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Preparing for the Future with Technology: extendingpast the classroomBarbara K. McKenzie a , Elizabeth Kirby a & Nancy G. Mims aa West Georgia College , Carrollton, USAPublished online: 13 Nov 2006.

To cite this article: Barbara K. McKenzie , Elizabeth Kirby & Nancy G. Mims (1996) Preparing for the Future with Technology:extending past the classroom, Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 5:1-2, 83-92

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Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, Vol. 5, Nos 1/2, 1996

Preparing for the Future with Technology:extending past the classroom

BARBARA K. McKENZIE,ELIZABETH KIRBY & NANCY G. MIMSWest Georgia College, Carrollton, USA

ABSTRACT In light of the rapidly changing technology needs ofadministrators, teachers, and students in both K-12 schools and universitysettings, an innovative technology training program was designed andimplemented. Planning considerations, including needs assessment datagenerated by educational practitioners and university personnel, a descriptionof how the program was implemented and evaluated, and future directions arereported.

Introduction

One thing is certain about the future of technology and education: change.Societal demands and the ever changing needs of learners and teachers haveand will continue to cause technology to become increasingly important ineducational practices. The types of technology resources that are available inthe schools, how students and teachers use technology in the classroom, andthe amount of time students actually spend learning to use and applytechnology are in constant flux. To prepare adequately for the future,educators must go beyond current teaching and learning models and extendtechnology into the community and workplace (Mims & McKenzie, 1996;Smith et al, 1995; Smith & Callahan, 1996; O'Neil, 1996). For professorsworking in institutions of higher learning, technological change is achallenging process - especially when they may have been bypassed by thenew and emerging technologies driving the information age.

College and university professors are important role models forstudents, teachers, and other educational practitioners. As part of a routine

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work day, professors have the opportunity to integrate and model theeffective use of technology in the curriculum; to encourage students todevelop problem solving skills by using various types of technology-supportedteaching strategies that foster more active and personal forms of learning; orto stimulate students' critical thinking skills through the use of computers orother emerging technologies. College and university educators can also serveas change agents by disseminating up to date technology information tostudents and key school decisions makers, as well as serving as visionaries inplanning and guiding the diffusion of technology throughout theteaching-learning process.

To stay current, many professors need to participate in staffdevelopment activities that provide them with the latest technology skills andknowledge required to serve learners in diverse settings (McKenzie & Mims,1994; Mims & McKenzie, 1996; Sheingold, 1991; Staundt, 1994). This couldrange from learning about the information super-highway and how to use theInternet in K-12 settings, to becoming familiar with how to integrate new andemerging technologies such as distance learning and multimedia into thecurriculum. It is imperative that teachers in all training institutions beprepared to use and model the appropriate use of technology if education isto continue to meet the expanding and diverse needs of the next generation(Grabe & Grabe, 1996; Mims & McKenzie, 1996; O'Neil, 1996). This paperdescribes one staff development program at a college in the USA.

Description of the Program

The staff development program in technology at West Georgia College wasdesigned to place technology development and implementation at theforefront of the work of educators in northwest Georgia. The training series,offered to interested staff, faculty, administrators, and practitioners from theCollege and other schools in the region, was one aspect of the College'scommitment to quality education.

Since the program's inception in 1992, over 84 technology trainingsessions have been offered to approximately 714 participants. The sessionshave taken place on Friday afternoons from 1:00-3:00 p.m. and ranged infrequency from 12 to 26 sessions a year. A systematic design model (Gagne etal, 1992) was used to conceptualize and develop the technology trainingprogram. This model uses needs assessment tools and techniques to identifygaps in the knowledge, skills and abilities possessed by the target audience;and calls for planning and developing training or other in-service activities toaddress specific areas of weakness. Staff development sessions are presentedand evaluated by the participants and designers, and future sessions arerevised and planned based on program results.

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Planning Phase

As part of the process for planning the training series, needs assessment datawere gathered from four sources: West Georgia College School of Educationfaculty, graduate students, participants in the training series, andpractitioners in the field. Formal and informal data collection techniquesincluding questionnaires, interviews with technology experts, and open-endedconversations with selected students, teachers, teacher trainers, andadministrators from the college and public school systems were used to amassdata from a broad range of sources.

Input from School of Education Faculty and Staff

At the onset of the 1994 and 1995 academic school years, the investigatorsadministered surveys to all School of Education faculty to determine theirtechnology training needs. Surveys were distributed to 72 faculty members in1994 and 77 faculty members in 1995. Participants were asked to respond tofour open-ended questions:

1. What are your current technology training needs?2. What days and times are you available for technology workshops duringthe year?3. Do you have any suggestions for technology presenters?4. Do you have any suggestions for program improvements?

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Type of technology

Internet

Word processing

PowerPoint Presentation Graphics

Email

Multimedia

PageMaker Desktop Publishing

Distance learning

Total: 1994-96

38

38

29

23

26

20

22

1995-96

25(1)

20(2)

15(3)

11(4)

10(5)

8(6)

8(7)

1994-95

13(6)

18(1)

14(3)

12(8)

16(2)

12(7)

14(4)

Table I. Top seven technology training needs identified by School of Educationfaculty - in rank order.

An average of 65% of the faculty completed the surveys. In 1994, 69%returned the questionnaires and the 1995 response rate was 60%.Technologies generating the greatest interest included the Internet, computerword processing programs, and presentation graphics programs such asPowerPoint. Table I summarizes the training areas that were requested mostfrequently.

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The days and times participants identified as the most appropriate fortraining sessions were Friday afternoons — a time when the majority of thefaculty had completed their instructional responsibilities for the week. Thesecond most popular time was Thursday afternoon. Other responses werescattered throughout the week and were influenced by individual facultyteaching assignments.

Few technology presenters were suggested by the faculty. Most of thoseidentified were either past presenters in the program, members of the Mediaand Technology Department, or were campus computer center staff.

A number of useful recommendations for training programimprovements have been made during the past two years. Table 2summarizes the top five responses. It was not surprising to discover that themost frequent suggestion was to provide follow-up opportunities forparticipants to practice their newly acquired technology skills after the initialtraining sessions so that learning could be reinforced.

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

Response

Provide more opportunities for participantsto play with the technology after thesession or at later dates

Increase the length of the training sessions

Provide training sessions on other daysand times

Slow down the pace of the instruction

Videotape the training sessions so thosewho cannot attend can view the video at alater date

Total for1995

23

16

10

8

4

Total for1994

25

14

20

5

8

Total for1994-95

48

30

30

13

12

Table II. Suggested improvements for the training sessions.

Input from Students

During 1994, the investigators surveyed 100 randomly selected schooladministrators and media specialists who were enrolled in classes at WestGeorgia College. Respondents were asked to indicate on a 5-point Likert scalethe degree of technology training they felt was necessary for classroomteachers, based on their personal observations. Participants specificallycategorized training needs for 14 different types of technology. A grade of 5meant that teachers required extensive training in the technology, while agrade of 1 indicated that no training was needed. Respondents were alsoasked to indicate the method of technology training that they felt was themost effective, as well as the ideal length of time for a technology trainingsession.

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The top five technology training need areas identified by therespondents were: (i) multimedia (x=4.28), (ii) computer utilization (x=*4.13),(iii) CD-ROM (x-4.00), (iv) e-mail (x=3.95), and (v) distance learning (x-3.92).The types of technology training sessions identified as the most effective inupdating educators' technology needs were: (i) in-services (83.7%), (ii)hands-on instruction (34.9%), (iii) conferences (8.1%), (iv) workshops (5.8%),and (v) small group instruction (4.7%).

The ideal length of time suggested for training sessions ranged from 2to 4 hours to 2 to 4 weeks. The five most frequently mentioned times were:(i) 2 to 4 hour training sessions (37.2%), (ii) one-half day training sessions(23.3%), (iii) all day training sessions (16.3%), (iv) 1 to 2 hour trainingsessions (15.1%), and (v) 30 to 60 minute training sessions (12.8%).

Input from Participants in Technology Training Sessions

To keep up-to-date on the changing technology needs of those who attendedthe training sessions, a program evaluation instrument was designed andadministered at the end of every training session. Among the open-endedquestions included in the evaluation instrument was an item that askedparticipants to list ideas for future training programs. Even though the vastmajority of participants have not responded to this particular question, thosewho did answer provided timely information that helped the technologyco-ordinator plan future sessions.

So far, participants in the 1995-96 sessions have suggested four newareas for training. These include accessing the Internet on the PC platform(n=8), intermediate and advanced PageMaker (n=5), Microsoft Excel (n=4),and Quicken (n=3).

Input from Practitioners

Through formal and informal conversations with school administrators, mediaspecialists, and technology trainers in the area, additional data were collectedto help direct the training sessions and make sure that session topics alsoreflected the current training needs of educators in the region. Thetechnology training needs cited most frequently by these groups during1994-95 included strategies for effectively utilizing the GSAMS (GeorgiaStatewide Academic and Medical Systems) distance education system,designing and producing PowerPoint graphic presentations, using theInternet and email in the schools, creating newsletters with PageMaker, andusing multimedia programs.

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Implementation Phase

Based on the information collected from the needs assessment instrumentsand general observations of West Georgia College faculty, the School ofEducation Technology Co-ordinator carefully designed and provided anon-going and evolving series of technology training sessions. Each sessionwas two hours in length with the first hour focusing on instruction andinformation about the targeted technology and the second hour providinghands-on practice for the participants.

The training sessions were taught by a number of technology specialistsfrom both on and off campus who volunteered their time and expertise. Thesession participants have largely consisted of West Georgia College facultyand staff from the Schools of Education, Business, and Arts and Sciences.However, over the past few years there has been a steady increase in thenumber of participants coming from K-12 schools in the region - especiallyschool media specialists and building and system-level technology trainers.

The number of sessions offered each year and the number of trainingprogram participants are summarized in Table HI. As the table indicates,there has been a small overall increase in the number of participants over thepast four years.

Year

1992-93

1993-94

1994-95

1995-96*

Number ofsessions

26

12

23

23

Number ofpeople attending

186

90

222

216

* still underway

Table III. Technology training sessions: 1992-96.

The majority of training sessions during the past two years have dealt withsome aspect of the Internet (i.e. access and use of Web browsers, integrationof Internet resources into the curriculum, downloading files, designing Webpages, etc.), word processing, desktop publishing, presentation graphics, ordistance education. Table IV summarizes the frequency of the various typesof training sessions and the number of participants attending each.

Evaluation Phase

To evaluate the overall impact of the training sessions and to identify areaswhere improvements were needed, evaluation instruments were distributedand collected at the end of each session during the past two years.

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Participants were asked to apply a 5-point Likert scale (5 - Excellent, 1 =Poor) to five items:

1. Instructor's knowledge of the technology2. Instructor's overall presentation of the technology3. Instructor's helpfulness and courtesy during the training session4. Quality of the program content5. Relevance of the session to the participant's work setting.

Respondents were also asked to respond to three open-ended questions:1. What information in the training session was the most useful?2. What improvements are needed?3. Do you have any specific ideas for future training programs?

Rank

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Session

WordPerfect (3 beginning; 4 intermediate)

PowerPoint

PageMaker (3 beginning; 2 intermediate

Multimedia (2 multimedia; 1 HyperStudio;2 scanning applications)

Distance education

Email and Internet

Introduction to Internet (Telnet, FTP, Gopher)

Netscape

Videotape (1 shooting; 1 shooting and editing)

Web page development (internet)

Integrating technology into the curriculum

Grantwriting for technology

SPSS

SAS

Galileo (Georgia Library Learning Online)

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

Number oftimes offered

7

6

6

5

4

3

3

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Number ofpeople attending

64

45

46

32

76

60

39

6

13

12

15

10

6

3

3

7

Table IV. Summary of technology training sessions, 1994-96,in rank order by number of times offered.

The data collected and analyzed to date have strongly supported thetechnology training program. The mean scores for each of the fiveclosed-ended questions have ranged from 4.3 to 4.8. Program attributesranked most highly were instructor's knowledge of the technology (x=4.8)followed by the instructor's helpfulness and courtesy during the session

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(x=4.75). Ratings for overall presentation, quality and relevance were alsohighly favorable.

Future Directions

Plans for the next round of training sessions always begin with a review ofthe current technology training program. Participant evaluations provideinsight into successful training efforts as well as identifying areas where newor additional training may be required. The needs assessment instrumentsdescribed earlier in this article are re-administered each year to make surenew and emerging needs identified by the School of Education faculty andother technology training program constituents are addressed.

During the past year, a major priority within the School of Educationhas been upgrading the computer hardware and software faculty have intheir offices. With increased technological access, faculty are beginning toexpress interest in broadening their personal computing skills beyond simpleword processing and presentation graphics to encompass spreadsheet anddatabase applications. While software programs in these categories have longbeen used in math and science departments and business schools, few Schoolof Education faculty (outside computer, technology and research professors)have taken advantage of the support these applications provide formanagement of student records and grades. Newly acquired software thatsupports concept mapping, curriculum development and lesson planning isalso generating interest, as both a professional tool for use by faculty and asa valuable educational application to share with students.

In addition, five large classrooms in the School of Education are beingequipped to support multimedia, and training sessions will be offered toassure that faculty are prepared to use the new facilities effectively. A seconddistance education classroom has been added on campus, and a number ofK-12 schools in the area have added GSAMS classrooms. Basic GSAMStraining sessions have been delivered to these new distance educators usingthe actual GSAMS distance education technology. Future plans includeshowing distance education faculty how to extend the walls of their closedcircuit, two-way video classroom through the integration of email, the WorldWide Web and other Internet resources into their courses.

Beyond the actual training sessions, efforts are underway to providefollow-up support to technology training participants as they begin to utilizetheir new skills and knowledge in the workplace. For instance, severalmembers of the School of Education technology faculty routinely provideinformal consultative assistance on a variety of computer applications thatfaculty are using personally or in their classrooms. Customized World WideWeb home pages are being developed for faculty to encourage them to useand integrate Internet resources into.their classroom activities. Release timeis being sought to enable technology faculty with design expertise to assist

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faculty as they plan and develop distance education courses. These activitieshelp to reinforce and extend the technology training sessions beyond theclassroom, and help support the actual practice and utilization of the newlyacquired technology skills in the workplace.

Summary

As the base level of technological confidence and know-how has increased,and faculty and professional educators have begun using more advancedcomputer and technology applications, the overall interest in acquiring theseskills has expanded. As a result, faculty continue to request training sessionson new and emerging technologies, and novice technology users requestbasic training. More importantly, as hardware and software access andavailability have expanded, faculty are immediately able to begin using skillsthey have acquired in technology training sessions, thereby modeling the useof technology for their students. E-mail and other Internet resources connecteducators on campus and in local schools, and extend the presence of theCollege into regional and national communities. This contributes to improvedstudent-faculty communications, particularly since many graduate studentscommute two or more hours to attend classes, and facilitates collaborativeresearch between faculty and practitioners. Multimedia, distance education,email, and the World Wide Web are no longer technological phantoms facultysimply mention in classes. These applications and resources have becomeimportant teaching and learning tools that faculty and students routinely use.Pre-service teachers enter the workforce ready to apply and integratetechnology skills into their classrooms.

Faculty understand the need for, and importance of, teaching studentsto learn to cope with continuous change and technological innovation as themillennium approaches. However, before faculty can impart these skills tostudents, they must be comfortable with their own technological abilities. AtWest Georgia College, the Technology Training Series, coupled with ongoinghardware and software upgrades and improved accessibility, is providing afoundation for faculty, students and professional educators in thesurrounding region, to meet the technological challenges of the 21st Century.

Acknowledgement

The West Georgia College Technology Training series has been funded by theRegional Center for Teacher Education at West Georgia College since 1992.

Correspondence

Barbara K. McKenzie, Department of Research, Media and Technology, WestGeorgia College, Carrollton, GA 30118-0001, USA (bmckenzi@westga.edu).

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Staundt, D. (1994) Technology's role in restructuring: a teacher preparationprogram, in J. Willis, B. Robin & D. Willis (Eds) Technology and TeacherEducation Annuat 1994. Charlottesville: Association for the Advancement ofComputing in Education.

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