Lone Star 2000: Integrating Preparation and Practice Through
a Technology-Based Approach to Teaching and Learning



Background to the Project
The Lone Star 2000 Project is a university-school system collaboration between the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida, the Division of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and Human Services at the University of North Florida, and three business partners, including the IBM Corporation, Logical Business Systems and MediaOne. Participants in the fourth year of the project included six teachers from Lone Star Elementary School and Sandalwood High School, three preservice teachers completing their internship through the University of North Florida, a supervising professor, a technology education trainer, and technical support personnel from the business partners.
The primary goals of the project include:
To build a community of learners which effect real change in the teaching and learning process;
To create exemplary classrooms which make educational technologies available to K-12 students;
To educate K-12 students in selected areas of curriculum using educational technologies and document their work through electronic portfolios;
To prepare selected preservice teachers in new approaches to teaching and learning with educational technologies;
To strengthen the link between partner school participants, including K-12 educators, parents, students, school volunteers, university faculty, preservice teachers, and business partners; and,
To connect the sites with distance education technology enabling participants to contribute to the renewal of K-12 education and teacher education.
Currently in its fifth year of operation, the project has emerged as an effective model for successfully infusing technology into classroom teaching and learning with a measurable, positive impact on student achievement.

The Process of the Project

This presentation details the process used to carry out the goals of the Lone Star 2000 Project and describes the use of traditional and non-traditional assessment methods to evaluate progress toward the goals. Steps in the process are as follows:
  1. Exposure to classroom, curriculum-based technologies
  2. Knowledge of IBM technology, including hardware and software use
  3. Application of technologies with students in the classroom
  4. Integration of technology usage with existing classroom curriculum
  5. Infusion of technologies into classroom teaching and learning which results in a positive impact on the development of preservice teacher competencies and student learning.
Exposure to the IBM curriculum-based courseware as the first step in the process is accomplished with the preservice teachers during the early weeks of their intern teaching experience. They receive background information on the project and view samples of the technology-based curriculum which they will use to facilitate student learning.

Knowledge of the IBM hardware and operation of the software is addressed during three days of concentrated, hands-on training for the preservice teachers. The training takes place at the school site and addresses the following skills: effective use of the IBM computers and related technology devices, including CD-ROM and large screen projection equipment for use in whole- class computer instruction; efficient use of specific mathematics, science, language arts and social studies courseware designated as the target curriculum emphasis in Lone Star's School Improvement Plan; ability to use the LinkWay Live electronic presentation program to create electronic preservice teacher portfolios and student electronic portfolios, detailing knowledge of specific subject areas, as well as demonstrating the use of technology; foundation knowledge and hands-on participation in IBM's Teaching and Learning With Computers (TLC) approach to instruction which emphasizes a) cooperative learning in a variety of learning centers, b) networked classroom-based curriculum courseware as an integral part of teaching and learning, and c) active discovery-based learning with the teacher as guide and facilitator.

Application of technology use in the classroom occurs as the interns begin utilizing computers, large screen projection devices, and specific courseware to teach whole-class lessons to their students, as they teach the students how to operate the educational technology, and use specific courseware programs. This is followed by individual and small-group, hands-on learning sessions at the computers, guided by the teaching interns. As the interns practice with the technologies and begin creating LinkWay Live folders, detailing information and pictures of their internship, their experience and enthusiasm is shared with the students, who they assist in creating their individual electronic portfolios. The directing teachers are active participants with the preservice teachers and model daily behaviors for technology use in teaching and learning activities during the beginning weeks of the internship experience.

Integration is the crucial step in which technology and curriculum are joined to strengthen and enhance instruction. Integration of technology into the classroom is accomplished when the preservice teacher is guided to create and teach lessons that utilize the technology in conjunction with existing curriculum materials by presenting subject matter in unique, creative ways that enhance student learning outcomes. A key factor to success in this phase is the flexibility of the IBM curriculum courseware that allows them to design their own personalized instructional plans, based on their knowledge of it and the needs of their individual students. Rogers indicates that adoption of technology is an active process where success depends, in large part, on "the degree to which an innovation is changed or modified by a user in the process of it's adoption and implementation". While the degree of technology integration has varied among classrooms and grade levels during this project, it has been influenced by the "ownership" factor, as well as by critical success factors mentioned later in this presentation.

Infusion of technology into classroom teaching and learning is the true indicator of the success of this model project. An important part of this project is achieved when the preservice teacher has departed and the classroom teacher continues to develop their own instructional plans, utilizing the curriculum, and incorporating technology usage into daily teaching and learning activities for the purpose of improving student learning outcomes.

Research-base for the Project

The work of Reeves provides a useful foundation for identifying four critical success factors that are used as benchmarks for the Lone Star 2000 Project.
  1. Clearly defined goals for the project were identified (listed at the beginning of the presentation). Reeves states that "Technology infusion as well as other restructuring activities should be driven by clear goals." Goals for this project involved "authentic achievement" for preservice teachers in the form of portfolios, videos, electronic presentations, and so forth. Newman (1991) also supports the approach in the project by suggesting that "Rather than reproducing knowledge, students should be involved in producing knowledge, through discourse, through the creation of things, and through performance."
  2. Thorough documentation in all phases of the Lone Star 2000 Project provides an understanding of where we started, where we are, and where we are going. Reeves states that "Documentation attempts to capture all the changes that occur in the process of reform so that interested participants can understand what is really occurring." Examples are provided in the Project Outcomes section of this presentation.
  3. Formative experimentation is defined by Newman as follows "In a formative experiment, the researcher sets a pedagogical goal and finds out what it takes in terms of materials, organization or changes in the technology to reach the goal." The Lone Star 2000 Project has adapted and restructured over the four year period to incorporate new knowledge and improved methods for meeting the project goals.
  4. Impact evaluation is defined by Reeves as "attempts to assess the effects of innovative instructional practices on factors such as organization, climate, teacher and student self-perceptions, parental and community aspirations, and numerous other difficult-to- measure factors." The Lone Star 2000 Project uses traditional and non-traditional methods of assessment to measure progress toward goals. (These are described in the Project Outcomes section below).
The critical success factors which follow are based on research by Rogers that revealed three ways in which adoption of interactive communication innovations differ from similar processes with other kinds of new ideas or tools.

Critical mass of adopters
The Lone Star 2000 Project began with two very interested teachers and two interns as a core group to influence and persuade school personnel to get involved. Rogers states that "the usefulness of a new communication system increases for all adopters with each additional adopter." Over 760 students and 26 teaching interns have participated in the project over the past five years.

Degree of use
Continued, supported use of the technology was critical to its eventual classroom infusion and diffusion to other users. Rogers believes that "The degree of use of a communications innovation rather than the decision to adopt it, is the dependent variable that will indicate the success of the diffusion effort."

Re-invention of the innovations is defined by Rogers as "The degree to which an innovation is changed or modified by a user in the process of its adoption and implementation." Infusion of the technology into classrooms in the Lone Star 2000 project took place when teachers and interns were able to successfully design and implement instructional activities using the educational technologies that met their own specific needs and those of their students.

Project Outcomes

Outcomes for this project are detailed below and include traditional and non-traditional methods of assessment.
Traditional methods for measuring learning outcomes in this project included: Non-traditional assessment instruments included:

Conclusion
The Lone Star 2000 Project has enabled participants to establish that educational technologies are powerful and effective teaching and learning tools. We also learned that university and public school personnel, working together within partnership schools can help bring barriers down, develop visions, change perspectives, and become open to permanent change.


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