District Administration - April 2009 - (Page 38)

Classroom Technology Integration one group’s work may be a plan to start an umbrella manufacturing business for a country in the middle of its monsoon season. Other TLP teaching methods may include lessons on Internet search skills, student digital media projects using software such as Microsoft Photo Story, and documentary filmmaking. Long-Term Solutions Experts agree that one of the strongest professional development programs for both teachers and administrators—with its philosophy of engagement and support services for big-picture uses of technology—is Enhancing Missouri’s Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies (eMINTS), a program that aims to create classrooms where all students are motivated to succeed and to build enthusiasm and creativity into daily teaching. Teachers tend to be skeptical of technology for any classroom solutions longer than the short term, says Monica Beglau, director of the eMINTS National Center. “We build their capacity to adopt a longterm approach to using technology in the classroom,” Beglau says. The program, which has trained 3,500 teachers and 300 administrators since its formation in 1999, places a special emphasis on school administrators through its eMINTS 4 Administrators companion program, as their understanding of education technology is critical to support teachers every step of the way, says Beglau. The eMINTS 4 Administrators yearlong program is designed to provide principals and other school or district administrators with the knowledge, skills and support they need to implement the eMINTS model schoolwide. Beglau says it is not uncommon for an administrator to participate in the program before any of her teachers do, as an initial point of contact to gain information about the program. So what kinds of technology applications does eMINTS foster and support? Many teachers in the program have adopted an instructional planning model called WebQuests, which uses open source 38 April 2009 Web authoring and publishing resources as well as blogs, wikis and podcasts for teachers to build their own Web pages for inquiry-based classroom activities. One lesson comes from Chris Crites, a teacher at East Carter R-II School District in Ellsinore, Mo., who designed a Webquest for fourth-graders to plan a dream bedroom, including a floor plan, PowerPoint presentation, and a graph to show how they would spend a $500 budget. The lesson, dubbed “Trading Design Spaces”— question remains: What is their ultimate utility? What qualities in students—and educators—should their training really be striving to build and support? Some see the situation in fairly practical terms, emphasizing the importance of problem-solving skills. “Let’s say a student is doing some research and 300 million search results show up on Google,” says NEA’s Andrea Prejean. “Students need to know which ones to use.” “The initial wave of giddiness about Web 2.0 tools has subsided somewhat as people find that technology is never —Sylvia Martinez, president, Generation YES the solution all by itself.” a titular fusion of the popular television shows Trading Spaces and Design on a Dime—leads students through a series of online activities that cover the concepts of area, perimeter and money computation, as well as supplies and shipping charges. “Today a lot of emphasis is placed on mastery of basic skills,” says Beglau, “but what we really need is for complex material to be understood as deeply as possible. Technology can offer us a way to achieve that.” End Goals Whether technology integration professional development programs are effective in their implementation or not, the But if the concept of “technology integration” in schools is looked at from a more holistic perspective, its ideals almost appear to go against each other. Everyone agrees that technology in the classroom is an important tool, and students will have great difficulty succeeding in a 21st-century world without it. However, many education experts also say that “technology integration,” in the end, is not really about technology but rather the life skills it instills in students and teachers. “The initial wave of giddiness about Web 2.0 tools has subsided somewhat as people find that technology is never the solution all by itself,” says Sylvia Martinez, president of curriculum provider Generation YES. “Forward-looking professional development sees the school as a whole community and includes students as partners and allies in the quest for educational improvement.” “The whole ‘21st century’ mindset is more than technology itself,” says Beglau. “It’s the confidence teachers have to effectively use it in class.” Prejean sees things even more broadly: “Technology is not the be-all, end-all, but it’s a tool. And we must learn how to deliver it better.” DA Zach Miners is news editor. District Administration RESOURCES eMINTS www.emints.org International Society for Technology in Education www.iste.org NEA Academy www.nea.org/academy Teacher Leadership Project www.tlp2.org TaskStream www.taskstream.com http://www.emints.org http://www.iste.org http://www.nea.org/academy http://www.tlp2.org http://www.taskstream.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2009

District Administration - April 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Assessment
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Education’s Shot in the Arm
Lessons Learned from Columbine’s 10th Anniversary
An Interview with Columbine’s Superintendent, Cynthia Stevenson
Keeping Track of Technology
Classroom Technology Integration
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Professional Opinion
Research Center
New Products
Product Focus
Online Edge

District Administration - April 2009