June 2002 — Features
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From Black and White to Color: Technology, Professional Development and Changing Practice
For example, one part of the group wrote a report, another created a map, and a third used the computer to gather census data and display it in graphs. Armed with these classroom management models, teachers' anticipated fears of eroding control did materialize. Technology did turn the natural order on its head with the power differential between students and teachers shifting in the students' favor. Teachers couldn't micromanage 30 kids and four computers, and they loved it. Even the formerly fearful teachers embraced the new classroom order. Most reported that discipline problems decreased when they devolved some control to students and made room for greater collaboration.In essence, because of hardware constraints, less proved to be more. Because no classroom, with the exception of labs, enjoyed a perfect 1-1 ratio between students and computers, teachers had to group students to take advantage of technology. To allow for such groupings, both the physical configuration of the classroom and the organization of the class became less centralized. Students worked together and relied on one another - as opposed to the teacher - for guidance and creative input. With students relying more on one another for ideas and strategies, and on technology for information and product creation, the teacher became more of a facilitator. When the teacher witnessed students' creativity, and in many cases, proficiency with technology, they appeared more inclined to give students even more autonomy in terms of their work.
The ensuing shift in the way work was accomplished led many teachers to restructure curricula to allow for greater technology use and student activity. Ironically, this scarcity of resources resulted in more creative and fuller uses of those resources. This frequency and degree of collaboration did not occur in classrooms with a perfect student-computer ratio. These classrooms (labs) tended to provide evidence for the lowest degree of learner-centered approaches. Here, students did not interact with one another, but with the technology. Even when students were supposed to be collaborating on an activity, there was a greater tendency for diminution or dissolution of group cohesion, with individuals wandering to a computer and working independently.
Conclusions
Within our professional development activities, we (the SEDL facilitator) served as the teacher, while the teachers themselves became the students. We acted as a guide, coach and mentor, explaining the overall problem- or project-based task to the teachers, assigning them to their groups, and providing minimal instruction in the technology tool needed to complete the task. For the rest of the activity we circulated among groups, clarified any activity-related questions they had and directed them to help one another troubleshoot technology issues. Only when all other help options were exhausted did we intercede; and then only orally, giving directions, but never removing the mouse or keyboard from the teachers' control.
Teachers, in contrast, were essentially students. They collaborated on the process and product, negotiated competing ideas and strategies, monitored one another's performance, solved problems together, and had fun with the activity and each other.
