Nada Mach, Ph.D.; Peter Desberg, Ph.D.; James Cantor, Ph.D., & Diane Hembacher, Ph.D.

nmach@csudh.edu, pdesberg@aol.com, jcantor@csudh.edu, dhembacher@csudh.edu

California State University, Dominguez Hills

School of Education

1000 East Victoria Street

Carson, California 90747

Discussant: Phyllis Fernlund, Ph.D., Dean, School of Education, Sonoma State University

phyllis.fernlund@sonoma.edu

Technology has facilitated new ways of learning that impact the preparation of teachers. Unfortunately, it has created as many problems for teacher education as it has solved. One major problem is to assure that beginning teachers are skilled in the use of technology in their teaching and learning, and that this positively impacts the children in their classrooms. As recently as January 1999, the U.S. Department of Education reported that "Teachers are being asked to learn new methods of teaching, while at the same time are facing even greater challenges of rapidly increasing technological changes and greater diversity in the classroom.... [given such challenges] relatively few teachers (20%) report feeling well-prepared to integrate educational technology into classroom instruction." According to the joint Milken - ISTE report (1999) on the findings from their survey of Teacher-Education programs in the United States,

• Instructional technology instruction should be integrated into other courses and SCDE activities rather than being limited to stand-alone courses.
• Atudent teachers need more opportunities to apply instructional technology during field experiences, perhaps through mentoring via distance education if mentors are not available in the schools.
• Faculty should be encouraged to model and integrate technology (NCATE, 1997; Willis & Mehlinger, 1996) through increased emphasis on faculty professional development, including incentives outside the traditional academic rewards system.
• To provide models for change, researchers, professional societies and education agencies should identify, study and disseminate examples of effective technology integration that reflect the current needs in both k-12 and teacher education (pp. 23-4).

NCATE 2000 standards, developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), (http://www.iste.org/standards/ncate/basic.html), enforce a performance assessment model for accreditation of teacher education programs that calls for replacing stand-alone technology classes with programs that infuse technology throughout all of the credential-preparation coursework.

While most teacher education faculty would probably agree that beginning teachers should be skilled at word processing, use of databases, spreadsheets, the Internet, e-mail, and other tools of technology, we cannot expect faculty to simply add this to their palettes and devote the many hours necessary to learn and maintain up-to-date skills in the use of technology. The challenge is how to facilitate this learning and support teacher preparation faculty to be motivated and comfortable infusing technology into their methods courses. The accountability questions logically follow. How do we know that faculty in our schools of education are providing their students with the tools to do the same in their own classes, thereby enabling their students to compete in the marketplace? And how can we be sure that teacher educators will devote more of their work lives keeping current, knowledgeable about, and skilled in the use of technology?

Because of the nation-wide teacher shortage, particularly in the urban, inner-city areas, teacher education programs are confronting many new challenges, and hopefully viewing them as opportunities to create new and more effective ways of bridging theory and practice, as well as to provide appropriate, alternative, "on-the-job" training for non-credentialed teachers. How do these new ways of infusing technology into the teacher education curriculum impact issues of diversity and easier access? How can we provide assurance of instructional quality with large groups of part-time faculty teaching courses? And how can Schools, Colleges and Departments of Education (SCDEs) respond to the competitive environment that may exist in their own institutions? It is important that SCDEs explore and discuss current research in these areas because the change will not occur by itself.

There are three major accountability issues that must be addressed. (1) The nation is moving away from stand-alone technology classes and toward infusion of technology into methods instruction. Most states have mandated technology competencies, or are using those of ISTE/NCATE. Making sure that each preservice candidate has mastered all technology competencies is a major systemic accountability issue. (2) Training and supporting faculty so that they acquire the competencies necessary to infuse technology into their curricula presents a second important accountability issue. (3) Insuring that teacher education students acquire the technology competencies within their methods classes represents a final accountability issue, resulting in the implementation of the technology in their own classrooms.

As part of an earlier PT3 capacity building grant, we began by putting all of our full-time faculty into subject matter groups to develop a course-by-standards matrix as we addressed the ISTE and the new state of California technology standards that recommended incorporating technology into methods courses rather than offering a stand-alone course. Within our PT3 Implementation grant, the paradigm the we have used to mentor methods faculty in the implementation of technology into the curriculum is the "trainer-of-trainers model," thus making it easier for teacher preparation faculty to infuse technology into their methods courses, and be made accountable in non-threatening ways. Cadres of faculty mentors have been created to act as change agents to work with other faculty to develop a common project among all methods courses in the same subject, pilot this in their courses, and in so-doing, produce training materials to be used by others teaching the course.

The first cadre of teachers to participate in this model, and who serve as an example of the faculty training and participation were the social studies methods faculty. They have shared in the planning and implementation of the database project, thus ensuring their commitment to mentoring other social studies methods faculty. They will be reporting on their experiences later in this symposium.

The "Trainer-of-Trainers" Model is based upon the literature on school change and reform (Goodlad, 1997), which clearly delineates that changes agreed upon and implemented by those involved in the "culture" of the school are those that are most meaningful and most successful.

Feelings of fear, discomfort or anxiety toward one or more forms of technology have been accepted as a description of technophobia, and can result in the complete avoidance of using technology. As it turns out, the greatest predictor of technophobia resides in the attitude of the person who introduces that technology (Bollentin, 1998). Rosen and Weil (1998) found that 45% of k-12 teacher are technophobic themselves. The goal, then, of SCDEs becomes that of reducing technophobia through infusing technology into everyday tasks, so that instructors and students alike may feel comfortable in adapting its use in instruction.

To that end, during the Capacity-building grant the directors brought in Dr. Larry Rosen to speak about technophobia, and all teacher education faculty were given Dr. Rosen's technophobia index as a gauge of their existing level of technophobia. Since this is basically a self-report measure, we relied on the faculty's willingness to reveal their own anxiety. The results of this survey resulted in certain decisions that would reduce technophobia: training and equipment tended to be at the source of the faculty's anxiety. Through the grant, training sessions were provided, and smaller tutorial sessions continued. In addition, through the grant we were able to purchase portable equipment (laptops with airport hubs and cards, projectors, screens, digital video cameras). This is an ongoing effort that is meant to make technology more easily accessible to all members of the department.

Lessons Learned

CSUDH received a PT3 grant to facilitate the migration of technology instruction from a stand-alone course to full infusion into preservice methods classes as mandated by the California Legislature. It was also a good idea. Previously, students took a course in a well-equipped lab with a technology-savvy instructor showing dazzling applications. Then, they took their methods classes, and in many cases, never saw technology applied again. The message that was sent was...real teaching methods have little use for technology.

Being told by the administration that they would all have to comply with the new State regulations was not much of a motivational boost for our methods faculty. As we approached our colleagues, we were presented with numerous obstacles. Some of the more popular ones were:

• There was too much information to convey in the methods course without including an additional technology unit
• There was not enough access to technology on campus and in the schools.
• Instructor technophobia
• Technology skill deficits

In beginning this odyssey, we learned many lessons. Below are a few of the more powerful ones:

• Don’t start with Applications - We began by teaching applications that the faculty said they were interested in learning. These applications included the BlackBoard system to place class information on the web, Hyperstudio and WebQuests. This type of instruction turned out to be very abstract and had little transfer to what the faculty’s immediate needs were.
• Don't use workshops - Bringing large groups of faculty together in a workshop setting rarely worked because we were unable to meet individual needs while trying to interest all of them simultaneously.
• Start with newer/younger faculty - We discovered that senior faculty were much more settled into their instructional modes and a lot less disposed toward experimentation.
• Use projects that faculty are already doing - Rather than introducing new projects for faculty to try, we found it much more effective to take existing curricular areas and adapt them as technology applications. It required much less work from busy faculty, and it provided a guarantee that the area chosen would be of interest to the faculty.
• Extend those projects with features that could only by accomplished with technology - Once a project area was selected, we had to find a way to produce desired results that extended the project in a very desirable way...and could only be achieved through the use of technology.
• Support faculty in their initial presentations in terms of hardware and software - We worked in collaboration with methods faculty at every step of the process so that they learned about using technology as part of the development process…but that did not mean that they felt ready to try it alone. We provided back-up support when they first tried out the projects in their classes. As it turned out, we functioned more as observers, but our presence seemed comforting prior to the initial implementation of the projects in class.

The CD-ROM disk that resulted from this project was designed to serve as training and backup support for the faculty involved. It was also intended to serve as the basis for training new faculty and part-time faculty. We have now decided that it may serve an additional role by being made available directly to preservice students. Here are a few of the features of the Immigration CD-ROM disk:

• Video interviews with project faculty presenting the rationales for the project - The faculty do an excellent job at explaining the rationale for the project in terms of state and national standards, pedagogical implications, value as a tool for teaching history and technology utility.
• Classroom videos to show how to conduct the lessons - Faculty and students who are new to the project have the opportunity to observe how the lesson is conducted effectively by experienced faculty models.
• Videos with student/group interactions - There is also an opportunity to view how student groups are organized and how they interact during the various stages of the project.
• Step-by-step software instructions - There are no prerequisites for doing this activity. The CD-ROM has step-by-step instructions for every task that must be done using the database software.
• Interactive training on software - The ClarisWorks database was simulated on the CD-ROM disk using Macromedia Director. There is an opportunity to practice each part of the task and receive feedback before ever trying the actual software application itself.
• Demo version of software with data files - There is a demo version of ClarisWorks on the CD-ROM disk that also contains a full set of data that may be manipulated. In addition, there is also a template for doing the exercise.
• Videos of faculty reflection of project - At the end of the CD-ROM disk, there is a video of project faculty reflecting on the project, its mission and effectiveness.
• Blank data forms that can be printed out - All forms necessary to use the lesson are included and may be printed out directly from the disk.
• Links to related web resources - The CD-ROM disk has a series of websites related to the topic of immigration and a number of database lesson plan websites that may be accessed by simply clicking on URLs found on the disk. From there, the Director program will launch any web browser found on their computer and go to the selected Website.

Students will acquire a number of technology skills from this lesson, including those that follow:

• Database skills - There are a number of database skills that will be acquired including:
• Create fields
• Entering data
• Sorting data
• Searching (querying) records using individual and multiple search criteria
• Creating custom reports and layouts
• Merging database files to create larger data pools
• Using data to ask and answer inferential questions - Students learn to function as historians. They determine what the questions they want to answer, what data needs to be collected to answer them and how to make inferences from their collected data.
• Use technology in the one computer classroom - Only one computer is needed to complete this project. This facilitates each student’s view that they are part of a community of scholars. Each student helps determine the questions, collects data from an interview, enters their data into the class database and participates in the inferences drawn from the data analysis.

Despite the current trends imposing mandated, teacher-directed, scripted, skills-based curriculum , we still believe that student and adult learners need to engage in thoughtful, experiential learning activities designed to help them make meaningful connections to their prior knowledge . Ours is a more demanding and thought-provoking approach; nevertheless we believe that by engaging learners with relevant content they become proactive and look for ways to gain and understand new knowledge. During engagement, students want to learn, allowing skill development to occur effectively without resistance. Rather than tell students what others have learned, we believe that learning is facilitated and guided in social contexts in which teaching for understanding is a shared responsibility of the community of student and adult learners . When learning activities integrate interdisciplinary approaches and multiple ways of knowing, critical and creative thinking develops and learners explore possibilities rather than recite facts .

So what does this mean for the teacher educator teaching social studies methods classes? One of the first activities I do is to ask my students (who are non-credentialed, beginning teachers in hard-to-staff, urban public schools), to think about what they remember from when they were elementary students learning social studies. I have them stand up and take their place in a line-up that is a continuum that runs from great memories where they were engaged in inspiring, educative experiences – down to negative memories where their social studies experiences in elementary school were meaningless. In every class only a few students have wonderful memories. Some have negative memories, but most have no memories of learning social studies at all during their K-5 years. The common experience was that they were told to read the chapter and answer the questions at the end. Those with powerful memories recall participating in projects – making things – acting things out – going into their communities to research, draw, or attend or speak at meetings.

As teacher educators, we are searching for ways for students to BE historians, and DO history, rather than merely study history. Real historians do not read digests of historical events and then answer the questions in the back of the chapter. To do the work of real historians, children need rich environments filled with the "manipulatives" of history teaching – primary source documents, historical photographs, oral histories, and surveys. Technology provides overwhelming opportunities for young historians to become "active discoverers," rather than "passive recipients." Internet sources provide limitless resources for analyzing multiple viewpoints, so that students can draw their own conclusions and develop their own historical understandings.

In this project students go beyond simply collecting oral histories and they use a database to help them make sense of what they learned about their families’ "coming-to-America stories." They are able to devise predictions, make comparisons, and place what they learned into meaningful contexts. From this they can write analytical historical narratives. The teacher plays the role of facilitator, asking questions that help learners develop deeper understandings and clarify what they know. Rather than focus on isolated facts, students use this database project to pose questions and use inquiry methods to explore historical concepts in the world around them. In these ways students are encouraged to hypothesize, draw logical inferences, gather relevant data, and develop their own historical understandings.

Linda Darling-Hammond’s research informs us that reforms that invest time in teacher learning and give teachers greater autonomy are our best hope for improving America's schools. More attention to learning and cognition has accompanied a deepening appreciation for content pedagogy and constructivist teaching. She urges teacher educators to develop a reflective, problem-solving orientation by engaging in teacher research, school-based inquiry, and inquiry into students’ experiences. This approach is especially effective in low-income, urban schools where the multi-cultural, multilingual nature of the student body benefits from approaches that incorporate learning through multiple intelligences and project-based approaches to learning. The aim is to view teaching as collegial work and as an intellectual activity. Most teachers have never experienced this kind of teaching and learning. Most of us sat at our desks, listened to the teacher, read the material, and those of us who were successful responded back with the "right answers." It is hard to expect teachers to be open to learning news ways of teaching or to be successful implementing methods that they have never experienced themselves. Darling-Hammond states that investing time for teacher learning is essential if significant changes are to be expected . We have created this CD-ROM as a tool to bridge this gap and support teacher educators as they teach teachers to teach in new ways.

Elementary and middle school teachers today face the daunting task of incorporating a multitude of standards and skills from different subject areas into their daily teaching. As teacher educators, we must provide our students with strategies for addressing standards and skills across subject areas. At the same time, we must meet the new NCATE mandate of infusing technology throughout credential-preparation coursework. How can we integrate technology into the methods class syllabus without displacing other essential topics, skills, and elements of effective instruction? And how can we facilitate the transfer of technology from the preservice methods classroom to the elementary or middle school classroom?

In a review of studies which analyze the effects of media on learning, Diem (2000) reports that "if technology is to effectively impact the classroom it must be related to the overall intent of learning" (p. 493). In this way, "technology becomes tied to both content and process skills as it is sublimated within broader learning goals", and thereby "gives direction for a variety of activities"(p. 493-494) within the instructional system. If technology is infused in this way, it supports, rather than displaces, key elements of the curriculum. Unfortunately, in the past, technology has not served this role in the typical social studies classroom. Diem (2000) cites Berson (1996), who reports that "computers have served the primary function of facilitating students’ access to content and have been relegated to being an appendage to traditional classroom materials" (p. 494).

The project for technology infusion which we have developed ties technology to the goals, content, and process of the methods class, as well as of the elementary or middle school classroom. With this project, technology provides direction for activities which would not be feasible using traditional materials.

In planning the project, we sought to integrate computer database technology with California State Standards for History-Social Science, and historical thinking skills. We selected the theme of immigration, as it is addressed in standards from grades two through five and eight, and also, because it provides an opportunity for students to "do" the work of historians, collecting data about immigration within their families and community. The database would be used to record and analyze the data.

Using the database adds a new dimension to a standard oral history project. First, students have the opportunity to formulate meaningful questions about variables pertaining to the theme of immigration, before conducting their interviews. For example, is age of arrival related to severity of obstacles faced in the new country? The variables that appear in the questions constitute the categories for the database, and are used in developing interview questions. Once students conduct their interviews, they learn to input the data into the database. Finally, the database promotes further inquiry about immigration, as students use the database to manipulate the data, search for patterns, and pose new questions. Clearly, technology use in this project is closely tied to the goals, content, and activities of the social studies methods class, as well as the elementary or middle school classroom.

Our next challenge was to introduce the project to students in our methods classes, in a way that would facilitate transfer of the technology to the public school classroom. Several studies have analyzed barriers to computer use, as well as factors that facilitate use of computer technology in the classroom. A study of the perceptions of pre-service teachers revealed the following perceived obstacles to use of computer technology: (1) lack of access to computers (2) apprehension about appearing unskilled in front of students (3) fear of equipment failure (Keiper, Harwood, and Larson, 2000). Factors which facilitate use of computers in the classroom include a feeling of self-efficacy (George and Camarata, 1996), a strong interest in using computer technology (Gibson and Hart, 1997), and modeling the use of computer technology in the pre-service classroom (Willis, 1997). Keiper et. al., concluded that while obstacles to computer use may be present in many situations, technology will be employed in the classroom when teachers perceive that the benefits of using technology outweigh the obstacles (2000).

In accordance with this literature, we decided to actively engage our students in the database project. We modeled the role of the teacher, facilitating the formulation of research questions, introducing the interview questionnaire and procedures, demonstrating how to input data into the computer and how to use the database technology to manipulate the data, and supporting students as they input their data and the analyzed it. Students were encouraged to assist each other, and to seek assistance from peers, so that all could be successful in working with the database. We modeled how to manage a classroom with just one computer, using a projector to demonstrate data manipulation before the whole class, and allowing students to work at the computer in pairs while the rest of the class was engaged in other activities. Students were active participants in each stage of the project, and seemed to enjoy taking on the role of historians and becoming a community of researchers.

Our model for infusing technology into the social studies methods class may facilitate transfer of database technology to the elementary or middle school classroom in the following ways. First, students are likely to feel more confident about their ability to use the technology as they experience success in manipulating data. The issue of lack of access to computers is addressed through modeling a strategy for managing the classroom with just one computer. Interest in using technology is likely to be sparked as students become actively involved in a project related to the experiences of people in their families and communities. And the role of the teacher becomes evident as the instructor models how to facilitate learning through technology at each step of the project. We expect that students will recognize the integral role of technology in this standards-based, meaning-centered project, and will perceive that the benefits outweigh the potential obstacles to integrating technology within the social studies curriculum.

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