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"How
do I get back to the page where I started?"
"What is a browser?"
"I got 1000 listings for earthquakes.
Is any one useful for my class tomorrow?"
It is relatively easy for time-strapped
teachers to get discouraged about using the Internet in the classroom,
especially when answers for seemingly simple questions are not
available quickly. What are the barriers? What type of assistance
do teachers need to ensure continued use of the Internet?
The Schools Online Program Team conducted
a focus group with teachers from the San Francisco Bay Area to
answer these questions with the goal of designing an appropriate
online resource for teachers. As the foundation for the design,
a well-accepted framework was used. This framework, developed
by Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT), identified the evolutionary
stages that teachers go through as they integrate technology into
their classroom practices.
The focus group teachers found the ACOT
categorization useful in that it provided them with a roadmap
of where they were and could be with regards to using the Internet
as a tool for themselves and in the classroom. After identifying
the stage that they were in, the teachers pointed out specific
challenges that they faced and ideas about what types of support
would be most valuable in each stage.
With heavy emphasis on self-help tools,
use of the Web and dynamic use of the collective knowledge of
users – in this case teachers – the design of the self-directed
Web mentoring environment will accommodate an increasing number
of teachers and can be translated into several languages. The
goal is to help teachers advance through the evolutionary stages
and use the Internet in the classroom in ever-more creative ways.
The ACOT research and development program
was one of the longest ongoing longitudinal studies of the impact
of technology on teaching and learning. One major research outcome
from this twelve-year study was the identification of stages that
teachers progress through as they learn how to incorporate technology
into their classroom practices. ACOT researchers observed that
teachers’ approach to the use of technology in their classrooms
evolved through five stages: entry, adoption, adaptation, appropriation,
and invention. They found that certain kinds of support helped
to speed teacher’s advancement through the stages. Support from
mentors who were further along in the process, opportunities for
reflection, and encouragement to question beliefs about teaching
and learning assisted teachers in their evolution. (Ref: A Report
on 10 Years of ACOT Research)
Schools Online applied the
findings from ACOT’s research on stages and the support needed
for effective integration of technology into classroom practice
to the development of the its self-directed, Web mentoring environment.
Where ACOT looked at the integration of technology, Schools Online
looked at the support needed to effectively integrate the use
of the Internet into classroom practice and for student lessons
and activities. Where ACOT used the term, "technology,"
Schools Online used, "Internet." Where ACOT labeled
the stages Entry, Adoption, Adaptation, and
Appropriation, Schools Online uses Begin, Personalize,
Integrate, and Collaborate. With the help of classroom
teachers, we have redefined the characteristics of four of the
stages identified in the ACOT study in terms of Internet usage.
The re-definitions are:
When teachers access the Schools Online
self-directed, Web mentoring environment they will be asked a
series of questions to determine in which stage they are functioning
in regard to their use of the Internet. The following questions
were developed with the help of the teacher focus group:
Begin:
Personalize:
Integrate:
Collaborate:
(1995)
"Changing the Conversation About Teaching and Learning –
A report on 10 Years of ACOT Research," Report prepared for
Apple Computer, Inc.
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