Curriculum Design for Teachers with Technology Learning Gap - Coursework Example

Curriculum Design for Teachers with Technology Learning Gap Introduction Workforce readiness is a problem that prevails the United s for years but there has been little efforts in rectifying the situation. According to McNamara (p.1) "The interwoven relationship between workforce readiness, business and industrial development, and schools has existed since the institution of public education in the United States." Yet despite this fact, during the second half of the 20th century, the gap between the education system and the professional environment has widened. Many workers do not possess the basic skills required for entering into the work environment (Maddux 5). One example is teachers unpreparedness for the schools technology environment of today. One of the reasons that contribute to this status quo Cherian believes (Web) is the federal governments lack of interest in policy development. Whenever the federal government gets involved in a technology education program, it has had successfully impacted its performance level. However, the student achievement gap persists in both urban and suburban regions of major US schools partly because of the lack of support and partly because of the teaching staffs lack of knowledge of computer based learning (Cakir 301). Advanced technology is constantly changing, and teachers are disinclined towards learning because there is tension between the teachers (learners) and the IT techs (information disseminator) who are charged with the responsibility of disseminating learning curriculum for supporting the teaching staffs in their own jobs (Anderson 21). As a result, teachers are ill equipped in their own classrooms especially among students who are more knowledgeable of technologies of everyday life due to interaction with the technology based environment. It is this learning gap that the researcher shall explore and evaluate for a curriculum design in the following sections. Instructional System Design By using the instructional design method, the researcher shall first establish that a learning gap exists among teachers in technological knowledge for teaching their students in the classroom. This shall be established by feedback, information from secondary and primary resources. The information shall then be analyzed under the ADDIE model to determine the learning goals, target learners, environment and objectives to be achieved through a designed curriculum for them based on the instructional system design model (Edmonds et al 56). Analysis I. Learning gap The current state of the teaching environment is sadly below the standards required for the education of the future of the nation. Teachers are highly pressured by the traditional methodology and high standards required by learners. Yet the population of trained teacher using technology is less than required. According to Slowinski, since 1991 the government has spent more than $2 billion for developing information technology infrastructure in schools and training teachers through the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (TLCF). Despite this fact, only 14 percent of schools have teachers who are using IT for instructional purposes in 1998. Moreover, teachers who do admit using IT in the classroom do not exploit their skills to the maximum of their knowledge so that students can actually gain from their teaching methods (Woodbridge). Because of their learning gap they are ill equipped to teach their students in a technology based environment. According to Woodbridge there is a gap in the instructional design to integrate technology in the classrooms according to the standards that students are used to. Teachers often face barriers to teaching and leave the class to technologists to control the flow of skills transfer. They are not used to the technology because technology integration is not adequate at the university or professional development level (Woodbridge). As a result they lack in the following aspects of successful integration of IT in learning outcomes: a. Use of software and hardware tools to manipulate or create student learning experience. b. Use of problem based assignments using IT. c. Establishing constructive learning environments that are congruent with students learning level (Woodbridge). These aspects require intervention which shall be discussed in the next section. II. Goal or goals of the intervention The challenge for teachers in the US is to overcome the learning gap in IT which is becoming an obstacle for them to achieve their goals as teachers. There is a need for a curriculum design that would enable these teachers to manage their jobs and succeed in making the US classrooms truly interactive: Goal 1: To implement school-wide technology program for professional teachers with technology learning gap. Goal 2: To familiarize teachers with technology tools, hardware and software, which are widely used in schools such as interactive whiteboards, online referencing, LCD projectors, and various educational software. Goal 3: To introduce computer based teaching strategies congruent with national curriculum. Goal 4: To develop instructional ICT models that would help teachers to develop their own on the job. III. The Learners This will be a specific group of audience comprising of educationists and teachers who have direct contact with the student population in both private and public schools. The purpose is to establish a leadership learning environment in the IT environment so that each learner will be able to transfer their learned skills in their classrooms and schools. IV. Learning environment and context It is important that teachers in the US be equipped with technological skills to in order to prepare them for integrating technology in teaching and learning environment. They need to learn at the pre-service state as well as in-service of how to incorporate technology in ways that would facilitate learning in the classroom (Niess and Garofalo 3796). To do this, the current curriculum shall be designed with the view to provide a learning environment that is both pragmatic and creative so that teachers shall be able to replicate and modify according to their classroom needs (Dexter 16). Activities based on their feedback and curriculum shall be included to encourage teachers to role-play how they would integrate their learned skills in their individual pedagogical environment (Stigler and Hiebert 129). V. Measureable Learning Objectives (knowledge, skills, processes, procedures) Learners are expected to achieve the following measurable objectives before they can be categorised as equipped and prepared for their individual teaching environments: a. Knowledge of hardware and software tools for creating classroom lessons for students should be acquired for the duration of the training. b. Skills for developing strategies and lessons which integrate IT should be adequate and at par with the current national standards. c. Learners should be fluent in the processes of IT integration so that they will be able to transfer their skills to students without compromising classroom lessons. d. Learners should be prepared for integrating IT by following structured procedures as prescribed by the school administrators. However, these should be governed by the national IT standard procedures. Terminal Performance Objectives Using Blooms Taxonomy (Sousa 54) the following verb hierarchy has been created to be used as a guideline for learners to sustain their post-training performance. The objectives are listed therein congruent with their learning insights: Recall - Learners are expected to remember IT systems, peripherals and components based on the theory taught. The objective is to ensure that the learner remembers what they have learned of IT concepts introduced during the training period. Understand - They are expected to understand the material as they learn during training and be able to apply it to their teaching environment. The objective is to ensure that the learners are able to interpret, conclude and demonstrate what they have learned. Apply - The ability to learn and apply the tools and techniques to new situations is as critical as the learning process itself. Learners therefore are expected to apply the concepts and tools used during the training by recognising and selecting the appropriate tools for appropriate level of students in their classroom. Analyze - Learners are also expected to understand the IT needs by analyzing their individual teaching environments, examine its relationships with IT, and the national curriculum. The objective is to enhance their ability to classify classroom IT needs, and relate it to particular IT concepts for effective learning strategy development. Evaluate - They are to evaluate the situations that they are faced with in their everyday job with specific criteria and standards, and choose options for resolving learning issues in the classroom. The objective is to synthesize the material learned, and choose to integrate acquired skills. Create - The most important aspect that this learning workshop shall endeavour is to enable learners to create and develop strategies for integrating IT in the classroom. These strategies shall be unique and generated by the learners in accordance to the standards and classroom environment that they teach in. The objective is to invent and produce lessons which integrate IT tools and techniques for enhancing the learning experience of students in class (Tomei 60). Conclusions The above is an initial phase of the ADDIE model of curriculum design but not the least important. This is a critical phase for outlining the learning gap, the pedagogical objectives and the performance outcomes of the learners. It is also the stage where the need of the learners in the context of their environment is carefully evaluated for integration into the training curriculum. Since information technology is a technical area of learning, it is expected that the process of learning is ongoing for which the terminal performance objectives have been devised to ensure learners continue with their experiments of their acquired skills. There will be opportunities made available to the learners to revisit the above curriculum so that they would be able to discuss and share their experiences, difficulties faced and solutions for the same. References Anderson, Arlene. Cant We All Just Get along? Learning & Leading with Technology, v37 n4 p21-23 Dec 2009-Jan 2010 Cakir, H. Technology Enhanced Learning Environments for Closing the Gap in Student Achievement between Regions: Does It Work? AACE Journal, v17 n4 p301-315 Oct 2009. Cherian, Mathew. From PLATO to Podcasts: Fifty Years of Federal Involvement in Educational Technology. Prepared for the Center on Education Policy Dexter, Sara. Transcending digital performance, and innovation divides in the preparation of new teachers. On the Horizon. Vol. 10, No. 3. 2002, pp.16-21. Gerald, Edmonds; Robert C, Branch and Mukherjee, Prachee. A Conceptual Framework for Comparing Instructional Design Models, ETR&D, Vol. 42, No. 4, 1994, pp. 55-72. Maddux, C.D. (Ed.) Research Highlights in Technology and Teacher Education 2009. SITE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/31425. McNamara, Billie. The skill gap. Will the future workplace become an abyss? Eric Database, May 2009. Online accessed on 2 March 2010 from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/44/36/6f.pdf Niess, M. & Garofalo, J. Preparing Teachers to Teach Mathematics with Technology: Key Issues, Concerns and Research Questions. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2006; pp. 3796-3801. Project on Rethinking the Federal Role in Elementary and Secondary Education. Online accessed on 2 March 2010 from: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/43/e4/17.pdf Slowinski, Joseph. The Gap Between Preparation and Reality in Training Teachers to Use Technology. Online accessed on 2 March 2010 from: http://technologysource.org/article/gap_between_preparation_and_reality_in_training_teachers_to_use_technology/ Sousa, David A. How the Gifted Brain Learns, Corwin Press, 2009. Stigler, James W. The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the Worlds Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom. Free Press 1999. Tomei, Lawrence, A. Designing Instruction for the Traditional, Adult, and Distance Learner. Idea Group Inc (IGI), 2009. Woodbridge, Jerry. Technology Integration as a Transforming Teaching Strategy. Tech Learning, March 1, 2004. Online accessed on 2 March 2010 from: http://www.techlearning.com/article/2022 Read More