Moursund Editorial/Empowering Teachers
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Cite this article as:
Moursund, D.G. (December/January 1992/93). Empowering Teachers. The Computing Teacher. Eugene, OR: ISTE.
David Moursund started the periodical The Computing Teacher that later had its name changed to Learning and Leading with Technology.
Editorial: Empowering Teachers
Many schools now have a ratio of one computer per 12 students, or even better. While these machines may vary widely in capability, the total computing power in schools is both quite large and is growing quite rapidly.
So, why isn't education getting a whole lot better? Indeed, why do so many people argue that the quality of our educational system has been declining during the past decade while so many resources have gone into schools acquiring computer hardware and software?
This is a complex question, and I am going to provide a simple answer. The answer comes from the business world. In recent years, business has undertaken a strong movement toward empowering workers. Workers are empowered by being given the authority, responsibility, and education to do their jobs well. This formula has worked well in many countries and in many different types of business.
Business has also faced the problem of dealing with an immense amount of technological innovation. Studies indicate that providing workers with high technology fails-be it in a factory or in an office-if the workers do not receive adequate training, encouragement, incentives, and continuing on-the-job support. If the workers are not empowered by appropriate training and support, the technological innovations prove ineffective.
Teachers
Why should it be any different for teachers? Many schools have acquired a great deal of computer hardware and software. However, few schools have analyzed the amount of education, encouragement, incentives, and continuing on-the-job support needed by teachers. Few educational leaders appreciate the difficulties involved in a teacher learning to make comfortable use of even a single piece of software in a complex educational environment-that is, in the typical classroom.
To take a single example, compare a skilled secretary learning to use a word processor to handle correspondence versus a teacher learning to use a word processor as both an aid to instruction and as an object of instruction.
It is obvious that the task faced by the teacher is many times more difficult than the task faced by the secretary. This comes both from the fact that the teacher is not likely to be a skilled typist, but also because the classroom environment is very complex. Teachers not only have to deal with whatever questions arise as they make personal use of word processors, they also have to deal with the full
Studies indicate that providing workers with high technology fails-be it in a factory or in an office-if the workers do not receive adequate training, encouragement, incentives, and continuing on-the-job support.
range of questions that occur as their students use word processors. While the secretary most likely uses a single computer that nobody else uses, the teacher may have to deal with several different makes and models of hardware and software that are being used by different students every hour. (Students are very good at messing up computer systems.)
Empowering Teachers
Our educational system has done a miserable job of empowering teachers to make appropriate and effective use of computer-related technology. It isn't just the training-although in most cases it has been woefully inadequate. It isn't just the lack of computer-oriented curriculum-although, in most cases good curriculum materials are not available. It isn't just the assessment system-although, in most cases teachers are still expected to have their students perform well on assessment instruments that are totally unrelated to use of computers. It isn't just the amount of hardware and software available in the classroom-although, in most cases the facilities are quite inadequate. It isn't just the support system- although, in most cases the teachers are "on their own" if something goes wrong with the hardware or software during a class.
It is all of these things and more. Computers have not empowered most teachers. Rather, by and large, computers have decreased the actual and perceived power of teachers. Most teachers perceive their power to be diminished when they are expected to teach topics and deal with questions where their knowledge and skills may be far less than some of their students. Most teachers perceive that their power is diminished when the knowledge and skills they are gaining are obsoleted by rapid advances in hardware and software. Most teachers perceive that their power is diminished when they are told that they should be teaching students to communicate in a multimedia, hypermedia environment, and they have difficulty coping with a motion picture projector and a VCR.
If the above analysis is correct, it will take a long time for computer technology to make a significant contribution to improving education. This long time is will be required to provide teachers with the education, encouragement, incentives, curriculum materials, and continuing on-the-job support needed to make effective use of the technology. If the resources needed to accomplish these tasks are not made available in adequate amounts, computers will not contribute to improving our educational system.
Author's Retrospective Comments 8/17/07
Since this editorial was written, computers and other Information and Communication Technology has become much more powerful and more readily available. The various teacher education programs and school districts throughout the country have made a significant effort to provide preservice and inservice teachers with needed ICT in education knowledge and skills. During this time the US Federal Government has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in teacher education programs throughout the country. I was the director of one of these three year PTTT grants at the University of Oregon.
Three of the most important things we have learned about ICT in education during this time are:
- Our educational system has long been highly resistant to change, and that continues to be the case. It is a huge institution whose major stockholders tend to strongly resist significant change in the system.
- The pace of change in the development and implementation of ICT far outpaces the ability of schools to appropriately cope with the change. Moreover, the pace of technological-based research, development, and production of resulting goods and services is increasing.
- Even though preservice and inservice teacher education programs have made a significant effort to appropriately educate and empower teachers in the field of ICT in education, for most teachers the results have proven quite inadequate.
I believe that if there were simple, easy and painless to implement solutions to thee difficulties, we would have found and implemented them. There have been small pockets of of substantial improvement. However, for the most part these do not readily scale to a whole state or the whole nation. As a simpleminded example, suppose that education could be substantially improved by providing every student and every teacher with a good laptop computer and connectivity. In the United States, this would cost less than five percent of the current K-12 annual spending. There are a number of small scale and medium scale experiments going on in this area. While there are many testimonials to how good it is to be doing this, the evidence that this improves education is very weak.
One of the reasons the evidence is so weak is that our educational system and its assessment systems seem unwilling to "bite the bullet" and make a major change. As I sit writing this article, I am using a laptop that is wirelessly connected to the Internet. I make frequent searches of the web, read, and then draw upon what I have read. I search what I have written during the past 20 years. I email people to get ideas and help in answering hard questions. That is, I work in a "real world" environment in which I make use of my education, experience, and the tools that help me do my work. I draw upon my strengths and I find and implement work arounds for my weaknesses. I frequently work in a team environment.
If you want to test my writing skills, you need to test me in an authentic manner and environment similar to the environment in which I work.
If you want students to develop the types of writing knowledge and skills I have, you need authentic content, teaching, and assessment. Among other things, this means testing students in a hands on, connected environment with relatively little in the way of time constraints. It also means that we need to help students learn to take increased personal responsibility for their own education. Students need help in getting better at self assessment.
Such a system requires a significant change in teachers and their powers. It requires a significant change in the state mandated curricula. It requires significant changes in assessment at the school, district, state, and national levels.
