Facing the risks of Computers in School - The Professional Development Debate Jim Vanides Yasu Kato ED224 3/15/2001

Overview – Framing the debate Issues we agree on… The Risks The Disagreements

Teachers need more opportunities to learn about teaching with technology… The Risk The cost to do it well is too high. Teachers don’t have enough time. Other professional development is needed Spending on technology is wasted. Teachers will be spending their precious time focused on non-essentials Disagreement Mis-use will lead to a decrease in student learning Some training is better than nothing

Some teachers are spending their own time & $ to learn technologies… The Risk At a time when the demand for talented teachers is sharply increasing, teachers will quit in frustration Not enough teachers are this motivated, so building capacity to teach with tech will not happen fast enough Disagreement If teachers have paid training time, the teaching staff attrition will increase. It is expected that professionals need to spend some of their own time learning.

Teachers must avoid the misuse of technologies… The Risk Mis-use will lead to a decrease in student achievement. Disagreement What “misuse” looks like How to assess teaching How to measure student achievement

There is insufficient technical support in most schools… The Risk Teachers waste time in fixing technical problems. Teachers waste time in preparing for class, since they can’t count on the technology working The broken technology sits unused (Low ROI) Disagreement Don’t bother training the teachers because the kids know better than teachers, so they are going to help. Technical support costs too much.

Technology enables collaboration, helping to reduce teacher isolation... The Risk Best-practices don’t spread, limiting the capacity to grow “master teachers” Teachers will retire and their knowledge will be lost, forcing new teachers to forever be learning from scratch Teachers don’t have time for communication technologies. Teachers lack a culture of collaboration Consistency is a key. A teacher is primarily responsible for his/her class. Disagreement

Teachers are under pressure from outside to “prepare students for their future”… The Risk Superintendents and policy makers are overly influenced by the computer industry. Parents are controlled by mass media. Computer skills don’t need to be taught in school Disagreement Students can’t compete for information-age jobs Students can’t compete for “high opportunity” colleges Students are info-illiterate, a risk to an informed and functional society

Most faculty in teacher education program are B.C. The Risk New teachers will graduate without having experienced what the integration of technology looks like, leaving them with nothing to emulate Teachers might lose some of core teaching knowledge. Teaching should be the focus, not technology Disagreement Some programs provide technology course.

Conclusion The Risks are significant The Debate is critically important Every year millions of children leave or graduate from school. If we’re serious about “leaving no child behind”, we must accelerate the discourse.