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Temple University Center for Research
in Human Development and Education |
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Assessing the Effectiveness of Educational Technology
120
by
Judith C. Stull
Temple University
The
Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in Education Consortium
(MAR*TEC), in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department
of Education, recently completed a 10-month study of
technology in state colleges and universities granting
bachelor's degrees in education. The study focuses on how
and to what extent programs were designed to develop
preservice teachers' capacity to integrate technology into
the K-12 curriculum to meet current and future student
needs. The underlying assumption is that having
technologically proficient faculty will result in
technology-literate and proficient K-12 teachers. Data were
collected from the 69 responding colleges and universities
through surveys, interviews, site visits, and document
analyses.
Project Methodology
Preparedness to integrate technology into the curriculum
is a function of both the teacher's actual technological
proficiency and the training received in curriculum design
and technology integration. Successful integration of
technology into teaching requires minimum competencies in
technology.
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Ninety-two
Pennsylvania colleges and universities were identified as
granting undergraduate degrees in education. Twelve
institutions were dropped from the study for varied reasons;
several institutions had unique foci such as art education
only, and others were in the process of eliminating their
undergraduate programs. Surveys were sent to the remaining
80 institutions, which were located throughout the
commonwealth.
Contact was maintained with these institutions by mail,
phone, and e-mail to insure a high return rate. In the end,
69 institutions returned usable surveys. In addition to the
survey, additional information was collected from published
secondary sources to facilitate the discussion of quality of
instruction within the responding institutions. The colleges
and universities in the study were surveyed to determine the
development of technological proficiency of faculty and
their ability to integrate technology into the curriculum in
preservice teacher certification programs. The information
collected builds upon what is embodied in the Pennsylvania
Chapter 354 legislation (2000) as it applies to preservice
teacher education programs.
Given the fact that institutions vary as to how they address
the needs of preservice students (i.e., in colleges or
schools of education, in departments of education, or in
programs of education), two complementary survey instruments
were developed, one designed to collect information about
the institution as a whole and one that focused explicitly
on preservice education. Taken together, these instruments
provide baseline information about the current conditions of
preservice education in the state.
Findings
The study’s findings are reported in Evaluating Teacher
Preparation Programs in Pennsylvania Colleges and
Universities (2002). A summary follows.
Current Technology Capacity
• Forty of the 69 responding institutions reported having a
technology plan for the institution. Of these 40
institutions, respondents indicated that 32.5% (14) of the
plans included expectations relating to faculty members,
57.1% (23) included expectations pertaining to students and,
in 5% (8) of the cases, minimum competencies were specified
for students. Twenty-seven of the institutions have
technology plans pertaining to the preservice education
program. Minimum student competencies are specified in 32.5%
(9) of the plans.
• The technology administrators make most of the technology
decisions. Specifically, 72.5% of the respondents indicated
that their technology administrators make the hardware
decisions, 76.3% make the network decisions, and 68.3% make
the software decisions.
• While respondents were generally satisfied with their
institution’s general facilities (58.6%) and with the
technology facilities and support, less than half were
satisfied with technology initiatives undertaken in courses
taken specifically by preservice students.
• Institutions with technology plans initiated more
technology innovations (1.7 innovations), on the average,
than those without technology plans (1.3 innovations).
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