The Future of Teacher Education: Students, the Web, and the Teaching and Learning Process
Dorothy Valcarcel Craig
Abstract
Technology is changing at a rapid pace. As these changes occur, the field of teacher education must modify instruction in order to prepare students for the future. With the ConnecTEN Project in Tennessee, Internet access has been made available to educators across the state. According to Robin, Keeler, and Miller, the World Wide Web has changed from being a refuge for only computer scientists to being the most talked about and highly promoted technology in the world (1997). If teacher education students are not aware of how the World Wide Web can enhance teaching and learning, they will be a step behind at the crucial time when they begin to seek employment. To prepare future educators and help them become prime candidates for employment, universities must assist students in developing the skills needed to navigate the web. In addition to navigation skills, university students who will be the future educators must also acquire the knowledge and skills needed to successfully integrate, enhance, and infuse their curriculum with quality materials which are easily accessible through World Wide Web navigation.
Teacher education programs at universities across the country are requiring
students to enroll in courses related to educational or instructional technology.
Many of these courses offer instruction in World Wide Web navigation, homepage
construction, and designing technology-infused lesson plans. Professional
organizations such as NEA ad NCATE support courses in educational technology.
The idea behind this movement is to create a team of future educators committed
to four major classroom practices. Milone (1996), suggests these key practices
include:
building expertise in using new technologies sharing expertise with colleagues
using this technological expertise with students on a daily basis working
towards the common goal of making classroom technology available to all
students.
The expertise to implement sound technology practices begins at the undergraduate
level. It is in the preservice technology classes that students begin to
acquire skills in using new technologies. As their coursework progresses,
students engage in sharing this expertise with their fellow students. Teacher
education programs that include spiraling courses in educational technology
foster this newfound knowledge and enable students to continue to build
the skills and awareness they will need out in the field. For example, throughout
a teacher education program a student may be required to take a beginning
course in educational technology. Requirements for this entry level course
may include proficiency in operating equipment, developing HyperStudio stacks,
designing technology-infused lesson plans, World Wide Web navigation, and
beginning homepage construction. The World Wide Web plays a significant
role in entry level technology courses.
Guiding and allowing students to strengthen World Wide Web navigation skills opens up countless opportunities for preservice students. If students develop the necessary navigation skills to travel with ease and seek out information on the web, their future classrooms will be enriched beyond the walls of local schools. Ability to navigate and search for information on the web will empower students with a valuable tool that will assist them in other preservice courses. Later in the student's program, a required methods course may pick up where the entry level technology course left off. The methods course requirements may include; 1)design of a telecurricular, integrated unit of study, 2)creating a telecurricular telecommunications project, 3)posting lesson plan ideas to a homepage, and 4)writing telecommunications simulations. On-line field trips, finding educational news and information, accessing lesson plans and ideas from the university classroom will help students master the monumental task of instructional planning and curriculum design (Robin, Keeler, & Miller 1997). University professors who incorporate World Wide Web sites into their lessons by having students visit referenced sites or engage in web searches to compliment lesson material help students advance their skills and uncover a much needed relevance to what is going on in the field. For example, designing an on-line classroom simulation would be a difficult task for the student who had never experienced this type of activity. However, employing the World Wide Web to reveal examples would make the task enjoyable and interesting.
Assignments
Simulation Assignment
Design a simulation that will compliment your integrated unit. Follow the
plan below. Your assignment must be typed and turned in on the specified
date. Remember that a simulation must teach some aspect of the world or
environment. Players must experience and imitate a real-life situation.
How to plan a simulation:
1. Explore your subject area and decide on a common situation
2. Identify your objectives - select these objectives from your integrated
unit material.
3. Define the simulations scope - answer the question, what do you plan
to accomplish Describe the simulation situation.
4. Construct a set of rules that students will follow throughout the simulation.
5 Summarize what will be taught in order to prepare the students for the
simulation. This should encompass what students will need to know beforehand
- content, concepts, skills.
6. Identify the roles of participants - answer the question, what will students
be doing For example, managing a baseball team, running a bank, playing
the stock market.
7. Describe the daily routine that will take place.
8. Outline the initial student simulation orientation - your introduction
to the simulation. Introduce the students to any record keeping material
that will be needed for simulation activities. For example, a stock portfolio,
management log, journals, ledgers.
9. Develop a debriefing - design three analytical questions that will be
discussed during the debriefing.
Sites to check for examples:
LegiSim - http://student.ecok.edu:80/~polsci/faculty/julrich/courses/1113sim.html
Electronic United Nations - http://www.simulations.com:80/eun/overvie.htm
Project ICON - High School Simulations - http://www.bsos.umd.edu/icons/mhs96.htm
Global SchoolNet Homepage - http://www.gsn.org
Curriculum design tasks and lesson planning can be both confusing and frustrating to the preservice education student. Most education majors have the desire but lack the expertise and depth of knowledge needed to plan an integrated, technology-infused unit of study. Curriculum integration can be extremely problematic to the student who is in the process of mastering material in one discipline. Providing students with on-line examples via the web can help students make sense of an otherwise complicated concept.
Assignment
When planning integrated curriculum units, its always good to have an example.
There are many examples of integrated curriculum units available on the
World Wide Web. Use Netscape to access the following sites as resources
for integrated curriculum planning:
Heidi Hayes Jacobs Model: http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/Units/UnitsIndex.html
Seeds Project - http://science.stark.k12.oh.us
Integrated Science at University of Alabama - http://www.sa.ua.edu/sa/ccet/is.htm
Group Work:
Using class information regarding integrated curriculum models, access the
first web site and examine the following units:
Group 1 - Family Unit
Group 2 - Leadership Unit
Group 3 - Responsibility Unit
Group 4 - Space Unit
Group 5 - Media & Behavior Unit
Analyze the units for content and format. Answer the following questions
- be prepared to present your findings to the class.
Questions to think about:
Is the unit content appropriate for the suggested grade level? Explain.
Does the format fit the model? Explain.
Is there enough depth in the planning to span at least six weeks of
teaching? Explain and provide examples.
Are the selected activities appropriate developmentally? Explain and
provide examples.
How would you improve the unit you examined?
Required courses in teacher education programs that are designed to provide
a continuum and that provide students with access to the World Wide Web
offer students the connections they need to internalize their learning and
develop the technological expertise to put them in the forefront of the
professional job market.
Most teacher education programs steer students on a beginning path to classroom
technology. However, several universities are creating learning communities
with public schools. One such program described by Leach (1996) involves
elementary and secondary schools partnering with a university. This "Open
University" concept encourages preservice students to move from observing
and working with experienced teachers toward teaching on their own. The
program goes one step further by providing every student and teacher participant
with an Apple Macintosh computer, modem, and printer. The computer with
on-line access enables students to correspond in a flexible mode with professors
and teachers in the field (Leach, 1996). The future of teacher education
lies in the integration of technology into preservice coursework. University
professors who model instruction infused with technology offer preservice
educators a replica of teaching than can and will be reproduced in classrooms
of the future.
References
Leach, J. (1996). "Teacher education-on-line!" Educational Leadership
54, 68-71.
Milone, M. (1995). "Electronic portfolios: Who's doing them and how?"
Technology and Learning v. 16, n. 2, 28-36.
Robin, B., Keeler, E. & Miller, R. (1997). Educators Guide to the Web.
New York: Henry Holt & Company.
On-line References
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec596/Units/UnitsIndex.html
http://www.sa.ua.edu/sa/ccet/is.htm
http://science.stark.k12.oh.us
http://student.ecok.edu:80/~polsci/faculty/julrich/courses/1113sim.html
http://www.simulations.com:80/eun/overvie.htm
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/icons/mhs96.htm
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