Once they install their networks, many schools are finding that they have paid too little attention to learning goals and have no satisfying definition of purpose that might mobilize teachers to embrace the new technologies with enthusiasm. McKenzie describes how questioning, research and information literacy can become the driving force behind the use of new technologies so that even skeptics and late adopters acknowledge the value of the venture. Index Drawing upon his extensive experience working with school districts to help teachers acquire both the inclination and the skill to use new technologies on a thoroughly integrated daily basis, McKenzie outlines the elements of a robust and effective program of adult learning designed to bring everyone on board. Index With high stakes testing and increasingly demanding state curriculum standards creating great pressure on classroom teachers, McKenzie argues that the best way to earn support for frequent use of new technologies is to aim that use directly at competencies required by those standards. He shows how research modules and unit plans can be developed with standards as a focus. Index When districts fail to fund the technical support side of a technology program, student learning and staff use of the network can be severely hindered. McKenzie describes the symptoms of network starvation and offers guidelines for the full staffing required to maintain a quality network that will serve learning goals. Index These are the best of times and the worst of times for librarians as some districts recognize the essential leadership role of media specialists while others eliminate positions and padlock libraries. McKenzie clarifies the changing roles of school librarians, builds a case for augmented staffing and ties the future of librarians to the concepts of literacy and information mediation. Index While new curriculum standards are calling for fresh thinking and inference, we suffer from a long history of engaging students in research which is little more than collecting and rehashing. McKenzie proposes a vastly more demanding research agenda that requires to students to make up their own minds, provide fresh answers and demonstrate innovative thinking. Index For two decades we have operated under the assumption that teachers simply need more hours of training in various software programs if we hope to see widespread use. The strategy has failed to reach a major segment of the teaching population. McKenzie shows why the approach is flawed and how we might replace software training with curriculum-based learning in order to reach a broader group and win their frequent use of the new technologies. Index In rushing to network schools, many districts have ignored what we have learned about making effective change in schools. Operating with the unlikely belief that equipment will radically shift classroom practice, installation has proceeded with far too little attention to sound change strategies and little focus on the human and cultural aspects of change. McKenzie provides a sketch of the most important missing elements required to make good change happen. Index Surfing the Net has not proven especially valuable or attractive to hard pressed classroom teachers, but more carefully structured research experiences can provide a greater payoff and gain broader acceptance. McKenzie outlines the key ingredients that make scaffolding an effective approach to unit development and provides examples for teachers to use or emulate. Index Exploration of demanding questions usually requires students to pass repeatedly through a series of stages designed to support exploration and the creation of new insights. The Research Cycle is a model specifically developed to help guide students beyond gathering toward synthesis and inventive thinking. McKenzie demonstrates how students might apply this model to an essential question. Index Even though many of the new electronic sources have much to offer in the way of quality and richness, they can also fail tests of validity, authority and reliability . . . the tests of time that make the classics such an important part of a balanced and thoughtful educational experience. McKenzie compares and contrasts the new resources with the old in order to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of each. Index One of the best ways to provoke fresh thought is to establish choices that require students to compare and contrast the attributes of each choice. Learn how these choices can be explored in a digital context with text, art, visual data or numbers. Students are required to infer, analyze, synthesize and invent meaning. Index Schools and museums could both profit by revisiting their notions of what it means to be a visitor and how we might convert visitors into devoted visitors now that we can offer such rich digital collections online. This session explores design opportunities available to museums thanks to online exhibits that might radically augment and extend the museum community. Index
Posted in January, 2000
Beyond Technology: Questioning, Research and the Information Literate School
Students in Resonance: Provoking Fresh Thought and Deep Reasoning with Dissonance, Contrast and Juxtaposition