I was at a meeting on Friday with other technology leaders from several other school districts. We were sharing summaries of how each of our districts integrate technology into the curriculum. The majority teach computer skills in computer classes. The integrated approach was only being done by a few districts.
My district did away with computer classes this past school year, with the exception of a few advanced classes at the high school level (programming, network management, etc). Our philosophy is that computer skills should be taught at the same time as subject matter content. All teachers have responsibilities to incorporate technology into the teaching and learning process. We were not able to change to this delivery system overnight; it required lots of advanced planning. Technology had to be readily available (and be in good working order), and both administrative and instructional support had to be in place. Our Superintendent has always understandood the importance of technology, and this is evident in the decisions he makes. We have a full time computer resource teacher and a full time media specialist at all of our middle and high schools. Each elementary school has a teacher that fulfills the role of both computer resource teacher and media specialist. Therefore, building level technology support is in place. Laptop computers are abundant in all of our schools, some of which are student-owned (for our middle school 1:1 program) and some are on rolling carts that teachers share. We have a local technology conference at the start of each school year, and most presenters are our own teachers sharing how they use technology as a teaching and learning tool. I cannot say that our delivery system is perfect or that it is easy. However, I firmly believe that teaching computer skills in the context of learning is the way to go.
You cannot learn to golf by only practicing on the driving range. You can work on your swing, but you can't work on a strategy for hitting the ball from behind a tree, or from the sand trap. If you want to learn to play golf, you must play golf, and you must play it on a regular basis. It can be frustrating when you whack the ball into the trees, or when you miss a putt because the slope of the green causes it to roll farther away than when you started; but you must keep playing.
Am I saying that I am against computer classes? No. However, I am against them if the teachers feel they don't need to offer students in their classroom opportunities to learn new content with technology because the computer teachers do that.
"Our philosophy is that computer skills should be taught at the same time as subject matter content."
ReplyDeleteThis is also my philosophy since computers are really just classroom tools and should be used as such. I see far too many teachers who don't view technology use this way.
"Technology had to be readily available (and be in good working order), and both administrative and instructional support had to be in place."
This would be critical; if a teacher tries to use technology and it doesn't work the first time s/he uses it, many of them will not try again. Ever! Important to have good hardware, software, training, and support in place.
I loved the golf analogy. It really works with technology, too. And I agree that sometimes we do need computer classes, but I, for one, am tired of let's learn word processing without a "real world" learning task to go with it. I think the kids are, too!
Laurie from Tuscaloosa, AL