Technology Indicators

1. Access

• Connectivity. This term refers to the capacity of technology to access rich resources both within and beyond the school. "Last-mile connections" from schools to telecommunications sources must be in place if schools are to access the wealth of free and low-cost resources on the Internet.

• Ubiquity. Enough computers, printers, media technologies, and other equipment must be readily available within the district and school so that all teachers and students can access them to solve problems, communicate, collaborate, and exchange data.

• Interactivity. This term refers to the interaction that occurs when students and teachers communicate and collaborate in diverse ways (e.g., exchanging data in different formats, publishing).

• Equity of Use. Educational technology should provide all students with access to rich and challenging learning opportunities and instruction that is interactive and generative.

2. Operability

• Interoperability. This term refers to the capacity of technology to easily exchange data with and connect to other hardware and software in order to provide the greatest access for all students.

• Open Architecture. This feature allows users to access data using different (third party) hardware and software; it also allows users to modify the system, sometimes dramatically.

• Transparency. A technology is "transparent" when users are essentially unaware of the procedures used by the hardware and software for changing programs and multitasking (i.e., allowing users to work on several tasks at once).

3. Organization of Resources

• Distributed Resources. Organizations assume (1) that intelligence does not reside in individuals but is socially constructed through collaborative efforts and (2) that the resources that shape and enable activities (to build socially constructed knowledge) are distributed across people, environments, and situations (Pea, 1993, p. 50). This feature allows users to access resources from anywhere in a local system (i.e., local area networks) or from external sources, such as the Internet.

• User Contributions. Users can contribute information, products, and services to a system from multiple sources in order to share common data sets or problem spaces. Such systems have "distributed logic" - the logic of preparing documents and artifacts for the systems resides in the user who must comprehend and build links within and among documents or data sets. Thus, users must understand how the resources are distributed. In such as system, users control when they make contributions and what those contributions are.

• Collaborative Projects and Co-Investigations. Examples of this capacity include on-line conferences and bulletin boards with asynchronous communications capability, access to remote files and joint products, and the ability to communicate synchronously with two or more computers that are accessing the same file at the same time. All of these examples also promote collaboration. Other examples include programs that help groups form consensus, brainstorm, outline, develop plans, schedule meetings, monitor programs on group objectives, and develop joint products. Such systems inherently afford the user the opportunity to examine data, problems, and decisions from multiple perspectives.

4. Engagement

• Provide Challenging Tasks, Opportunities, and Experiences. The system has the capacity to:

  • Present complex problems and cases, links to challenging curricula, and unique repositories from museums and libraries as well as opportunities to examine contrasting events or data sets

  • Access experts, peers, community members, and/or other learners who can guide, mentor, tutor, mediate, broker, share, inform, and involve users in productive and meaningful ways

  • Use the richest media resources (e.g., images, audio, video, 3-D, virtual reality) for data manipulation and for presentations

  • Provide tools for interactive browsing, searching, and authoring

• Learn by Doing. Tools that use authentic, goals-based scenarios; problem-based learning; problems anchored or embedded in challenging narrative situations; or simulations allow users to develop expertise using real-world problems and resources. Such tools let the user plan, reflect, make decisions, experience the consequences of actions, change directions, and examine alternative solutions and assumptions.

• Guided Participation. Some software uses Socratic questioning, intelligent tutoring, and diagnosis and guided analysis of errors. Such systems often respond to student responses by customizing their content to the particular interests or learning style of the student. These tools allow the learner to anticipate problems, subsequent events, and others' thoughts.

• Just in Time and Just Enough. Systems such as Hypertext call for nonlinear learning and thinking, and they provide multiple points of entry so that users can quickly access specific chunks of information. These systems also may be customized for users with different levels of expertise by adapting information access, help commands, and user control. For example, a system can be designed so that people with little time and immediate problems have easy access to simple, useful information, while people with time for reflection and exploration can access more complex information.

5. Ease of Use

• User Friendliness and Effective Help. Technologies with these characteristics are truly informative, well organized, and context specific.

• Speed. Systems that process information quickly and provide feedback about delays are easier to use than systems that are slow and do not provide such feedback.

• User Control. This term refers to a user's ability to access tools, information resources, experiences, and opportunities on demand and use them to solve problems, make decisions, and create products. These features motivate users and promote exploration.

• Training and Support. Users must be trained to use a technology to solve problems, create products, and so on. Further, training and support should be available both on- and off-site.

6. Functionality

• Multimedia Technologies. Students and teachers should have access to equipment such as color printers, video cameras and editing equipment, facsimile machines, audio recording and editing equipment, and various graphics.

• Generic Tools. Students and teachers should also learn to use such basic or generic tools as databases, spreadsheets, and word processing systems.

• Project Design and Implementation. The most "functional" software helps users to set goals and benchmarks, create and monitor budgets, conduct research and development, prepare analyses and presentations, develop dissemination skills, and market.

• Tools That Create New Tools. Some tools, such as wizards and Mosaic, help users to develop programming and authoring skills so they can create new programs and tools for others to use. The development of these abilities contrasts sharply with traditional approaches to technology in which students learned outmoded programming languages.

References

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