Teaching teachers to use online information.

Abstract

This article describes the integration of technology in a teacher preparation course in ways that support critical thinking and encourage collaborative learning. The course is a hybrid, half taught in the classroom and half online. As part of the instruction, the students experience technology integration in activities that model best use and they complete a major assignment that requires evaluations of sources online while working in a group online.

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There has been much criticism of colleges/schools/departments of education for failing to adequately prepare preservice teachers for "best practices" integration of technology in their future classrooms (American Council on Education, 1999; CEO Forum of Educational Technology, 1999; International Society for Technology Education/ISTE, 1999; National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education/NCATE, 1997; President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, 1997; U.S. Congress, 1995). Specifically, how will these teachers prepare their own students in understanding and evaluating the plethora of information available on the Internet? NCATE, ISTE, and State Departments of Education have attempted to address this void by delineating standards for technology integration in teacher preparation courses. These organizations point to faculty modeling of strategies for this integration as one of the most effective means to enhance learning. Halpin (1999) stated, "The data suggest that it was important to integrate the use of computer applications into the preservice methods courses already in existence to give the teachers the opportunity to experience exactly how technology can be an integral part of the daily operations of the classroom" (p. 135). Additionally, well-structured assignments support the preservice teachers' experiences in technology integration. These assignments include evaluating information found on the Internet, which call for critical thinking on the part of the student, enhanced by collaborative learning.

Critical Thinking

There is often an assumption that using technology equates with critical thinking. Yet, frequently, assignments that involve the use of technology are focused on mere data gathering. While the Internet offers access to more information than any existing hardcopy encyclopedia, students need to do more than just gather data; they need to analyze and evaluate those data (Tuathail & McCormick, 1998). The skills needed to accomplish this must be taught to students through carefully designed instructional activities.

Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is set up in such a way that students have a vested interest in cooperating with group members, supporting each other's efforts toward a common goal. It is characterized by group work which is structured so that it supports thoughtful discussion and dialogue amongst group members and enhances learning by creating conflicts, by exposing them to higher levels of thinking, and engaging them in higher level interaction (Abrami, 1995; Slavin, 1994; Webb, 1989). Setting up collaborative tasks that include critical thinking requires consideration of several factors. First, since most college students are not entirely comfortable with an online environment (Petrides, 2002), the introductory tasks must be motivating as well as easy to complete. Then, once the students are at ease with using the Internet, the activities become more involved with in-depth content. The project set for the group is well defined and structured to cause discussion (i.e., there is no one right answer, the topic is multi-faceted). It also requires input from several sources.

The Course

The course is a 'methods of teaching social studies' class required of students who are working toward a credential for teaching elementary school students. These teacher-candidates come from a variety of backgrounds but have a common focus--to earn a credential. The class is conducted as a hybrid-course (half of the sessions are in a classroom and half are online) supported by WebCT, a course tools program subscribed to by the university.

The Assignment

One major assignment helps students discover ways to find credible information online: a group presentation of one problem-solving activity for a specific grade level. In addition to in-class activities (see Arvedson & Campbell, 2002, for examples), other assignments use technology but in different ways. In this assignment the group members begin by identifying a grade level for their focus. They then go online to retrieve the State Standards for History/Social Studies for that grade level. This step is relatively easy and the credibility of the source well established. Their next step is to gather current (within 5 years) research articles from peer-reviewed journals. The research must be on constructivist problem-solving activities, project-based learning, or computer-assisted learning, or the research may concern the specific activity the group has selected (e.g., teaching citizenship online). The articles are reviewed by the professor to assure they are truly research and do concern one of the specified areas of study. Once the articles are approved, group members write brief summaries of the articles to share with their peers, the other group members. The group reviews the briefs and selects research articles to support their claims that their activity is, in fact, pedagogically sound.

Next, group members gather ideas for a problem-solving activity from the Internet. They do an Internet search for 'teacher aids' and/or 'lesson plans.' Each group member finds and evaluates two activity ideas from the Internet search. They use an evaluation instrument, http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/EvalForm.pdf This instrument helps the group member identify which of the two activities to recommend to the group as a whole for consideration to possibly be selected as their problem-solving activity to present to the class. For credibility of the source, the group member forms an opinion as to the bias of the author(s) and publisher and determines the website's reliability for accurate and useful information. He or she also looks at opinions of others and usefulness of the website by conducting a Google-link search (another item on the aforementioned Evaluation Form).

Using the resources obtained online (i.e., State Standards, research articles, recommended activities each group member retrieved), the group evaluates the activity recommendation using a critical thinking strategy of 'elimination by aspects.' They develop their list of aspects or characteristics for their desired outcome--an appropriate problem-solving activity. However, the list must contain, at least, credibility of the source, alignment with State Standards, appropriate use of technology, and sound educational practice as supported by research. From the websites, the group then selects one which has the best problem-solving activity that is useful, interactive, and supported by their research articles.

Finally, the group prepares a PowerPoint presentation to upload to WebCT and share with the rest of the class. This presentation begins with the title of the activity and the names of the group members. In the subsequent pages, it must contain the following:

* a full description of the social science aspects of the activity

* the problem-solving activity in such a way that any member of the class could repeat the activity in his or her own classroom

* an indication of the State social science standard and national technology standards that are met in the activity

* a description of what makes it a problem-solving activity

* how technology is used in the activity

* the method of assessment for the activity.

The end of the PowerPoint presentation includes a Group Project Bibliography, which gives research articles that support the soundness of the teaching strategy and includes all books, texts, visuals, videos, and software needed to carry out the activity. The group submits the completed individual and group evaluation forms concerning the websites and reasons for selecting the activity and a time log of individual responsibilities and time spent on each task (both individual records and a group summary).

How Does This Assignment Teach Critical Thinking?

The evaluation instruments used by the individuals and groups provide an outline for higher order thinking. After identifying the characteristics of each website, the individual students must answer two important questions: 1) Is this source as good as (or better than) what could be found in other published literature that is not on the Web? 2) How does this source help accomplish the designed goal? (This second question was one of the modifications made to the Evaluation Form found at the U.C. Berkeley website.) These questions require that the students make judgments. They must analyze, synthesize, and then judge before they can complete this initial step of their assignment. The group must synthesize the information from all the individual evaluations of the Web site in order to select the one activity for class presentation. The 'elimination by aspects' strategy in critical thinking is an excellent instrument for this assignment. Their list of aspects begins with credibility of source, alignment with State Standards, use of technology and sound educational practice; however, they are required to expand the list based on their specific desired characteristics, such as motivation, colorful graphics, or focus. They check off the aspects found in each Web site activity, and the activity with the most check marks is the one most appropriate for their group presentation. Once the group has analyzed, synthesized and evaluated the website activities and selected one to present to the class, they must synthesize further in order to explain the activity to the rest of the class in interesting ways. For a good PowerPoint presentation of their chosen activity, they need organization, clear communication, and focus. The creation of their PowerPoint presentation requires that they use more of their collaborative skills and higher order thinking.

Conclusion

Research has shown that students benefit from collaborative online projects (Astleitner, 2002; Bernard & Lundgren-Cayrol, 2001; Palincsar & Herrenkohl, 2002; Petrides, 2002; Reed & Mitchell, 2001; Zafeiriou, Nunes & Ford, 2001). When these projects are well crafted, they also support critical thinking. With the huge amount of information that is now available on the World Wide Web, students need to be able to critically evaluate a Web page, and its contents, for usability, applicability, authenticity, authorship, and bias. The ability to critically evaluate information, no matter where it is found, is an important skill in this information age. Preservice teachers are especially in need of training in this skill, as they must in turn teach our young students to be critical evaluators of Internet information. This article described one method for teaching students to learn skills to critically assess what they find on the Web, both to become better educated information consumers themselves as they seek information and aids from the Internet and to better teach their students to be smart information users. This places a justifiable burden on the colleges/schools/departments of education to assure that the new teachers entering the field are adequately prepared.

References

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Paula J. Arvedson, California State Univeristy, Los Angeles 

Dr. Paula Arvedson, Assistant Professor, teaches social studies for K-8, math for preschool, and technology integration for all age levels.