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 SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
| Computers
in the Classroom: (by
Kathi McNair, Assistant Professor, Cal Poly Pomona)
The computer age is upon us and it has definitely brought changes to
America’s classrooms. The old
philosophy of teachers being “the sage on the stage” (Sandholtz, Ringstaff
& Dwyer, 1997) is often being replaced with constructivist teaching
practices. In constructivist learning classrooms there are more
responsibilities placed on students for their own learning.
The teacher still structures the learning objectives but there is time
built in for exploration, experimentation and discovery.
In direct contrast to the above trend both regular education and special
education teachers are feeling the pressure of covering the state standards in
their daily and weekly lesson plans (Glennan & Melmed, 2000; Mowrer-Popiel,
Pollard & Pollard, 1994; Saolomon, 1990).
High stakes testing is also on each educator’s mind and there seems to
be consistent administrative directives to take the “fluff” out of the
instructional day. Fun projects and
enrichment activities are being replaced with content-laden lectures and
frequent, specific assessments. Computer
activities sadly, are often seen as part of this “fluff.”
Special education teachers at the same time are held accountable for
reaching student’s IEP goals, individualizing education for each student
according to their academic needs and abilities, keeping accurate data by
frequent assessments, and teaching the necessary social skills so students can
find success on the school campus. Accessing
computerized programs and resources from the Internet may prove to be quite
crucial to fulfilling these additional responsibilities.
Having a computer in the room though doesn’t necessarily make a teacher
excited about using it! Certain
supports must be in place to ensure adequate and effective usage of computers in
the classroom.
Recent research (Cuban, 2001; Davidson & Ritchie, 1997; Guha, 2001;
Kumar & Wilson, 2000; Saloman,
1990; and ‘Yaghi, 1996) has shown that there is a positive relationship
between computer training and computer usage in the classroom.
Computer training is defined as anything from specific school-site
inservices to detailed lists of resources to investigate on the Internet.
Often times just providing the teacher time to “practice or play” (Guha,
2001) helps them to gain the confidence they need to try specific instructional
strategies in their classroom that involve computer technology.
The use of the computer in the classroom will depend partially on how
comfortable and confident teachers feel in using it.
The link on the side will provide some of that practice needed to
familiarize yourself with a few of the resources that are available to you as a
credential candidate at the university. As
part of the assignments for the online section of ESPE 656 (and possibly other
courses) you will be searching a minimum of ten of these sites and writing short
descriptions (or chatting in your small groups) about what you found relevant or
helpful in your specific classroom situation.
Have fun “playing” with some of what is out there on the Internet.
After spending time browsing through the wealth of practical helps and
pertinent information we hope that you will begin to see the computer as one of
your terrific teaching tools and not just a temporary trend!
Besides the links to the websites mentioned above there is also a
reference list of articles and books on using technology in the classroom.
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You can email Dr. McNair at jmcnair@calbaptist.edu Copyright Jeff McNair/jeffmcnair.com
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