Changing the Face, Facing the Change: Technology Integration and the Teacher

Imagine that you are a new teacher in a one-room schoolhouse in the mid-1900s. The departing teacher has left a book on the desk for you to read: Practical Home and School Methods by Bernhart P. Holst. Written in 1914, the publication offers the following advice:

    • Don't stand too near the class.

    • Don't, as a rule, sit while teaching.

    • Don't repeat a question for the inattentive.

In a modern classroom, these suggestions are hopelessly archaic. No longer anchored to a desk, today’s teacher moves freely about the classroom while watching, listening, and interacting with the students at their desks. Not only have methods and styles changed, but the relationship between teachers and students is constantly evolving. The primary catalyst for this change is the method in which information is delivered.

In the early days of the one-room schoolhouse, paper was scarce and expensive. Each student had a slate lap board to solve arithmetic problems and practice writing sentences. Because the school didn’t divide the children by age, the teacher was responsible for creating lessons for students whose ages could range from 6 to 18 years old. Each morning, before class started, teachers would write problems on each student’s slate. When the children arrived they would be able to go to their lap board and get right to work. This method was very labor intensive and put the responsibility of distributing information entirely on the teacher.

When the chalkboard was introduced to the classroom, the teacher was able to write the daily work problems on it. This was an instructional breakthrough. Pupils now had the responsibility of copying the problems onto their slate boards and if younger students had difficulties, one of the older children could assist. Soon classrooms had books for all the students to use, relegating the blackboard to the role of an administrative tool – convenient for writing ideas, processing through lessons, and writing directives – but no longer the primary system for delivering information. As paper became affordable and accessible slates were discarded and teaching styles and objectives changed yet again.

Bringing computer technology into the classroom is simply another chapter in this ever-evolving process. The sheer quantity of information available at our fingertips today has moved the teacher into the role of facilitator. Instead of lecturing or assigning pages to read out of a book, the students can research their own information on topics and projects and work in teams to produce an end result – essentially teaching themselves. Rather than reading current events out of a newspaper, a class can get live updates on breaking news stories as they happen anywhere in the world. Today’s classrooms have access to mathematicians, scientists, archeologists, authors, composers, artists, museum curators and general researchers without ever leaving the school building. A teacher can even assign groups to write, film, edit, add special effects, finish, and distribute a video – all on a computer sitting in the classroom. However, students aren’t the only ones that benefit from computer technology in the classroom. Here are just a few of the advantages that teachers gain:

    • More classroom time to teach key principles.

    • Faster access to research for planning lessons.

    • Enhanced professional development.

No matter what the academic content, today’s technology is far more effective in guaranteeing a successful educational experience for the student than some of the methods of the past. And though some newcomers to computer technology are a bit intimidated by the delivery system, once you get the hang of it, using computer technology is as easy as…well…writing on a chalkboard.

Next month: How will technology affect school buildings and public education?

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