Websites as Instructional

ToolsA Website Is A Terrible

Thing To Waste

Carolynn Mortensen

Problem or Need Background

As educators, we strive to provide students with a wide-range of knowledge so that they will become productive members of society. We must use best practices supported by research to optimize the opportunity to achieve this goal.

The research is clear that parents’ involvement in their child’s education improves outcomes in areas such as learning, attendance, behavior, and graduation rate. Increased and meaningful communication between home and school enhances parent involvement. (Center for the Study of Education Policy, 2004, p. 100)

Center for the Study of Education Policy, (2004). School/home communication: using technology to enhance parental Iinvolvement. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED514357.pdf

The need is to ensure teachers are employingclassroom websites to enhance communication betweenHome and school. The problem is to provide the tools and training to educators in such a way that they are most likely to incorporate the classroom website as a standard in their teaching practices.

Process of Development (Barriers)

•LCMS System• Individual District Provides Hosting and Management

•Training Hours•Home Internet Access For Parents and Teachers

• Proper use of websites as educational tools

• Maintaining current information

• Parent Support• Teacher Support• Administrative

Support

• Parents• Teachers• Schools• Districts

Hardware Training

FundingImplementation

Findings For Innovation: - Fidonet: S Curve

The first use of websites asinstructional tools was in the formof the CBBS or computerized bulletinboard system. Through this innovation, schools around the world were able to communicateon academic topics and schoolswere also able to communicatewith their students often providing a “homework hotline”Type of program or a socialnetwork for students to meet online (monitored by teachersAt the school).

The S-curve ends sharply when the Internet with graphics became popular and school began to provide teachers a classroom website like we think of today.

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Bush, R. (1993). FidonNet:  Technology, Use, Tools, and History. Retrieved July 21, 2011, from http://www.fidonet.org/inet92_Randy_Bush.txt

The growth of the Internet swept theworld as depicted in this S-Curvechart, opening the doors for theclassroom website as a viable tool tofurther educational goals.

Internet Growth Statistics - Global Village Online. (n.d.). . Retrieved July 21, 2011, from http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm

Findings For Innovation: - Internet Use: S Curve

Findings For Innovation: - Modern Classroom Website: S Curve

Gathering statistics now on this hard-to-find data!

Bush, R. (1993). FidonNet:  Technology, Use, Tools, and History. Retrieved July 21, 2011, from http://www.fidonet.org/inet92_Randy_Bush.txt

Commercialization: Behind The Current Leaning Community ManagementSystems (LCMS)

The Learning Community Management System (LCMS) is a relatively new term in education technology. The concept involves combining the idea of a content management system for providing district, campus, and classroom websites with other critical education tools such as gradebooks and lesson planning applications. Along with these resources, today’s LCMS may provide teachers the ability to create quizzes and tests and additional communication avenues.

The popularity of the classroom website in education has created a demand for a tool that supports teachers at all levels of skill and technology integration abilities and provides a consistent and

professional look for the hosting district.

Current LCMS providers include:

• edline: www.edline.com

• Schoolwires: www.schoolwires.com

• Moodle: www.moodle.org (open source)

Websites as Instructional Tools: Innovators and Early Adopters

oInnovators

•New teachers

•Campus Technology Leaders

•District Educational Technology Trainers/Department

oEarly Adopters

•Learner-centered classroom teacher who acts as facilitator

Dias, L. B. (1999). Integrating technology. Learning and Leading with Technology, 27, 10–13.

Websites as Instructional Tools: Laggards

oLaggards

•Teachers unwilling to change the way they teach their students

•Teachers unwilling to change their role in the classroomor their classroom physical arrangement

•Teachers unwilling to use new tools to teach

•Often teachers near the end of the teaching career

Dias, L. B. (1999). Integrating technology. Learning and Leading with Technology, 27, 10–13.

Websites as Instructional Tools: Strategies to Facilitate Adoption

•Create a common vision: Determine the goal of the innovation and ensure that this goal is reinforced with adopters.

•Plan carefully: Prepare a roll-out plan and introduce the new innovation thoughtfully.

•Plan for the Barriers: Be prepared to address barriers before they happen.

•Model expectations: Model the expected behavior as much as possible.

•Ongoing Support: Provide ongoing support through online web pages, tutorials, and easily accessible resources.

• Help educators recognize their progress and understand it is a process that takes time.

Dias, L. B. (1999). Integrating technology. Learning and Leading with Technology, 27, 10–13.

Websites as Instructional Tools: Roll-Out PlanoCentralized – Initial introduction

• Instructional Technology Trainers will introduce the new website system to teams of school technology cadre members

•Focus will be on using the website as an instructional tool to improve student academic performance and communication with parents/guardians.

oDeCentralized – Continued introduction into system

•After initial introduction is complete, the technology cadres will share with local campus teachers and become the leaders at their school for the innovation

•As new adoptees become active with the new system, and their success with student achievement becomes evident,

expectations are that their accomplishments will serve as a model and motivator to later adopters.

o All Stages

• At all stages, adopters will be recognized for their accomplishments with the innovation providing additional modeling and leadership

• District requirements for web pages will be provided but local campus needs will be determined by campus Technology Cadres

Websites as Instructional Tools: Key Change Agents

District Level Administrators

Determine need for changeInstructional Technology Department

*Establish information exchange relationship*Diagnose Problems*Create Intent to Change in District*Translate Intent to Action*Stablize adoption and prevent discontinuance

Campus Administrators

*Establish information exchange relationship with Tech Cadre and faculty*Create Intent to change at Campus*Translate Intent to actionStabilize adoption and prevent discontinuance

Campus Technology

Cadres

*Establish information exchange relationship with faculty*Translate intent to action

Faculty

Stabalize adoption and prevent discontinuance

Websites as Instructional Tools: Proposed Method For Critical Mass

While the use of classroom websites as instructional tools has not reachedcritical mass at this point, the growing acceptance of technology in educationand Internet access among U.S. families combine to provide a strongfoundation for acceptance.

With this in mind, recommendation for getting to critical mass is as follows:• Enlist the support of the District Administrators to champion the use of

websites as instructional tools throughout the District• Involve the skills of the Instructional Technology Department to use the

new technology and train the campus Technology Cadre members and and Administrators in the process.

• Involve the Campus Administrators and Technology Cadres to introducethe new technology to faculty and ensure the classroom andcampus website is marketed properly to students, parents and the

community.• Provide incentives for early adoption and accomplishments to

campus Administrators, technology cadre members, and facultyuntil critical mass has been established.

TRANSITIONAL With Section Titles

References

• Koeber, C. (2005). Introducing Multimedia Presentations and a Course Website to an Introductory Sociology Course: How Technology Affects Student Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness. Teaching Sociology, 33(3), 285 -300. doi:10.1177/0092055X0503300309

• McMillen, P. S., & Pehrsson, D.-E. (n.d.). EBSCOhost: Improving a Counselor Education Web Site through Usability Testing: The Bib... Retrieved June 19, 2011, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&hid=107&sid=38ad2503-14de-4c66-a849-1d6d0525169a%40sessionmgr111

• National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs. (n.d.). . Retrieved from http://www.ptasonline.org/kspta/national_standards.pdf

• Risinger, C. F. (n.d.). Promising Practices in Using the Internet to Teach Social Studies. Retrieved from http://linksource.ebsco.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/FullText.aspx?linkout=http%3a%2f%2fezp.waldenulibrary.org%2flogin%3furl%3dhttp%3a%2f%2ffind.galegroup.com%2fopenurl%2fopenurl%3furl_ver%3dZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%3dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx%26req_dat%3dinfo%253Asid%252Fgale%253Augnid%253Aminn4020%26res_id%3dinfo%253Asid%252Fgale%253AEAIM%26ctx_enc%3dinfo%253Aofi%253Aenc%253AUTF-8%26rft_val_fmt%3dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26rft.issn%3d0037-7724%26rft.volume%3d70%26rft.issue%3d7-%26rft.spage%3d409

• School/Home Communication:  Using Technology to Enhance Parent Involvement. (n.d.). . Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED514357.pdf