Annotated Bibliography Draft Two

Gray, Lucinda, Nina Thomas, Laurie Lewis, and Peter Tice. Teachers' Use of Educational

Technology in U.s. Public Schools, 2009: First Look. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Dept. of Education, 2010. Internet resource.

In this article the National Center for Education Statistics enlisted 4,133 full-time teachers in 2,005 public schools in the 50 states and Columbia to partake in a questionnaire about different technologies and how they use them in their classrooms. The survey was broken up into 10 specific topics such as “Number of computers located in the teacher’s classrooms every day and number that can be brought into the classroom”, “Availability and frequency of use for computers and other technology devices during instructional time” and “Types of software and Internet sites used by teachers for classroom preparation, instruction, and administrative tasks” to name a few.

The National Center for Education Statistics has taken a survey like this every year from 1995 (excluding 2004), with the adoption of new technologies. These questionnaires allow one to group and analyze data from either year to year, or allow one to see a more broad evolution.  The “Selected Findings” portion let one see the most noticeable statistics from the year and compiles them to allow for the reader to see what lies within the additional text. The article is designed to catch a readers’ eye, they use bullet points for important statistics and then paragraphs to explain what was asked and what the purpose of the question was. The use of tables allows for one to see answers based on a multitude of subject areas; community type, teacher experience, % of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, etc.

After sifting through the pages of charts, tables, and statistics I was able to see that I could use this article in more than one way. This article allows me to have hard evidence that is unarguable to use. In knowing that I have records that date back to 1995, I now have the ability to compare how teachers taught with technology back then and in this day and age. I am left with a question as to why there wasn’t a study done in 2004.

·         “Ninety-seven percent of teachers had one or more computers located in the classroom every day, while 54 percent could bring computers into the classroom (table 1). Internet access was available for 93 percent of the computers located in the classroom every day and for 96 percent of the computers that could be brought into the classroom. The ratio of students to computers in the classroom every day was 5.3 to 1.” (13)

·         Teachers sometimes or often used the following for instructional or administrative purposes: word processing software (96 percent), spreadsheets and graphing programs (61 percent), software for managing student records (80 percent), software for making presentations (63 percent), and the Internet (94 percent) (table 6).” (13)

·         The percentage of teachers that reported that the following activities prepared them (to a moderate or major extent) to make effective use of educational technology for instruction are 61 percent for professional development activities, 61 percent for training provided by school staff responsible for technology support and/or integration, and 78 percent for independent learning (table 9).” (14)

McIntyre, Beverly Kesler. "Teachers' Beliefs and Practices regarding the Role of Technology in

Literacy Instruction: A Mixed Methods Study." The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2011. United States -- North Carolina: ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

           

Beverly McIntyre wrote this dissertation to partially fulfill the requirements to obtain her Doctorate in Philosophy in Curricular and Instruction. She wrote her dissertation on teacher’s beliefs and practices regarding the role of technology in literacy instruction. She did a broad study at first and then honed in and did an in-depth study in three teachers to see what role technology played. Throughout the dissertation she explains what she defines technology as and then goes through and talks about what she witnessed in each classroom regarding the integration of technology and how it affected the teacher’s instruction to the class. She breaks it down into 7 chapters, each leading into the next. The first three chapters are each teacher and their beliefs on technology, as well as how they use it, and then how that teachers beliefs were portrayed in class.

            McIntyre took a general survey based on technology and then narrowed it down to three teachers. This allows her to really analyze each case and having three teachers allows her to get enough data to formulate a conclusion. Having each teacher be of a different technology class, meaning one frequent user, one moderate user, and one infrequent user, allows her to see what commonalities each has and if technology can be implemented to ease outside pressures and be on a level of common understanding with students.   McIntyre remains unbiased throughout the entirety of the portion I read; using just her findings to illustrate points and gather enough data to formulate and accurate statement.    

            The article was a key piece to my inquiry project. McIntyre asked the almost the same question I am asking, her dissertation not only afforded me valuable insight and facts, but leads me to addition sources. I plan on using her dissertation as one of my most heavily used sources due to the fact our inquiries are so closely tied. I want to know more about the teachers she researched and if three was enough to be able to make a strong connection between technology and teaching.

·         “…technology use in the teachers’ literacy instruction was influenced by such factors as their pedagogical beliefs, perceived administrative support, the amount and type of professional development teachers received, the ease of access to technology, perceived barriers to technology integration, and teachers’ attitudes towards technology.” (4)

·         “The current generation is now referred to as digital natives because they are born into the digital age” (16)

·         “Of teens aged 12 – 17, 93% use the Internet daily, 55% maintain profiles on social etworking sites such as Facebook or MySpace, and 89% report holding virtual conversations which stem from online posts of photos. Of the 55% who use social networking sites, 42% of them also maintain blogs, 70% read others’ blogs, and 76% post comments on either the blogs or social networking sites of their friends. Teen usage of the Internet is growing rapidly. Just two years prior, only 90% of the same aged teens were Internet users and seven years prior only 76% of those teens used the Internet (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005).” (16)

Pedró, Francesc. Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners. OECD Publishing,2012. Print.

            Pedró writes about how technology isn’t about the device itself or the person using it. It is about the connectedness of the individual with the technology and the rest of the world. He goes and speaks about the different decades and how Information Technology (IT) started out in the 80’s as knowledge of computers and word processing, then to the early 90’s with DVD’s and flash discs, to the mid 90’s in to today where IT encompasses all technology and how it interacts with the world. Pedró separates the book in to three chapters that focus on three categories: making the case for NML (New Millennium Learners), contrasting hypothesis with empirical data, and drawing implications for policy, practice and research.

            In writing this book, Pedró shares his bias towards technology and explains where we as a society came from and how we got where we are now. In “Connected Minds”  he explains that technology is creating and expanding existing processes through the means of Information, from production to access, from accumulation to sharing; Services, be they are commercial or free, public or private; and People, so as to reinforce existing social networks or to be incorporated into new ones. He strays from the topic of education and focuses more on the Global perspective and how we as one world need to afford every person the ability to “plug in”.

            I liked the book, but am unable to use major parts of it due to the fact that he strays from education to a more global perspective. I was able to find good facts and findings that I can use to reinforce my findings in other sources.  I was left wondering about the globalization of technology and how we as the human race connected with one another.

·         “Technological change has made the state of being connected, or not, far more important today for the economy, for society, and for individuals than the vast array of technology…” (16)

·         “Being connected does not necessarily translate into immediate benefits.” (17)

·         “The emerging knowledge economy, so permeated by technology, not only transforms businesses but also shapes the labour market by having an impact on skill demands.” (35)

Lanahan, Lawrence, and Janet Boysen. Computer Technology in the Public School Classroom:

Teacher Perspectives. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2005. Internet resource.

           

This Article is sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics and is about technology within a public school system classroom from the teachers perspective. It covers the 2000-2001 school year and was published in 2005. This article asks a few simple questions such as, “Which types of classroom technology do teachers consider to be essential?” and “Do teachers feel technology is sufficiently available in their classrooms. This article is short but full of information. There are bar graphs that allow one to see which technologies were available to the masses and which technology was limited to a lucky few.

            This is a very cut and dry piece. There isn’t any room for bias. Because the article was administered and published by the National Center for Education Statistics, they take the data gathered and lay it out for one to see, the positive and the negative. Being that there is no bias, one has the ability to use the data in either as a positive or negative re-enforcer or as just a filler fact.

            I plan on using this article to supplement facts about the early 2000s and how the technology has changed from 1995 to 2000 to 2010-2013. This article allows compiling from multiple years with the same question being asked. I am able to go and find each year’s data and use the questions that were asked year after year to paint a picture of the change in the technology and the lesson plans. I am left wondering how many teachers in which states were asked to participate in the survey. I feel that the results will vary depending on which socioeconomic group the schools located in.

·         “From 1994 to 2002, the percentage of public schools with access to the Internet increased from 35 to 99 percent”

·         “Of the teachers who considered themselves “reasonably familiar and comfortable with using computers,” 60 percent agreed that technology was sufficiently available in their classrooms, compared with 48 percent of those who did not report being “reasonably familiar and comfortable with using computers””

·         “35 percent of teachers reported presentation software (e.g., PowerPoint) as essential. The items least frequently reported as essential were multimedia authoring programs (e.g., HyperCard), full page scanners, and video cameras (21 percent, 20 percent, and 18 percent, respectively).”

Unleashing the Potential of Educational Technology. Washington, D.C.: Executive Office of the

 President, Council of Economic Advisers, 2011. Internet resource.

           

This article comes from the Executive Office of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and talks about how technology in schools is the key to improving our students. The article talks about how technologies differ from region to region because of producer’s ability to spread the tech across wide areas unless they are the largest suppliers in the country. It talks about how because each state ha different standards that technology is needed differently in different states but because of Common Core State Standards, technology is now in need of a wider spread to allow for states to hit the same standards.  It goes on to talk about the US in a global scale and then about the five largest school districts in our country and the expenditures per student.

The article spends a lot of time on talking about Common Core Standards and how with each state jumping on board allows for technologies to penetrate fragmented markets and allows them to become one. This is easing tension of school districts to get better tech. The tech is becoming more wide spread and cheaper which allows for districts to be able to buy more of the tech and implement its use.

            I plan on using this article to explain the importance of technology in schools and how teachers aren’t always the ones to blame for lack of use. Some districts can’t afford new tech or if they can they can’t afford to buy every teacher one to use therefore some students are receiving a tweaked instruction method. This article doesn’t leave with any questions that haven’t been able to be answered further on in the article. It is set up to ask a question and then explain both sides of the argument within the following paragraph.   

·         “Educational technology holds the promise of substantially improving outcomes for K-12

Students”

·         “The spread of broadband Internet and Common Core State Standards have improved the landscape for educational technologies, but these factors alone are likely insufficient for a “game changing” advance.”

·         “The Internet is a standardized and widely understood platform, making it possible for sellers to develop scalable products that almost any purchaser could employ without the need to purchase specialized hardware or equipment.”