Nancy Elizabeth Brown-Smith     EDPSY 387 - Computer Use in Education

   Major Project 

(1)  What is the content of an introductory computer class?
(2)  What is the definition of web-supported instruction?
(3)  Why is there concern for technology to be integrated into students' daily lives?
(4)  What technology forms (hardware, software, skills) are of value to students
       (as perceived by the students; as perceived by the instructors)? 
(5)  Are there differences in instructors' perceptions of their role/responsibility as "teacher"?
(6)  Are there differences in students' motivations in accomplishment of course objectives?
(7)  What variables account for students' success/failure in this type of class?

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        In today's world of rapid technological change, it is imperative that educational institutions not only prepare students for the world of work, but also, to enrich their lives' through ability to actively participate with the technological skills of the 21st Century.

        The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) was appointed by the Secretary of Labor to determine the skills our young people need to succeed in the world of work.  This culminated in a report titled:  A SCANS Report for America 2000.  The primary objective was to help teachers understand how curriculum and instruction must change to enable students to develop those high performance skills needed to succeed in the high performance workplace. [1]  It was compiled by going to business' and asking them what skills and attributes were needed by potential employees to gain employment and be successful in their position.

        The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE 2000) prepared a report titled:  Technology and the New Professional Teacher:  Preparing for the 21st Century Classroom (1997).  Within this report, of particular interest to me is the statement expressed that "Future teachers take their cues from the practices they observe in classrooms during teaching practica and internships".[2]  Parallel to this idea, instructors of computer technology, particularly in the community college setting, business students need to understand, experience, and actively put into practice the technology of study.  This requires two assumptions: (1) instructors are informed and skilled in the current and cutting-edge skills required for the business students, (2) instructors are prepared to actively model the activity to establish relevance for the students.
 
 
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        It is felt that even students who come into an introductory, college-level computer class with a pre-conceived attitude that certain technological skills are either not of interest to them, or they do not think they will ever think I'll have use for it , will have much to gain if the technology is modeled and the student is required to actively participate in its usage. 

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Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy.
        A Nation Prepared:  Teachers for the 21st Century.
        New York:  Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy, 1986.

Employment and Training Administration/U. S. Department of Labor. (1994).  (P. L. 103-227),
        Goals 2000:  Educate America Act.  Washington,D.C.:[On-line].
        (http://www.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/)

Gibson-Benninger, B. S., & Ratcliff, J. L. (1996).
        Getting and keeping the best faculty for the 21st-century community college.
        Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 20, 151.

Hammons, J. O., & Barnsley, J. R. (1996).
        The elusive search to define the effective community college teacher.
        Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 20, 311.

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         (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/edu/trg/email/)

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        A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform.  Washington, D. C.:
        U. S. Department of Education.  (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html)

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.  (1997)
        Technology and the New Professional Teacher: Preparing for the 21st Century Classroom.
        Washington, D. C.:  NCATE.  (http://www.ncate.org/specfoc/techdnld.txt)

U. S. Department of Education (1994).  (H. R. 1804)
        Goals 2000:  Educate America Act.  Washington, D. C.:  The National Library of Education.
         (http://ttrcnew.ttrc.doleta.gov/common/legislation/g2k-toc-title.html)

U. S. Department of Labor (1991).
    SCANS (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) Report for America 2000.
    Washington, D. C.: U. S. Department of Labor.

Van Ast, J. (1997).  Sage on the stage or guide on the side:  An outcome-based approach
        to the preparation of community college vocational-technical faculty for the 1990s and beyond.
        Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 21, 459.