Article Review 2 1

Article Review 2

Aaron Musson

University of Nebraska at Omaha

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Science and technology should be good dance partners. Students, especially young

students, seem naturally adept at both scientific and technological exploration. The article

“Preparing science teacher to teach with technology: Exploring a K-16 networked learning

community approach” addresses many of the ideas I’ve explored while learning in a community

of peer practitioners and while adapting technology for use in the science classroom as a

teaching and learning tool.

Common themes develop throughout the article. The concept of ‘teacher as learner’ is

prevalent. A familiar idea by Kirkegaard gains more relevance as I reflect on its meaning: “...to

be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner. Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn

from the learner, put yourself in his place so that you may understand what he understands and

the way he understands it.” In the constantly expanding technological environment we are all

learners, especially us old folks.

The titans of educational psychology–Piaget (development and application followed by

learning) and Vygotsky (learning followed by application and development)--are set against each

other as the authors explore higher education’s ideas about teacher training:

“In [educational technology courses] students are supposed to develop a variety of

technology-related skills, including the ability to use productivity tools, educational

software, and the multitude of resources online. Students typically are then expected to

apply these technology skills to teach content in their subject area. According to Flick

and Bell (2000), “this approach is backwards” (Duran, Brunvand, & Fossum, 2009, p.

21).

Teaching pre-service teachers to use technology in a content-specific area seems to be the best
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approach–give the kid the nail and then give the kid the hammer. Identify a problem, then find

the right tool. Using the social constructivist model in learning and applying technoloy skills is

clearly an appropriate method.

Important themes are apparent throughout the article: community, collaboration,

communication, motivation, mentoring, methods, content, confidence, competence. As pre-

service teachers gain confidence in using web-based applications, they develop a culture of

collaboration and communication that can’t help but transfer along the educational food chain.

Professors will learn in the rich new environment new teachers create as they browse their

student’s e-portfolios. Some will be enlightened as they rediscover the joys of their profession.

Most importantly, education professors will “reconnect with the K-12 world in ways that might

inform and rejuvenate their own instruction” ((Duran, Brunvand, & Fossum, 2009, p. 24).

The importance of community interaction is a central conceit of the paper, and a conceit I

fully endorse. A common refrain my students hear, from some long-forgotten source, is “learn

from the mistakes of others–you’ll not live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself.” The

application of communal wisdom and group intelligence is facilitated by social networking and

the use of community-edited projects such as Wikipedia, Google Documents and Prezi.

Interaction among peers promotes metacognitive behaviors such as revision, discussion and

editing. Further, creative activities are facilitated by web-based technology and promote

extensive group interaction, social learning and extensive motivation.

I’ve experienced a revelation over the past two years. Writing reflective papers has

become a valued experience for me. I noticed that the University’s Department of Education’s

mission statement includes something about teachers becoming ‘reflective practitioners.’

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Reflection is an incredibly effective learning tool. Sharing our reflections is an important

community activity. Web-based technology affords us the opportunity to write reflectively in the

form of blogs, create webpages as wikispaces or PBworks sites, and to communicate with other

practicing educators in electronic or virtual forums. The subjects of the study participated in a

forum to share their ideas during their first year as practicing educators. If I had the opportunity

to interact in a community of first-year educators I would have certainly enjoyed my first year of

professional teaching much more than I did.

Five-point Likert scale surveys were used to assess the effect of the program. The

quantitative results of the study indicted that entry-level educators gained confidence using e-

mail, search engines, presentations, videos, web pages and publications as they used the

applications in a teaching and learning environment (Duran, Brunvand, & Fossum, 2009). The

results also indicated that the ability of student-practitioners to use common applications such as

spreadsheets, word processing documents and data bases did not increase. The conclusions

reached by the authors support the idea that learning technology in a classroom as a pre-service

teacher is not effective in producing teachers who are comfortable using technology as a learning

tool. Using the learning community model to take pre-service teachers through an extensively

planned course that included capacity building activities, networked learning circles and a

concluding technology seminar provides the support needed to produce confident,

technologically adept teachers.

Qualitative analysis of the participants’ survey answers, journal entries and reflective

writing revealed three important factors that affected the success of implementing technology in

the learning environment: motivation, collaboration and support. While the motivation appears
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to be self-explanatory (those who are motivated to learn technology are those that actually learn

technology), the collaborative and technical support factors deserve some thought. Learning new

material in a collaborative environment allows learners to “work at the edge of their

capabilities...[while] social forces provide the scaffolding needed to boost behavior and action

beyond what it might otherwise be” (Ritchhart, 2004, p. 45). According to the testimonial

accounts of the participants, structuring the technology lessons within a learning community

provided a source for learners to share frustrations and success.

The pedagogical applications of the author’s conclusions cannot be understated. The

authors observed “significant improvements in helping students become skilled at developing

technology-enriched learning activities that are authentic, multi-disciplinary and connected to

district, state, and national standards” ((Duran, Brunvand, & Fossum, 2009, p. 30). The program

was described as a pilot program, and based on its conclusions and methods, I hope it is applied

in every college of education and soon.

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Bibliography

Duran, M, Brunvand, S, & Fossum, P. (2009). Preparing science teachers to teach with

technology: exploring a k-16 networked learning community approach. The Turkish Online

Journal of Educational Technology, 8(4), 21-42.

Ritchhart, Ron. (2004). Intellectual character. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.