Lessons learnt in integrating computers into the classroom.

Lesson 1: Let's decide where we're going before we try to get there.
Establish your curriculum goals or lesson objectives and keep them in mind. Try not to let technology becomes an end in itself. It should serve, not dictate our needs.

Lesson 2: Let's build on the affordances of computing networks: INCREASED ACCESS.

• Access to information
• Access to communication
• Access to computing power and remote control
• Access to collaboration

Lesson 3: Let's not forget the disaffordances.
Disaffordances are the things that they discourage us from doing. Computers are more expensive than books, less portable, and much more complicated to use. Not every course needs visual support. Sometimes, low tech tools like e-mail, rather than, the Web, may establish the network resource to achieve a course goal.

Consider the disaffordances:
• Limited access
• Technical problems
• Lack of time

Lesson 4: The Apple Classroom of Tomorrow (ACOT), after 10 years of research, has revealed five stages of integrating new technologies in the classroom:

1. Entry
2. Adoption
3. Adaption
4. Appropriation
5. Invention

Lesson 5: Capitalize on support for change: Coordinator support and adminstrative support in the form of:

• Providing time for learning
• showing interest
• arranging technical support
• easing access problems

Lesson 6: Re-examine classroom roles and classroom processes:

	Instruction	Construction
Classroom activity	Teacher centered, didactic	Learner centered, interactive
Teacher role	Fact teller, always experts	Collaborate, sometimes learner
Student role	Listener, always learner	Collaborator, sometimes experts
Instructional emphasis	Facts, memorization	Relationship, inquiry and invention
Concept of knowledge	Accumulation of facts	Transformation of facts
Demo of success	Quantity	Quality of understanding
Assessment	Norm referenced, MCQs	Criterion referenced, portfolios and performances
Technology use	Drill and practice	Communication, collaboration, information access, expression.

(Sandholtz, 1997)

Lesson 7: Technology is just a tool among many. Use appropriate technology, sparingly and only when necessary.

Lesson 8: Don't be blinded by science and fall into the pit of high-tech classrooms, but low-tech teaching. Great teaching is about passion, relationships, fascination, humanity and caring. It's a fine art.

Lesson 9: Don't forget that value conflicts seldom succumbs to technical fixes. There is nothing as practical as a good theory. (E.g. Theory One and Tutorial Cycle as guiding principles.)

Lesson 10:Software is going to school. There is no turning back.

One of my favourite quotes,John 13:14-15, describes what Jesus did and said:
"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

Likewise, don't just get your virtual feet wet, but also "wash one another's feet"!

URL: http://hgseclass.harvard.edu/t525/students/jor/