Instructional Technology Curriculum
The Lockwood Schools Instructional Technology Curriculum is designed to engage students in the use of technologies, improving student achievement and promoting the use of higher level thinking skills. Teachers integrate the use of technology into content area instruction using the technology curriculum.
Curricula and teaching strategies that integrate technology into curriculum instruction are based on relevant research. Research results carried out by several groups have shown that technology integration leads to improvement in student academic achievement. A description of the research and the results are available on the Internet. Below is an overview of the findings, a list of research groups, and their Internet addresses.
Overview: Below is an excerpt from the Apple Education Research Division article “Research Findings on Technology's Impact in the Classroom: The Impact of Technology on Student Achievement”.
“The keys to raising student achievement are to provide students with a solid foundation of basic skills and to motivate them to learn. Technology can help accomplish this goal. It engages students and fires their imaginations. It helps teachers stimulate young minds in ways that make a profound and lasting difference. Numerous research studies on the impact of technology on student achievement have demonstrated this finding with remarkably similar results. A review of the literature resulting from these studies supports the following conclusions:
• Students, especially those with few advantages in life, learn basic skills — reading, writing, and arithmetic — better and faster if they have a chance to practice those skills using technology. • Technology engages students, and as a result they spend more time on basic learning tasks than students who use a more traditional approach. • Technology offers educators a way to individualize curriculum and customize it to the needs of individual students so all children can achieve their potential. • Students who have the opportunity to use technology to acquire and organize information show a higher level of comprehension and a greater likelihood of using what they learn later in their lives. • By giving students access to a broader range of resources and technologies, students can use a variety of communication media to express their ideas more clearly and powerfully. • Technology can decrease absenteeism, lower dropout rates, and motivate more students to continue on to college. • Students who regularly use technology take more pride in their work, have greater confidence in their abilities, and develop higher levels of self-esteem.”
Supporting Internet Resources: Apple Education Research Division http://www.apple.com/education/research North Central Regional Educational Laboratory – Computer-Based Technology and Learning: Evolving Uses and Expectations http://www.ncrel.org/tplan/cbtl/toc.htm A Bibliography of Research and Resources on Technology and Engaged Learning http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/techbib.htm Rockman ET AL – The Laptop Program http://rockman.com/projects/laptop/ Missouri Research & Education Network Benefits of Technology Use ed/gov http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/benefits.html The Endeavour Group http://www.theendeavourgroup.net/research.html Software & Information Industry Association http://www.siia.net/divisions/education/ The Power of the Internet for Learning: Moving from Promise to Practice – Web Based Education Commission |
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Committee Members
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Instructional Technologies Mission StatementLockwood School faculty, staff, board and community strive to meet the diverse educational needs of all children and to empower them to become competent, productive contributors to a democratic society and an ever-changing world.
The challenge will be to meet young people's needs to be technologically proficient and to provide them with the learning skills to be competent and successful in their personal and professional endeavors.
Students are encouraged to be innovative, creative, and productive while permitting the development of critical problem solving skills.
The continued integration of technology as a transparent tool into the Lockwood Schools curriculum will allow Lockwood students to work toward educational autonomy and take responsibility as architects of their own learning. Technological advances will be explored and appropriately implemented to provide current and emerging technologies essential for accomplishing educational goals. Our sights are on excellence and preparing our young people for the future. Instructional Technologies Vision StatementThe vision of Lockwood Schools Instructional Technologies curriculum is to facilitate the integration of technology into an interactive learning environment, effecting an increase in individual student and teacher achievement, thinking ability, motivation, and empowerment.
Instructional Technologies Goals • Students will develop proficiency in basic operations and concepts. • Students will develop proficiency when using productivity tools. • Students will develop proficiency when using communication tools. • Students will use the tools of technology in an ethical manner. |
