Computer Technology in the Public School
Classroom: Teacher Perspectives
Summary
The study was conducted in 2000-20001 and asked teachers what kind of technology they found to be essential in the classroom. The study found "essential" for their teaching. Most teachers reported that they found their classroom technology to be "sufficiently available” Not surprisingly, teachers with less access to technological resources stated that their level of technology was not sufficient more often than those teachers who had technology. The types of technology that teachers cited as essential were teacher workstation computers and document viewers. The study was done to see how satisfied teachers were with the availability of basic technology for their classrooms.
Analysis
Several important variables were left unexamined such as the socioeconomic level of the schools, the familiarity of teachers with the computers, and how exactly the researchers gathered their data. Sometimes, when reading a study, I am surprised that it has even been done because it is that obvious. Of course teachers with less access to essential technology such as teacher computer workstations will be more likely to state that they are dissatisfied. The larger issue of class is of interest to me as I study various technologies in a graduate course. I would like to believe that I will be able to incorporate all of the cutting edge information into daily lesson plans; that I could make movies to go with a lesson or have students keep blogs as a requirement. The problem is, many students do not have home computers and even worse, many schools have very few and often very outdated computers. Therefore, technology learning becomes an issue of class and I find this idea intriguing. I would hope that the researchers will follow up on this initial idea and perhaps look at how teachers use the essential technology in schools with and without it and how that difference effects the students’ learning styles and even the way that students learn about computers at a time when computer competency is required for employment in many jobs.
References
Lanahan, L., Boysen, J., & National Center for Education Statistics (ED), W. (2005). Computer Technology in the Public School Classroom: Teacher Perspectives. Issue Brief. NCES 2005-083. National Center for Education Statistics, Retrieved from ERIC database.
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