Technology Choice Points

| Instructional | Institutional | Infrastructure |

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INSTRUCTIONAL

1) Pace of technology introduction into the classroom?

Considerations:

Basic user-skills of students and teachers
Maturity of tools provided by vendors
Educational knowledge base about the human learning process to predict where technology can add (is it mature enough)
Wisdom/experience of education community to discern tools that will make enduring improvements in student achievement.

2) Are there other more effective ways to educate with the resources needed to install technology?

Considerations:

All improved student achievement scenarios require more human energy by students and teachers
Knowledge construction and retention are the voids in student learning
Would more teachers in classrooms better provide energy?
Can technology fill the current gap in student assessment and needed prompt corrective feedback?
Does technology affect balance of active versus passive learning by the student: where do we want that balance?
Some technology does make reading and writing more central to communication
The free-lance discovery mode often used in accessing computer information may foster pattern recognition skills and "learning how to learn" skills

3) Is human learning best with human accompaniment or automated devices?

Considerations:

Cooperative versus individual learning (peer role in learning)
Learning leadership by a responsive human or by a presently less than intelligent piece of technology
Is a mix better than either/or?

4) Is technology a time-saver or a time sink for the teacher?

Considerations:

Time spent maintaining and upgrading in high-rate-of-change industry
Are paper, pencil, and chalkboard more accessible and inexpensive tools?
What functions occupy teachers away from the development of students now? Will technology reduce that busy work?

5) Are we emphasizing skills that may prove detrimental when standard/current measures of achievement are applied?

Considerations:

If a student typically composes with a word processor, what happens when an achievement test is done with pencil and paper?
Will voice recognition technology for writing wipe out penmanship skills?
Will technology diversify or narrow our learning and teaching skills and styles?

INSTITUTIONAL

1) Plan detail before funds are sought and/or spent?

Considerations:

Skills of implementers
Trust of institution by the source of funds
Rules of funding sources
Adaptive decision-making with technology change and educational utilization experience

2) Use technology to change the learning-place and work-place culture?

Considerations:

Traditional hierarchy will be undone
Level of effort will increase for all
All major business and government institutions are already doing it
Future workplace for students will expect this cultural readiness

3) Develop present staff or turnover new staff to facilitate change?

Considerations:

Does new staff exist in the job market able to execute the change
Equity
Rate of change required
Growth potential of current staff

4) How to get the leadership of change?

Considerations:

Same as in #3 above

INFRASTRUCTURE

1) Network one building at a time or parts of several buildings at a time?

Considerations:

Basic capital infrastructure readiness to support technology installation
Equity
Cost
Level of utilization readiness by users.

2) Plan for every desktop in classes and offices or subset of locations within classes and offices?
We will do it eventually, there are economies of scale in doing it all at once versus small parts.

Considerations:

Style of usage
Cost
Expected lifetime

3) Pace funding/costs or make large, up-front capitalization

Considerations:

Basic capital infrastructure readiness to support technology installation
Some technology acquisitions always at moving front of technology
Diversity of technology generations to maintain
Difficulty of finding funding sources (short windows of opportunity and indebtedness to lender or community)

CHUH Technology Committee DRAFT 5/30/95