July 2004 — SETDA
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Maine: Maine Learns'
According to the document "D'es Technology Improve Student Achievement?" from the Educational Research Service, "The true value of technology for learning lies not in learning to use technology, but in using technology to learn." This is the approach Maine is taking. MLTI has emphasized learning in at least five arenas: assessment for learning, universal design, place-based learning, project-based learning, and online research.We believe that students must learn to work with their teachers to understand the learning targets and specific concepts. They also must be able to evaluate quality work and provide evidence of their own learning that meets high standards. This means that students participating in their own assessment need to guide instruction for improved learning, not just measure what they have learned.
Leadership
The MLTI leadership team understood that if there was going to be real school change, things had to be done differently from what has been the norm in other large-scale technology projects. Whereas previous major technology infusions had been seen primarily as technology efforts, MLTI was going to be different. Projects seen as "primarily about technology" tend to be led and administered by technical staff, not educators, and this is where the vision of MLTI helped make clear that it had to be done differently.
We started with the MLTI vision: Students and teachers making creative, engaging and effective use of technology tools and resources. This allowed us to ask, "If this is really to be about improving teaching and learning, then who should help lead this project?" Put this way, there could be no question whether classroom teachers needed to have a major leadership role. After all, these would be the people with the greatest responsibility for creating rich learning environments and are, in truth, the foundation of our education system. Technical staff would be crucial and invaluable team members, but teachers needed to take the lead.
One of the design team's first tasks was to create a Teacher Leader Network. With grant support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we asked that each school identify a teacher leader to work with the building principal and technology coordinator to move this project forward. We suggested that these teacher leaders be selected based on their demonstrated skills in classroom teaching and building collaborative relationships with their colleagues. We were not looking for the most technically proficient, but for those who were comfortable with technology, those who were well connected with their fellow teachers, and those who had an interest in supporting the growth of MLTI.
These regional MLTI Teacher Leader Networks - composed of teacher leaders, building principals and technology coordinators - began to meet in face-to-face daylong meetings to explore the work, shape the purpose of the work, and learn together about change in schools and the new tools. Throughout the year, these teams were also given opportunities for leadership training.
Professional Development in Context
A challenge to the initiative is that education technology represents a significant expansion in educational materials, tools and resources available to teachers. Although there is enormous potential here to engage every student in meaningful learning, these tools are new to teachers.
