Improving Learning with Information Technology Report of a Workshop (2002) / Chapter Skim
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2. Symposium Activity: Forging a Common Language, Building Alliances
2. Symposium Activity: Forging a Common Language, Building Alliances
Pages 29-46
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From page 29... ...
The following summarizes the discussions at these three-hour breakout sessions. The composition of the working groups was verified to assure that all three domains were adequately represented.
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From page 30... ...
Texas already provides some professional development for teachers, at least five days during the summer and some days during the school year. However, the math teachers have determined that they need fifteen days of professional development and have formally requested at least these days be made available.
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From page 31... ...
The group immediately rejected the stated goal of"creating an AP course"; instead, most of them agreed that the real task was to build something far more robust, something "that had a verticalness to it." The group wanted a system that would support teachers at different levels and thereby build a pedagogical infrastructure that would lead seamlessly to offering an AP calculus course for which both students and teachers would be prepared. Because the group had begun by generally agreeing that an infrastructure was required before introducing AP calculus, the discussion focused on the realities of the schools: the needs and requirements, the challenges for teachers, and the need to support them in learning and performance.
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From page 32... ...
The idea of using IT assessment tools was appealing to the group: It would allow teachers to assign better targeted and more appropriate work and would give them the help they need in grading and evaluating the work. IT was also viewed as a means for helping students, teachers, and other stakeholders evaluate strategies to improve student learning and teaching.
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From page 33... ...
This participant commented that the goal of the AP course seemed to be to enable students to pass the AP examination. He questioned whether society should be harnessing the Internet and all of those other technology tools just so more people can have the opportunity to pass the AP calculus exam.
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From page 34... ...
2Functional literacy refers to the ability of an individual to use reading, speaking, writing, and computational skills in everyday life situations. Analytical literacy refers to the ability of an individual to use analytical skills to question and respond to such elements as perspective, purpose, effect, and relevance of what they read and write.
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From page 35... ...
The following ideas were generated for the proposed demonstration project. Some already exist in whole or in part, while others are "blue sky" proposals.
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From page 36... ...
Construct a sophisticated web-based program or software package to make reading more enjoyable and encourage more reading. This system would offer each student suggestions for further reading based on his or her past experience, just as commercial websites recommend new books that are in line with a customer's past purchases and browsing behavior.
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From page 37... ...
A literacy engagement module connects students to the social context related to their reading interest. Participants encouraged drawing upon literacy activities such as social con
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From page 38... ...
· Full-Scale Assessment. Given the earlier plenary discussion regarding assessment and accountability, this group encouraged an assessment of an entire system to gauge its general effectiveness and to monitor progress on an iterative basis in order to provide a user-driven, fully tested design system within a three-year timeframe.
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From page 39... ...
The group's discussion of the social and cultural aspects of the problem ranged from new literacy issues to the possibilities for collaboration through tools such as remote communication. Participants considered the tension between global connectivity and local isolation and between encouraging collaborative work and engaging each child~s individual investment in his or her cognitive responsibilities.
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From page 40... ...
The middle school dimension likely includes students who have trouble reading, are not proficient in English, may have attitudinal blocks against science, and almost certainly are experiencing emotional and physical development issues. Likewise, many teachers may be totally unprepared to implement an inquiry
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From page 41... ...
The group thought that many helpful resources currently exist and that broader dissemination would be a good first step in attempting to change the environment of middle school science. But group members did not reach consensus about how to build such a learning community.
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From page 42... ...
The other group assigned to examine this subject area considered improving eighth grade science education in general. This group sought to design a learning environment for eighth grade that would not only help students learn science, but would also help teachers become better science teachers and learners.
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From page 43... ...
The group further thought that two years would be an appropriate timeframe for the development of a prototype that would demonstrate what good eighth grade science learning could look like. The participants set some criteria for what the design should encompass: It should be cost-effective, resource rich, and incorporate all the possibilities provided by technology.
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From page 44... ...
Participants envisioned that students would also reflect about their learning to foster deeper understanding. The system would be designed to incorporate operating principles of what is presently known about human cognition and learning.
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From page 45... ...
Finally, the group suggested that they did not have time to consider other important issues related to development of a learning environment for eighth-grade science. They did not talk about particular learning objectives (except for inquiry)
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From page 46... ...
46 IMPROVING LEARNING WITHINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY straints, assumptions, and design issues in order to understand the problem, just as this group did. Finally, group members were unanimous in agreeing that they did not want technology to be the center of everything.
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