Integrating Technology Into The Curriculum

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO THE CURRICULUM By Michael D. King For more than two centuries, schools have used printed paper materials such as textbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias to educate students, but today learning resources are reaching a limitless realm. Participatory learning and Literacy 2.0 has introduced a plethora of new teaching opportunities for educators: multi-media presentations, computers, streaming video resources and web-based collaborative lessons and units. With emerging technological resources, students also face new challenges and opportunities. Today's world demands that students learn how to access, manage, apply, and evaluate rapidly growing banks of information. This newly developed technology-based learning must provide students with a wide range of expanded opportunities from the basics to the complex. The school’s technology curriculum should address Literacy 2.0, digital storytelling, collaborative culture and computer ethics as well as word processing, database use, graphics, and data analysis. It must give students experience in social networking as well as accessing and organizing information for future use. "Teachers must work together to ensure that every young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in online communities. In order to meet these objectives, teachers should begin to build units of study that merge traditional learning with Web 2.0 learning. "1 The lessons and units developed will be integrated into all areas of the curriculum, not just computer, business or technology classes. The process of blending traditional internal content with the external Web 2.0 participatory learning world will require all members of the staff to develop technology-based learning units. The school’s teachers will be vital partners in curriculum development as teams of teachers are selected in the development of at least one technology-based learning unit. Using the process outlined in this section, teachers will be asked to develop virtual learning units to be included in the overall technology plan. In order to accomplish

the development of these virtual units, the school must first train key members of the instructional staff.

Once these key members are trained in the unit

development process, the next step will be to ask individuals or teams of teachers to develop virtual learning units using the Technology-Based Learning Unit Planner. The instrument requires the teacher to identify instructional standards, purpose for the unit, learning tasks, types of assessment, technology tools and methods for integrating technology into the curriculum. As the process of technology unit development begins, the unit developers should use the school’s current curriculum frameworks as benchmarks for achievement at specific grade levels. The unit developer should identify ways to incorporate technology so that the school will achieve both state and national standards. The units the teachers develop using this process will serve as samples of what is possible when technology steps outside the computer lab and moves into the classrooms. Integrating technology and unit development will encourage a curriculum that is both challenging and meaningful for students. This process also will create a coherent, workable framework for teacher instruction. In order to integrate technology into the curriculum, the school must follow six essential steps: selecting content standards, establishing purpose, developing learning tasks, defining methods of assessment, identifying technology tools and applying technology integration. The final step in the process is to submit all technology- based learning units to the steering committee. These units will be made available to teachers in all subject areas once the technology equipment is installed. The author has provided a model of this process in Exhibit 1-1; Model for Technology Unit-Based Development.

Exhibit 1-1 MODEL FOR TECHNOLOGY UNIT-BASED DEVELOPMENT

Selecting Content Standards

Identifying Technology Tools

Establishing Purpose

Defining Methods of Assessment Applying Technology Integration Technology Steering Committee Submit all units to be included in the planning document

Developing Learning Task

Selecting Content Standards A content standard is an ability or skill that students can demonstrate, usually in a variety of ways. Using the content standard component of the Technology-Based Learning Unit Planner, the unit developer should outline the desired content (proficiencies) in a selected subject area or areas. In Exhibit 1-2 Content Standards Component, the author hasdefined the content standards for a unit entitled, “Black History Month.”

In this Language Arts Unit, the culminating activity will require

proficiencies in student use of technology to produce an original work, drawing conclusions, demonstrating an understanding of various cultures, and applied concepts of effective writing.

The unit developers must select specific content

standards or expectations for student performance as illustrated in Exhibit 1-2. The author recommends that unit developers choose content standards that are required by the state and/or district.

Subject Area

Exhibit 1-2 CONTENT STANDARDS COMPONENT Choosing Proficiencies: What content standards does this unit address?

_X_ Language Arts

UNIT TITLE: “Black History Month”

___ Math ___ Social Science ___ P.E. ___Arts __ Other

List all content standards below that this unit will address: Use aspects of technology to produce an original work. •

Incorporate multimedia into student presentation.

•

Choose multimedia most appropriate for specific purpose.

Draw conclusions and make generalizations based on research findings. •

Explain the purpose of the research.

•

Defend a conclusion based on the research findings.

Demonstrate an understanding of value systems from various cultures

reflected in literature. •

Compare and contrast daily living experiences, customs, and beliefs of diverse cultures.

•

Identify connections between personal experiences and experiences reflected in literary selections.

Apply concepts of effective writing. •

Compose an effective introduction and conclusion.

•

Organize ideas into paragraphs using correct usage, spelling, and capitalization.

•

Add "effective transitions."

Establishing Purpose Students need to know the rationale for learning, and teachers should take the time to explain it. The purpose for providing a rationale on the Technology-Based Unit Learning Planner is to help the developers justify the purpose of the unit. If the purpose for the unit lacks relevance or a real-life application, this step in the process will reveal these gaps. Exhibit 1-3 Example of Unit Purpose Component illustrates how this process should be conducted.

Exhibit 1-3 EXAMPLE OF UNIT PURPOSE COMPONENT Define your instructional purpose in terms of relevance to real life applications. The purpose of this unit is to require students to write news releases, a skill that will probably be needed in their professional lives. The unit will require students to work cooperatively and to evaluate their own and each other’s work. In order to write a news release, they will have to gather pertinent information from various Internet sources, compile the information, and communicate it using proper conventions of the English language. Through this units, students will explore influential African Americans and their contributions to history. Students will use resources provided through various web links designed by the instructor for conducting their research. The unit will feature a writing webpage for students to use submit their work online.

Source: Author Developing Learning Task

A good task is authentic and requires the student to perform in a real-life context. It can be multidimensional and require not only cognitive skills but also interpersonal skills and abilities. The tasks should always reflect the content standards as can be reviewed in Exhibit 1-3 Content Standards Component. The task will not elicit quality work if it requires knowledge and skills that the students do not have. It will also result in considerable frustration on the part of the students and the teacher. In Exhibit 1-4 Learning Task Component, unit developers are to specify what knowledge will be gained through the development of learning text.

Exhibit 1-4 LEARNING TASK COMPONENT Identify Learning Activity Domains1  Experiential Learning  Inferential Learning  Hypothetical

Identify the learning task that the students will be experience. •

The 5Ws of news reporting: Who, What, When, Where and Why

•

The components of an expository paragraph.

•

The conventions of properly written English

•

The writing process

•

Cooperative learning strategies

•

Evaluating and Proofing Techniques

Learning  Analytical Learning  Evidential Learning  Virtual Learning  Illustrated Learning  Performance Learning

At the end of this unit, students will work in small groups to write a news article, which reports their findings about an influential African American leader.

 Collaborative Learning  Authentic Learning

The unit developers also should identify the learning domains (See Exhibit 14a Learning Domains Defined) that will be assigned to task within the unit. It should include information about the levels of learning by identifying learning activity domains that will support the unit. These domains are virtual resources on how technology will be used in the unit to support the activity. For example, one of the identified learning activities for this unit is data gathering and synthesis. Students experiencing this unit will be required to interact with technology to obtain the information necessary to complete the assigned task. They will be asked to research information and then report their information electronically.

Exhibit 1-4a LEARNING DOMAINS DEFINED ____________________________________________________________________________________ _ Experiential Learning •

Ideas, theories, principles of information systems, bodies of knowledge

Inferential Learning •

Deductive powers, inferential reasoning, testing assumptions, decision making

Hypothetical Learning •

Contextualization and interpretation using texts, documents, pictures, objects

Analytical Learning •

Evaluation of systems by observing and analyzing simulated situations or processes

Evidential Learning •

Research skills, methodology, evaluation and reporting, quantification

Virtual or Exploratory Learning

•

Testing and evaluating information through experiments and in situ examination or searching

•

Skills SQ3R

•

Word Identification

Illustrated Learning •

Demonstrations, overviews, framing, setting forth of key information or salient points

Performance Learning •

Production or performance of representative knowledge by students

Collaborative Learning •

Sharing knowledge, collective decision making, forming learning communities

Authentic Learning •

Learner as practitioner, connecting theory to practice, taking responsibility for knowledge

____________________________________________________________________________________ _ Source: Author Defining Methods of Assessment After designing the task, the unit developers should decide what student learning skills will be measured. The decision on how content standards will be measured will determine the overall development of the assessment strategy. Methods including writing samples, portfolios, rubrics, interviews, observations, surveys and tests should be considered. Unit developers should remember that assessment is only as good as a teacher understands of the purpose of the task and why it is an effective assessment of the standards of learning. The authors have included an example of how to identify assessment methods in Exhibit 1-5 Determining Assessment.

Exhibit 1-5 EXAMPLE OF DETERMINING ASSESSMENT Identify methods of assessment

Identify the performance assessment content standards that are measured.

Writing Rubric

1. the ability to explain a process in writing

Portfolio

2. the ability to compose a news release in an expository writing

Observation

mode 3. the ability to work cooperatively to perform a task

Source: Author

Selection of Technology Tools Identifying the types of technology tools the teacher will use to deliver the unit allows the developer to analyze the different technology capabilities. This process will allow unit developers to identify important technology tools they can include in their units. They can select from a variety of resources that include available hardware, software and the availability of online resources. In Exhibit 1-6 Technology Tools, the unit developer has selected a variety of technology tools to use in the delivery of the unit. These tools include networking, various presentation software and the incorporation of constructed websites that give students selected resources from which to work.

Exhibit 1-6 TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

Hardware

Software

Online Resources

Materials

Network File Server

Front Page

Black History Links

Paper

Computer

Micro Soft Word

Black History Web Site

Ink

LCD Projector

Power Point

On line Writing Lab

Printer

Electronic Grade Book

Source: Author Technology and Curriculum Integration The most important part of developing a technology-based unit is to identify how it will be used in the curriculum. During this phase, the unit developers will identify the technology methods and resources they will use to support the instructional unit. Methods of technology integration should specify the way the teacher plans to deliver the unit. Questions should be answered about how “presentations and methods or presentations” will be made, where “technology resources” are located, and what technology resources will be available when the unit is presented. An example of how this can be developed is presented in Exhibit 1-7 Technology Integration Methods.

Exhibit 1-7 TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION METHODS

Presentation

Available Technology Resources

Methods of Presentation

Online

Library Computer Center

Instructor will develop three web sites for this

Assignments

Home Computer

activity. Students and teacher will use these

Whole Class

Power Point

pages as a basis for learning and presentation.

Presentation

LCD Presentations

Additional technology presentations will include

Individual

Web Links

student projects using a variety of media

Small Group

One Online Classroom Computer

application resources. Black History Home Web Resource Page Assignment and Activity Web Page Writing Lab Web Page

Source: Author Once teachers understand the capabilities of the technology, they must then take advantage

of

these

resources

as

tools

for

learning,

communicating,

handling/managing information, and solving problems. Schools must use computers as a means, not an end. These new capabilities will allow the teacher and the school to restructure the way instruction is delivered to students. In exhibit 1-7 a is an example of a completed unit as it was developed through the six step process of (1) selecting content standards, (2) establishing purpose, (3) integrating technology, (4) identifying tools, (5) defining assessment, and (6) developing learning task.

Subject Area _X_ Language Arts ___ Math ___ Social Science ___ P.E.

Exhibit 1-8 TECHNOLOGY BASED UNIT DEVELOPER EXAMPLE Choosing Proficiencies: What content standards does this unit address? UNIT TITLE: “Black History Month” List all content standards below that this unit will address: Use aspects of technology to produce an original work. • •

Incorporate multimedia into student presentation. Choose multimedia most appropriate for specific purpose.

• •

Explain the purpose of the research. Defend a conclusion based on the research findings.

• •

Compare and contrast daily living experiences, customs, and beliefs of diverse cultures. Identify connections between personal experiences and experiences reflected in literary selections.

Draw conclusions and make generalizations based on research findings. Demonstrate an understanding of value systems from various cultures reflected in literature.

___Arts __ Other

Apply concepts of effective writing. • • •

Compose an effective introduction and conclusion. Organize ideas into paragraphs using correct usage, spelling, and capitalization. Add "effective transitions."

Define your instructional purpose in terms of relevance to real life applications. The purpose of this unit is to require students to write news releases, a skill that will probably be needed in their professional lives. The unit will require students to work cooperatively and to evaluate their own and each other’s work. In order to write a news release, they will have to gather pertinent information from various Internet sources, compile the information, and communicate it using proper conventions of the English language. Through this unit, students will explore influential African Americans and their contributions to history. Students will use resources provided through various web links designed by the instructor for conducting their research. The unit will feature a writing webpage for students to use submit their work online.

Identify Learning Activity Domains          

Experiential Learning Inferential Learning Hypothetical Learning Analytical Learning Evidential Learning Virtual Learning Illustrated Learning Performance Learning Collaborative Learning Authentic Learning

Identify the learning task that the students will be experience. The 5Ws of news reporting: Who, What, When, Where and Why • The components of an expository paragraph. • The conventions of properly written English • The writing process • Cooperative learning strategies • Evaluating and Proofing Techniques At the end of this unit, students will work in small groups to write a news article, which reports their findings about an influential African American leader.

Identify methods of assessment Writing Rubric Portfolio Observation Hardware Network File Server Computer LCD Projector Printer

Identify the performance assessment content standards measured. • the ability to explain a process in writing • the ability to compose a news release in an expository writing mode • the ability to work cooperatively to perform a task Software Online Resources Materials Front Page Black History Links Paper Micro Soft Word Black History Web Site Ink Power Point On line Writing Lab Electronic Grade Book

Presentation

Available Technology Resources

Methods of Presentation

Online Assignments Whole Class Presentation Individual Small Group

Library Computer Center Home Computer Power Point LCD Presentations Web Links One Online Classroom Computer

Instructor will develop three web sites for this activity. Students and teacher will use these pages as a basis for learning and presentation. Additional technology presentations will include student projects using a variety of media application resources. Black History Home Web Resource Page Assignment and Activity Web Page Writing Lab Web Page