Following A Technology Training Workshop: Effects Of A Web-Based Support System

1. Following A Technology Training Workshop: Effects Of A Web-Based Support System Jane Watkins Department of Physics and Computer Science Presbyterian College Clinton, South Carolina

2. Technology Training Workshop • Weeklong summer course • Academic credit • Teachers and Media Specialists • Taught by Business Professors • Classroom Technology Integration Using Microsoft PowerPoint

3. My Questions • What classroom technology integration methods were taught during the workshop? • How may we sustain the positive effects of the workshop? • How do we raise the level of classroom technology integration?

4. Rubric for High-Level Technology Integration With the assistance of technology, the teacher has created a learning environment where the student must • Analyze • Distinguish, detect, employ, restructure, classify • Synthesize • Write, produce, plan, design, derive, combine • Evaluate • Argue, decide, compare, consider, contrast

5. After-Training Support System (ATSS) • Institute Content • Best Practices • Collaborative Ideas • Discussion Forum • Mentor • Resources http://web.presby.edu/~watkins/T&TI

6. Participants • Seven teachers • White • Middle-class • 5 from public schools • 2 from private schools • Grades taught range from first to high-school

7. Research Design • Applied Ethnography • An in-depth investigative technique used to examine the important variables, processes, and interactions for a particular culture.

8. Data Collection Methods • Interviews • Before ATSS • After ATSS • Observations • Document Analysis • Teaching Materials • Students’ Work

9. Research Question • What are the effects of a teaching and technology workshop with an after-training support system on classroom technology integration?

10. Teachers’ Reasons for Taking the Institute • Create multimedia presentations using PowerPoint • Learn more about technology in general • Re-certification and South Carolina’s technology requirement

11. Teachers’ Perceptions of Technology Integration • “Showing them how to use a computer, the things that they’re going to do every day” • “To bring it into all subject areas” • “Using the technology that’s available to you whether it’s the TV or the VCR of the overhead or the computer”

12. Technology in the Classrooms Before the ATSS • Publishing writings with computers (Synthesis) • Reading-level assessment through computerized tests (Evaluation) • Problem solving with computers (Evaluation) • Using the Internet to write stories (Synthesis) and to make reading more personable (Analysis)

13. Frequency of Use of the ATSS • Ranged from “three to four times a week” to “twice a week” • Teachers’ comments indicated that had the ATSS been made a part of their school’s curriculum, the teachers would have accessed it more often. “I just kept thinking, if I didn’t have so much else to cover, I could spend more time exploring the web site”

14. Useful Components of the ATSS • Institute Content Web Page • Presentation Slides • Best Practices Web Page • Let Your Students Use PowerPoint (Synthesis) • Math and Reading • Create A Tutorial For Your Students Using MS-PowerPoint • Social Studies

15. Useful Components of the ATSS • Collaborative Ideas Web Page • Cooperative Learning Example (Synthesis) • Students taught one another how to incorporate graphics into their published writings • Students taught one another how to download a screensaver • Kathy Schrock’s PuzzleMaker

16. Useful Components of the ATSS • Resources Web Page • ERIC • Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators • Scholastic Web Site • South Carolina Education • U.S. Department of Education

17. Number of Teachers Who Used Each Web Page from the ATSS

18. Instances of High-Level Technology Integration

19. Conclusions • Prior to using the ATSS, only one teacher envisioned PowerPoint as a tool for her students, now one other teacher also visualizes PowerPoint as a tool that her students can use. • By altering how teachers perceive technology integration through the ATSS, we may influence how teachers integrate technology into their teaching.

20. Conclusions • Two teachers indicated an increase in the instances of high-level technology integration after using the ATSS. • Had the ATSS been made an integral part of each teacher’s curriculum, the teacher would likely have used the ATSS more often.

21. Conclusions • When teachers receive the needed support from school administration, technology training will be continuous and will raise the teachers’ technology integration from a basic level to high-level methods.