want to have each person research each question, draft up answers, then take turns editing the answers, or just have each person research two of the questions for the entire group. The choice is up to you, but you will only have one week to structure your answers.

The resources you may want to use include your two textbooks or any of the links below. Don't feel you need to look through all of the links, as some will not be valuable for each question, but don't simply examine one site. Read, analyze, and synthesize the material to create valid responses to your questions. Your answers will be posted, so be sure to not copy any copyrighted material.

Finally, it would be helpful to select one of the team members as the team leader. This person will be responsible for gathering individual's answers and organizing them into a unified final product.

Resources

The Technology Connections page provides links to information on Internet safety, the impact of technology, teacher education, and technology funding.

WWW4Teachers is a site that offers teacher testimonials about teaching with technology, keynote addresses from leaders in the educational technology field, and descriptions of educators breaking new ground on the electronic frontier.

SCR*TEC is one of six Regional Technology in Educational Consortia in the country. Their site links to professional development ideas, school programs that are successfully using technology, technical assistance, and solutions to technology questions.

Yahoo offers Educational News for the past four weeks with a searchable database.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) site includes links to National Standards for Technology, technology resources, and technology related publications.

The San Diego County Office of Education has a Technology Consortium site that describes current county projects and links to other relevant sites.

The National Center for Technology Planning has links to many state and city technology plans, and links to many articles on a variety of technology issues.

North Carolina has created computer competencies for grades K-12. Here you can read their philosophy, outcomes, and goals.

The Technology Coordinator's Resource Center close to 2,000 links to curriculum, professional, html and reference sites pertaining to technology in education.

Product

After you have researched your questions, drafted answers, and had your teammates agree to the content, be prepared to submit the material during the second class. Answers will be gathered by your team captain, and eventually appear as documents linked to this page on the web.

Page author: Donn Ritchie
URL: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/EdTec596r/module1/apply.html
Last updated: April 3, 1998.
© 1998. All rights reserved.