ASSESSING STAFF TECHNOLOGY COMPETENCE

GILBERTO TEIXEIRA (Prof.Doutor FEA/USP)

Introduction

For students to emerge from school ready for the next century, competent and caring, they will require an education in the thoughtful use of new technologies. This education will take them beyond skill to understanding and judgment. For us to achieve this goal, we must support faculty in making the journey to technology competence, information literacy and routine, comfortable use of new technologies.

This article offers several tools to assist technology planners in developing the human resource development piece which has been missing from all too many technology plans. These same tools may also help support grant-writing efforts by providing an assessment tool to define the adult learning needs of staff members in ways that will document a need for staff development programs.

Now that we have spent more than a decade flirting with new technologies, there is some evidence that we have failed to integrate the use of technologies by all teachers throughout the regular classroom curriculum in ways that are meaningful, natural and powerful. The most impressive efforts in this regard have been contributed by a group of teachers we might call "pioneers," people who have welcomed new technologies and often devoted many weekend hours to the mastery of new programs and software.

Mandinach (1992), building upon the ACOT work of Sandholtz, Ringstaff and Dwyer (1990), outlines 4 stages through which teachers might pass in learning and applying new technologies to their classrooms. What percentage of the teachers in your college are presently in each of the stages outlined below?

Survival Stage

Struggle against technology
Assailed by problems
Status quo in classroom
Cannot anticipate problem
Teacher-directed
Unrealistic expectations
Management problems
Chaos

Mastery Stage

Developing coping strategies
Increased tolerance
New forms of interactions
Increased technical competence
Increased experience and confidence with new classroom structure
More engagement

Impact Stage

New working relationships and structure
Learner-centered
Teachers as facilitators of learning
Less threatened by technology
Technology enhanced curriculum coverage

Innovation Stage

Restructuring of curriculum and learning activities

REFERENCES

*Mandinach, E. and Cline, H. (1992). The impact of technological curriculum innovation on teaching and learning activities." Paper presented at AERA.

Teaching in high tech environments: Classroom management revisited first-fourth year findings (ACOT Report #10). Cupertino, CA: Apple Computer, Inc., Advanced Technology Group, Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow.

ASSESSMENT TO GUIDE PLANNING

If a college can develop a portrait of its professional staff's relationship with technology, that portrait can provide the basis for planning FACULTY development. The most effective staff development programs offer a variety of opportunities to match the learning styles, preferences and developmental levels of staff members. A teacher in the survival stage will usually require a different approach than one at the impact stage, for example. Some teachers will prefer to learn in small groups or by themselves. Others prefer formal, structured classes.

THE TECHNOLOGY SURVEY

In order to plan technology learning experiences for the teachers of any college during the next five years, we need to know how many people need which kinds of experiences to help them feel comfortable and proficient. Your anonymous responses to the following items will help guide us in that planning effort.

Section A

Because technology is shifting the nature of our workplace and society, many people argue that teachers will need to acquire what is called technological literacy and competency. Please mark each competency listed below to indicate how far you have progressed in meeting the competency. Then rate each competency for its importance (in your opinion) for teachers of this decade.

Degree of Proficiency Ratings

H=High

M=Medium

L=Low

Degree of Importance Ratings

H=High

M=Medium

L=Low

Proficiency | Importance

1. _____ _____ * operate a computer system in order to use software successfully

2. _____ _____ * evaluate and use computers and other related technologies to support the instructional process

3. _____ _____ * apply current instructional principles, research and appropriate assessment practices to the use of computers and related technologies

4. _____ _____ * explore, evaluate, and use computer technology-based materials

5. _____ _____ * demonstrate knowledge of uses of computers for problem-solving, data collection, information management, communications, presentations, and decision-making

6. _____ _____ * design and develop student learning activities

that integrate computing and technology for a

variety of student grouping strategies and for diverse student populations

7. _____ _____ * evaluate, select and integrate computer technology-based instruction in the curriculum of one's subject area(s)

Proficiency Importance

8. _____ _____ * demonstrate knowledge of multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications activities to support instruction

9. _____ _____ * demonstrate skill in using productivity tools for professional and personal use, including word processing, database, spreadsheet and print-graphic utilities

10. _____ _____ * demonstrate knowledge of equity, ethical, legal and human issues of computing and technology

11. _____ _____ * identify resources for staying current in applications of computing and related technologies in education

12. _____ _____ * use computer-based technologies to access information to enhance personal and professional productivity

13. _____ _____ * apply computers and related technologies to facilitate emerging roles of the learner and the educator

Note: The list is drawn from work done on technology competencies by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education ( NCATE) and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (ECIT) (Hanclosky and Earle, 1992).

Section B

We are interested in knowing how you feel about learning new technologies and programs. Please indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.

1. Most of the new technologies which have become available to me have been easy to learn with relatively little outside support and I am eager to get my hands on more equipment so I can teach myself more.