Developmental Stages of Technology Integration

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Developmental Stages of Technology Integration

In 1980 the ACOT study, funded by the National Science Foundation, was conducted in which Apple desktop computers were placed in classrooms and laptops distributed to teachers as well as some students. By on the results the researchers formulated five Developmental stages of technology integration.

Click HERE to read more about the study.

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The Five Developmental Stages of Technology Integration* 

1.      Entry:

·         Aware of technology but doesn’t get involved with it, doesn’t buy into the notion that “technology can improve teaching” mindset, not interested not trust technology.

2.      Adoption:

·         Adopts one or two tools that make sense to them, usually personal productivity tools, yet these tools are not implemented in the lessons.

3.      Adaptation:

·         Teacher begins to implement technology in the lesson usually through a gradual process such as using Word documents to allow students to type assignments.

4.      Appropriation:

·         Teacher’s technology confidence is high, and this is demonstrated with the many forms of technology integrated in the lessons. The teacher usually wants every form/type of technology in their classroom and is perceived as “excess”. The teacher begins to seek grants for technology improvements.

5.      Innovation:

·         Teacher is more selective in technology choices; the focus is finding what works in the curriculum. Importantly, technology becomes one of many tools not just the only tool. Students have choices of implementing technology in their assignments/presentations.     

*Source for Five Stages: N. Zumpano's In-Class PowerPoint (Week 3, 9/16/13)*

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My Transition

I am currently in the transition from stage 4: Adaptation to stage 5: Appropriation. I am not a novice technology user but I am also not an expert. I consider myself in between these two ends of the technology spectrum. I am in this transitioning period both personally and professionally. Personally, I always use Word Document to write anything ranging from emails to miscellaneous personal writings, and I am highly confident in my technology literacy and typing speed. My professional aspect with technology differs from my personal technology usage. Although I am not in the teaching field yet I am still immersed with implementing technology in the classroom thanks to Dominican University’s wonderful Teacher Education Program. In every education course thus far I have been learning and implementing technology into lesson plans. I am confident with my technological literacy to the extent that I know how to use technology to improve my teaching and provide students with a differentiated learning.

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Should These Stages Be Taken at Face Value?

ACOT study’s formulated stages at first glance appear accurate and perhaps concisely simplified to explain the complexity of our perspective on technology. Although I know many people that fall within some of these stages, which is the case of my best friend that only uses Facebook and occasionally uses Yahoo’s email service, there are many people, such as myself (as explained above), that don’t necessarily fall within one particular stage but rather within the transition of one stage to another. I agree with the order these stages are listed as but I just don’t people should feel compelled to categorize themselves within only one of these stages because there are many people who are within a transition of stage and perhaps this transition can take years with the ever changing modern technological society that we live within. More importantly just remember that all studies are one way or another biased and this should be taken into consideration before accepting the final conclusion. Keep these questions in mind; by who was the study conducted by, a non-profit organization or a company that can benefit financially from the results?

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Your Thoughts?

Do you agree with the order of these stages?

What stage or transition of stages do you feel represents your developmental stage of technology integration?

 

*Respond in the comments section below*

My Reflection on Pew Internet Research Findings

The following statistics comes from:

Pew Internet Research Center: Pew Internet and American Life Project

The Berkman Center for internet and Society at Harvard University

March 13, 2013

 

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Report: Education, Mobile, Search, Teens, Digital Divide

“How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms”

Link: http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/2013/teachers-and-technology.aspx

The Statistics:

1.      “Just over half (52%) of teachers of upper and upper-middle income students say their students use cell phone to look up information in class, compared with 35% of teachers of the lowest income students”

2.      “57% of teachers say it [technology/internet] has had such an impact on enabling their interaction with students”

3.      “Just 15% of AP and NWP teachers whose students are from upper income households say their school is ‘behind the curve’ in effectively using digital tools in the learning process; 39% who teach students from low income households describe their school as ‘behind the curve’”  

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My Reflection:

I am not at all surprised by these findings from the Pew Internet Research study because in America the discrepancy between the rich and the poor is evident in all the states. Therefore, it should be expect that schools within low income neighborhoods are subsequently experiencing a discrepancy in their students’ technological literacy compared to those from affluent neighborhoods. The first statistic is interesting because I do believe that the majority of young Americans have cellphones, but they might not have those expensive data packages which might be the reason that only 35% of teachers from low income report that their students use cellphones for educational use in the classroom. I would like to analyze the findings of a low-income school that provides free WIFI in all its classrooms because then students can use any smartphone without a data package for educational usage since they can simply connect to the school’s WIFI for free.

I find the second statistic interesting because it leaves me asking the question: if only 57% of teachers say that the internet has had an impact on enabling their interactions with their students then how or what other outlet are the remaining teachers using to interact with their students? I understand that schools within low-income neighborhoods are in a disadvantage since most of their students don’t have access to expensive high speed internet connections or simply don’t have a computer available but that shouldn’t deter them from cresting meaningful connections with their students. Honestly, students from low income environments need that profound connection with their teachers to keep them on track academically because they are the high risk students and teachers have the power and influence to help them when they are lacking that support at home. The last statistic surprises me because unfortunately I thought that the more than 39% of schools from low-income were ‘behind the cure’ technologically but I guess that 39% is not a bad number because it could be worse. However, we (tax payer) need to get decrease this percentage to zero because in our modern world students need to be technologically literate. In order to maintain America’s prosperity we must help the youth by providing the adequate skills needed to compete globally and one of these skills is navigating with and through technology. We need to stop looking at America through this dichotomous perspective of rich and poor and start perceiving ourselves as a nation and Americans and start helping each other starting with our future of tomorrow: the students of today, and provide them the skills and tools needed to help us persevere.  

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Lastly, these statistics help us as educators understand that all students need help, but students from low-income neighborhoods need our help right now to help them become competent in the revolutionized technology. I personally know that these statistics can help me determine in which direction I should direct my attention to helping our America students become equipped with technological skills.

Although these statistics are great information for educators they should not be taken without cautiously analyzing them because all research and findings are biased in some way. Therefore, we can use this to help us begin our own research but they should never be taken as the final and only conclusion.  

 

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