Educational Leadership Commons^™

Issue Area Eight: How Can Schools Ensure Equal Access And Opportunities For Every Student To Learn Through Technology?, Ron Enger, Gail Sullivan

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Twenty-one critical issues within the broader issue area were identified relative to ensuring equity of access and opportunities for every student to learn through technology. Defining and clarifying such critical issues as funding, school district vision, community involvement, structure of education and change, training, differences among districts, technical support, and priorities of communities and the state was a difficult task. Eventually the list of 21 issues was reduced and prioritized into 5 critical categories: (a) vision/planning, (b) training, (c) technical support, (d) funding, and (e) learning for a purpose. Options for resolution of these 5 critical issues were generated by …

Defining Equal Access Needs Before Describing Opportunities, David L. Blair

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

How can schools ensure equity of access and opportunities for every student to learn through technology is a two part question. The first component becomes, "How can schools assure equal access for every student to learn through technology?" The problem with this question is that the premise may be false in assuming that schools either individually or collectively without outside help can provide equitable access.

Equitable access seems to indicate that all schools would provide nearly the same ratios of computers per student population; that these computers would be of relatively equivalent vintage and capability; that each school would have …

Incorporating The "How" And "Why" Of Equal Access And Opportunity, Tim Cook

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Several aspects to this question can be examined. Are the administrators and board members of the school district keeping themselves updated and aware of the multitude of advances in technologies? Are there long-range plans or goals for implementing new technologies?

The question of ensuring equal access and opportunities for every student to learn through technology can be approached from two perspectives. First, the administration of a school district must ask itself, "Do our students have the same technologies available to them that other districts offer to their students?"

After Taxes And Levies: Alternatives For Funding Technology, Frederick G. Whipple

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Iowa has anticipated . the technology explosion and its impact on teaching and learning. Local schools have been scrambling to find ways to finance the necessary purchases of hardware, software, and staff development time necessary for successful implementation.

Many districts are influenced by a public already burdened with high property taxes and a reluctance to pass funding mechanisms such as instructional support levies or physical plant and equipment levies. These districts are placed at a big disadvantage when their public acknowledges the need for technology but refuses to pass the necessary levies to fund the purchases.

Districts not able to …

Executive Summary, Dave Else

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Educational technology may be a "fairy godmother" or the "boogy man" depending upon individual teacher understanding of its potential and skill in utilization of new models of teaching and learning. In reality it may be neither. Rather it is an excellent learning tool that holds great promise for expanding the walls of the learning community and meeting the changing needs of future generations.

If we believe information is valuable, and it is, students have access to seemingly limitless information through the World Wide Web and linkages with experts in a variety of fields via e-mail. Some certainly see this technology …

Supporting Educators For Meaningful Technology Integration, Keith Dwire

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The question "How will we prepare educators to fully utilize available technology?" requires considering defined need / purpose, equipment access, and staff development. Although each of these requires continuous attention, a proper stage must first be set by establishing legitimate purposes for using technology. This must be followed by making available adequate quantities of necessary equipment and by providing training appropriate to the needs and developmental level of staff.

Tool For Whom: Teacher, Technology, And Educational Systems, Robert Muffoletto

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The title of this essay raises a question concerning not only the notion of technology as a tool, but also the concept of tool user. Most people in education believe technology means computers and their related devices (modems, scanners, printers, etc.). From this perspective, it is generally understood that technology is a collection of devices to be used by a tool user, a craftsmen, a creator. Technology, from an instructional or educational technologist position not only includes various types of hardware (like computers and video equipment), but also various software formats (textbooks, audio tape, videotape, video images as in educational …

Teaching, Thinking, And Technology: An Environment For Change, Peggy A. P. Pruisner

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In the last year, my outdated office computer with a woefully feeble memory has been joined by two state-of-the-art models with engaging, robust minds that most often sit idly by, silently leaving my workspace too crowded to be effectively utilized. How, one might ask, could this happen at a time when our labs are lined with students waiting for greater computer access? Like many schools at all levels, we are making a concerted effort to provide more advanced technology for classroom use, but the technology is not often being used in the general classrooms and even less often used and …

Teachers And Technology Will Provide Real-World Learning Contexts, Judith A. Olson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The role of the teacher will definitely change as technology is infused into the curriculum. It is important to explore the current uses of technology in the learning environment and the various changes in the role of teachers. The main points to consider are that teachers will become facilitators of knowledge, technology will be a tool to help us deliver the kind of instruction we want, and technology will help students apply what they're learning in a real-world context. Administrators and educators will need long-term professional development opportunities at their school with individuals skilled in integrating technology into curricula. Adequate …

Preparing Educators To Utilize Technology, Jennifer Lindaman

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Technology is a term that evokes enthusiasm and excitement in some educators and apprehension and anxiety in others. For districts where the forward momentum propelled by advancements in technology rapidly accelerates, teachers who are uncomfortable with technology can find themselves struggling to keep up with the computer skills of their students. If our goal as educators is to ensure that students are prepared to be productive citizens in society, then we must commit to integrating technology in every discipline across the curriculum.

To reach this goal, educators must possess the skills necessary to fully utilize the technology available. The development, …

Equity Of Access To Technology In Iowa Schools, Marilyn Weber

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Since technology became a priority in the education of students in Iowa, schools have struggled with the issue of providing hardware, software, and staff development opportunities to staff and students. For some educational leaders, the issue has been a lack of vision and understanding about what the world of work is and will be like for students when they leave their K-12 environment. What do students need to know and be able to do to make them effective in their jobs as well as in their personal lives?

The vision of what a technologically literate person should be is being …

Funding Educational Technology: The Straw That's Breaking Education's Back, Mick Jurgensen

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Society wants schools to keep pace to make student learning contemporary in an educational environment that reflects the kind of information gathering and manipulation that has become an integral part of contributing to civilization. Few individuals disagree that students should be prepared for tomorrow rather than yesterday.

With these considerations in mind, it is easy to create a vision where public educational institutions become the driving force for the introduction of new technologies and advances.

Issue Area Seven: How Do We Assess The Impact Of Technology On Student Achievement?, Carolyn Jons, Mary Jane Vens

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The use of modern technology in education is emerging and, to date, very little has been done to formally assess its impact. In Iowa we're familiar with the need to assess our yields, but learning is not as easily measured as corn and beans. The product of public education is the learning of students. Assessments can help measure how successfully the schools promote learning and to what degree students actually gain knowledge and skills. This paper suggests a model that can help educators assess instructional technology.

Technology is a pervasive influence in our society which impacts students one way or …

How Can Technology Influence The Teaching/Learning Process?, Sharon E. Smaldino

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Much of the literature abounds with information on using technology as the tool for authentic assessment of student achievement. However, little of that same literature determines the impact of the technology on student learning. To discuss this, it is essential to speak to the perspective from which this issue will be addressed. That perspective is not how to use technology for assessing students, but rather how to determine that technology can influence the teaching/learning process.

It has been suggested that we cannot consider technology's impact on education without also considering the impact of the school reform movement, since the two …

Issue Area Three: How Will Funding That Keeps Pace With New And Expanding Technology Be Ensured?, M. J. Dolan

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

"Technology" is often spoken of as something new. There are many new technologies but technology is not new. Textbooks, VCRs, mimeograph machines, slide rules, typewriters, film strips, and slates were each a new technology. Each of these is an example of past educational technology which was or is considered necessary for the education program. Educational technology of the future is: electronic tools and training necessary to assist learners to access, communicate, manipulate, apply, and use information.

Benefits Of Hypermedia For The Learner, John Semprini

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The use of multimedia programs, CD-ROM, laser discs, and the World Wide Web (WWW) are exploding. A revolution in communication has begun. Why do some educational experts think these computer applications can make a positive educational impact? Technology available today can be used as a tool to motivate, inspire, and help students experience the "joy of learning." Technology can enhance learning in a large group, small group, or individual settings. Today's technology can enhance learning by students of different learning styles, make individualized instruction and mastery learning possible, help develop intelligence in students, and allow students to become producers of …

Mental Models: Technology's Role In Changing What, How, And Where Students Will Learn, Thomas J. Switzer

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The topic for this dialogue group suggests that technology will change what, how, and where students will learn. Few people today disagree with the premise that technology has the potential to change fundamentally the nature of teaching and learning as we know it. The key word, however, is potential for the ultimate form in which technology will manifest itself in our lives rests with human decision-making. Without a doubt, marvelous developments in technology will continue in the years ahead thus making predictions as to the impact of technology very difficult. Even more important in determining the impact of technology, however, …

Passages: A Case Study Of An Iowa Female Secondary Principal, Victoria L. Robinson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to identify and describe one female Iowa secondary principal's career path to the principalship in an Iowa public high school. Several factors were considered in the selection of the participant including: demographics, administrative experience, and her willingness to spend time in the interview process. To provide semi-structure to the interviews and in turn suggest the conceptual frame for analyzing the data, the following questions were formulated:

1. What were the experiences which served as perceived barriers in the career path to the high school principalship for one Iowa female high school principal? …

Critical Issues Concerning K-12 Internet Use [Complete Monograph]

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

No abstract provided.

Cover - Front Matter - Table Of Contents

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

No abstract provided.

Preface

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is a Division of the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Institute's mission is to promote the improvement of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education throughout the State of Iowa. To fulfill this mission the Institute serves as a catalyst for: informed dialogue on educational issues impacting the schools of Iowa, region and nation; developing collaborative relationships with individuals and/or organizations external to schools; and education policy development.

This compilation of position papers and issue group consensus reports represent the individual and collective wisdom of Iowa educational leaders …

Issue Area One: Curriculum Integration: How Will It Be Done?, Kay Rewerts

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The Internet should be used to support and extend the existing curricula. It should, like all technological tools, be used for projects developed from existing curricula and viewed as one of the many information resources available. Educators and students have the opportunity to share knowledge they create with others via the Internet. What effect will Internet integration have on the current curricula? How will Internet be woven into the current curricula? Those are the questions our group tried to address.

As we discussed the Internet and the curriculum, we tried to continually focus on the question: If we are going …

Involving Teachers To Explore Internet Vistas, Larry Bandy

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In the Spirit Lake Schools we feel that the Internet, or National Information Infrastructure (NII), will be a tool used to solve problems. Rather than teach a course on the NII, schools will include this tool, as any other, to gain information. Our goals will be to integrate the NII into the curriculum prescribed, to empower our students to choose the best tool for their needs and to provide efficient use of the available tools.

Integration of the NII must start with teachers. To involve teachers effectively, the first step is to acquire the best software to make the use …

Internet Resources Unlimited For Curriculum Integration, Pam Buysman

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

My career as a media specialist began 15 years ago. When I started, technology by today's standards was limited. Computers were few or nonexistent and the video cassette recorders (VCRs) was looked at as a new technological teaching tool. Library/media skills were taught solely by the media specialist with little or no consideration for when or where they would be used in the curriculum. Teachers were comfortable with the traditional teaching models and most did not envision a need for change.

However, changes did begin to occur, albeit slowly. Technology became an integral part of a teacher's tools. VCRs to …

Telecommunications In A Monticello Elementary Classroom: Its Genesis And Its Effects, Robert Furino

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Telecommunications first came to Monticello when I set up an online Bulletin Board System (BBS) at Carpenter Elementary. The year was 1984, and very few schools, or individuals, were prepared for educational telecommunications. The BBS was called "Atlantis." I named it that because of the legend of the lost city of antiquity. It was to be a source of information and knowledge as was the mythical city of Atlantis.

Dr. Gordon Cook, my elementary principal, and Dr. David Lane, our superintendent, were very supportive of this venture, as they were both educational visionaries.

I designed Atlantis to allow for file …

Access, Training Key To Learning Internet, Linda Mccausland

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Educators in the 1990s are faced with dilemmas when examining the purposeful use of new technologies in the classroom. Computers, modems, laser disc players, modems, digital cameras, and scanners are all hardware items that teachers have been encouraged to incorporate into their cache of teaching tools.

Through the use of a modem and computer, educators can provide their classes with access to the world through the use of Internet. Therefore, the challenge becomes how will access to the Internet be used to achieve the learner outcomes defined by educators for their subject area, and how will it be integrated in …

Cyberspace Or Bust, Christine L. Rohret

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

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Issue Area Two: Staff Development: How Will It Be Structured? Who Will Be Responsible For The Training?, Patty Achey Cutts

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The topic of this conference "Critical Issues Concerning K-12 Internet Use" is very timely. Schools, businesses, families, and communities are reading about the information highway and speculating how it will impact them. Many businesses and families have launched into using telecommunications. Schools are pondering the issues, implications, and changes telecommunications will bring/force upon them. According to Dr. David Thornburg, author of Surfing Through Cyberspace: Education at the Edge of Time, telecommunications will have as dramatic an impact on learning and the society as Gutenberg's printing press.

The Impossible Today May Be The Norm Tomorrow . . ., Becky L. Hacker

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

As the technology task force at the Gamer-Hayfield Schools assembled during the fall of 1994 to really look at the vision for technology in our schools, our dreaming began with the philosophy ... the impossible today may be the norm tomorrow! In a rapidly changing world, we've moved from the industrial age to the information age. More information has been produced in the last 30 years than during the previous 5,000. With the information supply available to us doubling every 5 years, we must take a strong look at the question, "How are we going to prepare our students, staff, …

Driver's Training School For The Information Highway: Staff Development Position Paper, Mary Jo Langhorne

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

As with so many other issues involving educational change, whether the use of the Internet becomes successfully integrated into instruction depends heavily upon the investment we make in training our staff in its use. Estimates of the amount spent in business and industry to train staff to use new technologies vary widely, but seem to fall within the range of 30¢ to $1 spent on training for every dollar spent on equipment and software. We fall nowhere near even the bottom of that range in education.

Even if unlimited funds were available, training people to do their work a different …