0.2 Newell, p. (march 2010). technology disconnected: teacher  (Page 9/10)

As the need for a significant infusion of computers to make technological literacy a reality was being raised, teachers were calling for parents, educators, and community members to revisit the issues behind technological literacy. Rather than participate in a numbers game in which the school with the most computers (and the lowest student/computer ratio) was presumed to have properly integrated technology into the curriculum, teachers stressed the need “to stop looking at this issue in terms of quantities of computers in schools. We have to realize education has to be developed around sound principles, and draw technology where it’s appropriate” (Corcoran, 2000). Rather than acquiesce in the face of the demands of parents and the community, instructors who wanted to include technology in their classes recognized that, at its heart, the largest problems of the transition of computers into the classroom are not technological: they are matters of educational philosophy and practice and in turn depend on broader moral and political judgments (Starr, 1996). While some of these teachers attempted to work within the educational system to make slow changes, others created a report and media campaign that reflected their belief that computers posed untold hazards to students (by curtailing their creativity, by spoon-feeding them content, and by teaching them more how to interact with a computer than to think or learn what was in the curriculum); they publicly requested a moratorium until the “presumed benefits” and hazards of computers could be studied at length. Their report suggested that to reach important pedagogical goals (and teach “the basics” first) computers should not be allowed in lower-grade classrooms and that high school class should include a significant amount of computer instruction, including overt instruction about the ethical and social implications of technology (Corcoran, 2000). Although teachers were attempting to put technology second and instruction first, many in the community interpreted this as teacher reluctance toward including technology in the curriculum.

Some members of the business community also recognized the need for the mastery of basic skills before including computers into classrooms. In addition to citing that children being raised as part of a technology-rich environment learn basic computer skills easily, many argued that most of the technology students would learn in classes would be outdated by the time they entered the workforce. A major concern they raised (perhaps after dealing with a significant number of technologically ready but socially under-prepared techies) included the isolation that computers introduced into students lives: when a student is logged on to a computer, that student is actively spending time not interacting with other people which, in elementary school, plays an important role in developmental education (Schmitt, 1996).

Summary analysis of issues

Unfortunately these conversations were being held among teachers and members of the business community rather than in the world of educational policy which had focused its attention on other reform issues. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) was launched and directed a significant amount of the attention of school administrators, parents, and the general public toward accountability and testing standards; since one of the significant changes introduced by NCLB allowed schools districts that repeatedly did not meet accountability standards for score improvements to be taken over by the Federal government. With the stakes for failure raised to such a high level, other reform issues (including the inclusion of technology) faded from importance as State Departments of Education and school districts focused on this new reform. While NCLB did include funds which could be used to provide technology for classroom use, technology funds were limited to a special programs function which directed that the use of any information technology purchased for the project had to meet the ends of the NCLB program. Although technological literacy (and its many variants including ‘computer literacy’ and ‘information literacy’) was still seen as a potentially revolutionary tool in education, the revolution of standards-based accountability usurped its role in the minds of many educators and the community.