"Imagine a party of time travelers from an earlier century, among them one group of surgeons and another of school-teachers, each group eager to see how much things have changed in their profession a hundred or more years into the future. Imagine the bewilderment of the surgeons finding themselves in the operating room of a modern hospital. Although they would know that an operation of some sort was being performed, and might even be able to guess at the target organ, they would in almost all cases be unable to figure out what the surgeon was trying to accomplish or what was the purpose of the many strange devices he and the surgical staff were employing. The rituals of antisepsis and anesthesia, the beeping electronics, and even the bright lights, all so familiar to television audiences, would be utterly unfamiliar to them.
"The time-traveling teachers would respond very differently to a modern elementary classroom. They might be puzzled by a few strange objects. They might notice that some standard techniques had changed -- and would likely disagree among themselves about whether the changes they saw were for the better or the worse -- but they would fully see the point of most of what was being attempted and could quite easily take over the class."
- Samuel Papert, The Children's Machine
The parable above describes for many schools the current scenario of technology in education. The plain and simple fact for many school districts, including Montague Area Public Schools, is that they are not utilizing technology in the same quantity or manner that the rest of society is using the tools made available by the advent of computers and other technologies. We, the educators of the Montague Area Public Schools, wish to alter that fact. We realize the expansion of technology use in the world, and recognize the need to encourage and develop these technologies in our schools in order to better prepare our students to use technologies in their life.
This document was developed in order to facilitate the changes necessary to the district for the appropriate inclusion of technology in the educational process. This plan is the result of an intensive study of the district's curriculum, technology use, and fiscal and other policies, as well as an examination of the attitudes and opinions of educators, administrators, and community members of the MAPS district. This study was paired with an examination of educational research regarding cognitive development through the use of technology, of experimental and mainstream programs within educational institutions, and administrative policy regarding the implementation of technology.
It is the goal of this document to provide a plan for the Montague Area Public Schools in addressing several concerns regarding the use of technology in an educational environment. This plan was developed to address several specific concerns held by educators at the district by recommending a number of courses of action over the next three years in order to improve the efficiency and appropriateness of technology use within the classroom.
This document was developed and adopted by the 1994-95 Technology Committee of the Montague Area Public Schools. This committee includes the following people:
This plan was assembled and researched by Stephen Best, a doctoral student in Educational Technology and Technology Planning, with guidance from Prof. Mitchell Rycus and Prof. Jonathan Levine, both of the University of Michigan, and assistance from Prof. Patricia Baggett of the University of Michigan and Prof. Larry Anderson of the National Center for Technology Planning at Missisippi State University. Mr. Best also acted as a consultant to the Technology Committee in the development of this plan.
The technology formed in January 1991, with D. Lohman, D. Schreuder, D. Olson, L. Paulsen, G. Beaudoin, R. Veeder, G. Kari, J. Tate, D. Hanna, B. Miller, K. Diamond, L. Bush, L. Cotter, C. Vanderlaan, R. Finlan, B. Mayle, and J. Scarbrough. During its first year, the committee examined the following technology possibilities for the district: National Geographic Kids Net, Whittle Communications, GMI Distance Learning, satellite installation costs, Windows on Science, National Geographic's GTV U.S. History interactive laserdisc software, electronic encyclopedias, and Texas Tie-In distance learning. The group formulated a "Vision for Technological Literacy" and a "Vision Link" for the district. The group also sponsored a "Technology Awareness Mini-Conference" for people from the MAPS district and invitees from surrounding districts.
During the 1991-92 school year, the technology committee developed and implemented a survey of teachers regarding in-service needs, and devised a schedule and in-service workshops for teachers regarding technology available to MAPS. The group also set out to devise a procedure for distributing technology funds, integrate technology into the curriculum, and examined and rejected distance learning alternatives due to cost and other factors.
In 1992-93, the group held meetings at each of the buildings in order to examine how technology is being used throughout the district. Separate committees were formed to address teaching of keyboarding, IBM network access, library automation, and development of computer labs or separate inclusion of computers in each classroom. Decisions regarding computational platform were also decided for each building.
The committees recommended the following: Keyboarding techniques would be taught at the third and fourth grade levels in the district; libraries in each building would act to automate card catalogues and circulation systems with a goal of networking these systems throughout each building; and each building developed a hardware acquisition plan - the Oehrli building would develop for mini-computer laboratories in each classroom with Macintosh computers, the N.B.C. building would develop a Macintosh or PC laboratory, and the high school would add an PC laboratory with a long term goal of having all buildings connected through a network.
During the 1993-94 school year, the technology committee again surveyed the staff regarding in-service needs. A full day in-service was planned for the first day back to school, though construction problems forced a cancellation. A recommendation was made for the hiring of a technology coordinator/instructor for the elementary school. It was also recommended that the district work with the Whitehall district to jointly hire a technician/technology coordinator for the districts.
In this past year, the technology committee carried through with the in-service for teachers, offering a half day in-service on February 24. In addition to this, the majority of the year was spent developing ideas to be included in the technology plan, and the use of Chapter 1 funds for further technologies.
In May of 1992, the technology committee held a brainstorming session to develop a list of technological areas desired for incorporation into the MAPS program. The un-edited list is as follows:
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