Doug Johnson

Teachers, Computers and the Classroom: a Lesson from History?
St. Peter School Hilites, May 1991

What piece of new educational technology is being described in the following quote?

“[This device] appealed at once to the eye and to the ear, thus naturally forming the habit of attention, which is so difficult to form by the study of books …. Whenever a pupil does not fully understand, [it] will have the opportunity … of enlarging and making intelligible.”

Educational television? The computer? No. The quote is from 1855, and describes the latest advancement in the technology of the time: the chalkboard. High tech? Well, it once was, and interestingly enough, this now standard piece of educational equipment was not accepted or used by teachers when it was first introduced.

It wasn’t a matter of teachers being stubborn or fearful of the new technology. It wasn’t because teachers didn’t know how to use the device. The chalkboard just didn’t fit in with the way schools of the 19th century were structured. The vast majority of schools at that time were one room buildings which held students of a wide variety of ages - anywhere from 5 to 17. This meant that the teacher spent almost no time teaching to the entire class; she taught to small groups of children, each with his or her individual slate.

It wasn’t until schools were “restructured” in the 20th century and students were separated into rooms by age, that large group instruction and the use of the chalkboard became widely practiced.

By the way, college professors of education, the experts, extolled the virtues of the chalkboard for years before it was widely used by practicing teachers. This had less to do with their visionary abilities, and more to do with the fact that they were already using large group instruction methods.

So what does this have to do with today? I’ve already written in this column about some of the things high school students are doing and will be doing with computers - electronic research, word processing, making and viewing multi-media presentations. I am excited about our kids using computers as productivity tools. But I’ve said very little about the things some of our great teachers are doing with them as well.

David Dockterman, in his book Great Teaching in the One Computer Classroom, looks at a number of ways teachers who have only a single computer (and up to 30 kids) use it to increase their teaching effectiveness. (Much of the information in this article is lifted from his book.)

The effectiveness of a computer as a management tool has already been proven for business. Our teachers are discovering, that once learned, this machine can save them a great deal of time doing the administrative parts of their jobs: keeping and calculating grades; generating and revising tests, worksheets, and handouts; writing curriculum; and producing reports, letters, and notes. The illegible, rarely modified, old blue dittos become a thing of the past. Teachers’ professional communications look professional! St. Peter (MN) teacher Steve Johnson uses the drawing capabilities of the Macintosh computer to create forms indistinguishable from those sold by professional publishers.

With the use of an overhead projector and data display screen or a large television monitor, teachers can also use the computer to make effective presentations. The projected image is at the control of the teacher. It fits the school’s curriculum exactly. It can be colorful. It can be animated. Tutorial programs, designed to be used by a single student, can be used with an entire class. Pat Duenwald at St. Peter high school uses software projected on a screen to help students understand difficult math concepts. (Are there any other kind?)

Special programs have been written to be used with an entire class at one time. These “discussion generators” often take the form of a simulation. During the simulation, the entire class makes decisions regarding possible courses of action in mock political processes, historical re-creations, or environmental policy making. The teacher conducts the discussion using the computer as a score keeper and prompter. The students do not learn directly from the computer program itself, but from the teacher and their classmates. (This should not sound surprising. Who would give a chalkboard credit for great teaching, even if the teacher used it throughout the lesson?) High school social studies teacher Howie Strey has used a number of these programs in classes, looking for the ones which will best help him teach government.

Finally, a teacher with a single computer can use it to foster cooperative learning. Special programs have also been designed to be used by teams within a class. The small group decision making process can be a positive change from the often competitive atmosphere in schools. Students work, not against each other, but with each other to solve common problems. In our intermediate school, Eric Boe’s classes see who can make the best decisions regarding colonization policies, and next year Tom Fish’s classes will be working together using geological information to locate oil.

Three things are going to have to happen before the computer becomes as widely used as the chalkboard by all teachers, not just the brave, innovative ones. First, computers and computer software have to be simple and practical enough not to make a teacher’s management tasks more difficult. Second, the technology is going to have to support a variety of teaching styles - the way teachers effectively teach now: whole group lecture, cooperative grouping, individualized instruction, discovery method, etc.. Technology can support educational change, but will not be the cause of it.

And finally, and perhaps this is the most important factor, teachers must have access to computers where they work, both inside and outside the classroom. Preparation time is at a premium for teachers; it is hard to wait in line for a computer to input grades, inconvenient to have to travel to another part of the building to write a test, impossible to teach a lesson using the computer if one is not in the classroom, and discouraging not to have access to a computer at home when so much lesson preparation and grading is done there.

Finally all technology users need training in the new technologies. This is where the media program can help. Through formal workshops for teachers and through individual assistance, the media specialist can help teachers examine the educational potential of these powerful devices and master the programs which run on them. And by teaching one teacher, we are in effect teaching all the 120+ students they meet with each day.

Computer labs and student access to computers have rightfully had the highest priority in a school district. But a serious look needs to given to teacher computing needs as well. Students may not always learn anything from what I, as a teacher, say; but they always notice what I, as a teacher, do. And if what I do incorporates the comfortable, productive use of technology, then I am teaching a valuable lesson, indeed. And less time spent on administrative tasks means more time spent on the real part of the job - teaching your children.