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One-Credit Courses
I hear… and I forget
I see…and I remember
I do…and I understand
Ancient Chinese Proverb
It is often suggested that a teacher education program
should make available a number of short courses, workshops,
and 1-credit courses designed to help students learn about
ICT in education. It is also suggested that some of this
instruction should be integrated into the non-ICT courses
required in teacher education programs of study. In this Web
Page, a variety of possible topics and approaches are
briefly described. Possible uses in a preservice teacher
education program are explored.
- ICT as part of the content of the content areas that
are traditionally taught at the PreK-12 level. Click
here for a relatively completed overview of this
topic.
- ICT as part of the content of the "Non-Methods"
teacher education program of study. Click
here for a few initial thoughts on this topic.
- ICT as part of the content of Methods courses.
Click here for
a few initial thoughts on this topic.
- ICT topics that cut across most or all of a students
course of study. Click
here for a list of types of topics that seem to fit
into this category.
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ICT in Non-ICT
K-12 Content Areas
Each domain of study (each subject area in school) can be
defined by the types of problems and tasks it addresses, the
methodologies it uses, and the results it has achieved. We
know that from a learner point of view, proficiency or a
reasonable level of expertise in a language arts subject
area is quite different than proficiency or a reasonable
level of expertise in a science area. However, there can be
considerable transfer of learning among different subject
areas.
Within any domain, ICT helps to create new types of
problems and tasks, adds to the methodologies available, and
helps to produce new results. Moreover, ICT knowledge and
skills tend to transfer across different subject areas and
are an aid to transfer of learning. Here are a few examples
to help illustrate these important ideas:
- In Language Arts, ICT has brought reading and writing
of interactive multimedia, a Global Digital Library (the
Web), and Email (including distribution lists, instant
messaging, and chat rooms) as a new communication media.
These aids to communication and information retrieval are
useful in all subject areas.
- In the Social Sciences, ICT has brought us GIS
(Geographic Information System), much easier access to
primary sources of information, tools for searching the
Web and other large databases, tools for content
analysis, economic modeling, and modeling of social
systems. It has enabled rapid progress in brain science,
as ICT plays a significant role in brain modeling and in
non invasive monitoring of brain activity.
- In the Sciences, ICT has added a new dimension. All
sciences now can be divided into three major approaches:
experimental, theoretical, and computational.
"Computational" is a computer modeling and simulation
approach to representing and working to solve the
problems in a discipline, such as the sciences. In
addition, ICT has enabled the development of many new and
quite powerful scientific instruments.
- In Mathematics, ICT has brought us calculators,
graphing calculators, equation-solving calculators,
programmable calculators, and computer algebra systems
such as Maple and Mathematica.
- In Music, ICT has brought us computer-based musical
composition systems (students can compose music) and
music synthesizers (for example, that can play the music
that students compose).
- In Art ICT has brought us digital still and motion
pictures that can be easily edited, and the whole field
of computer graphics and animation.
- In Business, I CT has brought us the Spreadsheet,
automation of many mechanical and intellectual production
tasks, the Web as a sales and marketing medium
(E-business), and a large number of new consumer
products.
- In Mechanical Drawing and the Graphic Arts, ICT has
become such an important component that the fields have
changed drastically. They have evolved into fields in
which ICT tools are a central component.
The point being made is that a teacher needs to have
knowledge of the content areas that they teach, and ICT is
now a significant component of each subject matter
domain.
If we look far enough into the future, we can expect to
see students at the K-12 level learning roles of ICT in the
various subject areas that they study. We can expect that
they will gain increased understanding of ICT within the
non-ICT domains during their college education. However,
that is occurring only very slowly. This means that teacher
education programs are faced by the problem of what (if
anything) they want to do to address the problem.
Here are three approaches:
- Work with the College of Arts and Sciences and the
other non-Education components of the university to
encourage and facilitate integration of appropriate ICT
content within the content of the types of courses that
preservice teachers take.
- Integrate such content into the Methods courses.
- Develop standalone courses (that are elective or
required) that correspond to each content area in which
our students are being prepared to teach.
Our students are required to demonstrate subject matter
content area competence through a combination of coursework
and passing tests. However, neither the current coursework
nor the current tests adequately reflect the gradual
increasing role of ICT as part of the content area of the
various disciplines. Thus, a teacher education program will
probably want to develop a strategy based on a combination
of these three approaches.
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ICT as Content in
the Non-Methods Courses
Teacher education programs of study include a number of
courses that are not Methods courses and are not ICT
courses. As with the content areas that are taught at the
K-12 level, these content areas now include significant ICT
components. Here are a very few examples:
- ICT is now a significant component of the field of
Study Skills. (At the University of Oregon, for example,
we have a Center
for Electronic Studying that is headed by Dr. Lynne
Anderson-Inman).
- ICT is now a significant component of a variety of
learning theories and cognitive psychology.
- ICT is now a significant component of the field of
assessment.
- ICT is now a significant tool in research (and thus,
in research courses).
- ICT is now a significant tool in law courses.
Moreover, there are a number of legal and/or semilegal
aspects of ICT in education that are important to
teachers. Acceptable use policies and plagiarism provide
examples.
- ICT has created a "Digital Divide" that is a new
problem in the field of diversity.
- ICT is an important component of Special and Gifted
education
The situation that a teacher education program faces here
is that many of the regular faculty and adjuncts who teach
these content area courses are not well versed in ICT as
part of the content of the course areas they are teaching.
Moreover, an ICT specialist is not apt to be well versed in
the content area being taught. The problem is quite similar
to the one that exists in the non-College of Education
courses.
Eventually we can and should expect that regular and
adjunct faculty who teach content courses in teacher
education will be versed in roles of ICT as part of the
content and will appropriately integrate such content into
their courses. This will require a determined and continuing
effort on the part of the teacher education faculty and its
leaders. It will require continuing professional growth
(capacity building, staff development) for the faculty.
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ICT as Content
in Methods Courses
There is a growing body of knowledge and collection of
software that is specifically designed to help teachers
teach and help students learn within specific subject
areas.
Computer-assisted learning (CAL) provides excellent
examples. Preservice teachers can learn about CAL in
general, and likely they have experienced the use of drill
and practice software and "edutainment" software. However,
it is unlikely that a student entering a teacher education
program has up to date knowledge of specific pieces of CAL
software designed for use in specific subject matter areas
at specific grade levels. Research in CAL, Intelligent CAL
(ICAL). and Highly Interactive Intelligent CAL (HIICAL) is
gradually producing products that cover pieces of courses
and entire courses, and that produce (on average) learning
results better than an average teacher achieves with
traditional teaching methods.
The "Help" features that are built into software tools
are examples of CAL, and are increasingly examples of ICAL.
Moreover, these are often used in a "just in time" mode when
the user has strong intrinsic motivation to learn and/or use
a particular feature of the software. Thus, if a particular
software application package is commonly used as a tool in a
particular subject area, then the Methods course covering
that area can include a study of this aspect of CAL.
The Internet is contributing to a gradual merger of
Distance Learning and CAL. Distance Education ranges from
being completely n on-interactive (such as a radio or TV
broadcast) to having the same features as HIICAL that is
stored on a CD or DVD being played in a computer sitting on
one's desk.
ICT is now a routine component of Project-Based Learning.
PBL is a method that cuts across all Methods courses, but
often it is quite specific to a particular subject area.
Thus, we expect all of our students to learn general ideas
of PBL (constructivism, situated learning, intrinsic
motivation, group and individual project, cooperative
learning, rubrics, etc.), but students also need to learn
specifics of use of PBL within specific subject areas and at
specific grade levels.
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ICT
Topics That Cut Across Many Teacher Education Courses
ICT includes a variety of aids to communication,
information storage and retrieval, and problem solving. Most
of these aids are applicable in all areas of study and in a
wide variety of careers/jobs.
A different way of talking about this category of ICT
topics is to think about ICT topics that are relevant to
teachers but probably do not belong in any specific teacher
education course. Here are some examples that may fit into
this category. They have been titled in a manner as to
suggest course titles. Some of the topics can be taught as
one-credit courses to a mixed audience of teachers
interested in different grade levels and different
disciplines. Some can be taught (or, at least introduced) in
short workshops. Other topics take much more than a
one-credit course.
- Desktop Publication
- Desktop Presentation
- Paint and Draw Graphics
- Still and Motion Digital Photography
- Computer Modeling by use of Spreadsheet Software
- Information Retrieval Using the Web and other
Electronic Databases
- Communication Using Email, Cell Phones, and Etc.
- File Management, Transportation of Files, File
Sharing.
- Distance Learning
- Computer-Assisted Learning
- WebQuest: The
cretion and use of WebQuests, a type of Web-based lesson
plan and lesson.
- Authoring Interactive Multimedia Documents
- Artificial Intelligence
- ICT Hardware: Rudiments of Hardware Problem
Solving.
- ICT Systems and Systems Software
- Possible Futures of ICT in Education.
- Strategic Planning for ICT in Education.
- Software Engineering; Computer Programming
- Running and Using a Computer Lab in Your
Classroom
- The One-Computer Classroom
- Grant Writing for ICT in Education
- ICT and Student Assessment
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