Page 135 - Lakeland Catholic Technology Plan

In addition, studies examining the success of technology-rich schools have revealed four key features that appear to represent best practices of the high technology school of the future (Glennan and Melmed, 1996). These four best practices of the high technology school of the future are:
• emphasize the role of concentrated, conscious and explicit planning among school leaders, families and students to create “Learner centred” environments. These learner-centred environments focus on how technology can support students’ individual needs and capabilities, not on the capabilities of the technology itself.
• the goals and challenging standards for student achievement are clearly articulated. These measures of student success are not simply limited to achievement test scores, but also include indicators of other important processes, such as student motivation and engagement, job placement, attendance rates and level of family involvement.
• emphasize the restructuring of the school to support the learner-centred environment and achievement of standards. Successful technology-rich schools physically reorganize and redesign their classrooms and school buildings, rethink their use of time, re-evaluate the manner in which they deliver their curriculum
and build better partnerships among teachers, administrators, parents and students.
• near universal access to computer technology — at least one computer for every five students.
A very recent summary of the most current research, see Appendix D: The Impact of Edu- cation Technology on Student Learning, indicated that:
“These studies show that in over 700 empirical research studies, in the study of the entire state of West Virginia, in a national sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students, and in an analysis of newer educational technologies that students with access to
a) computer assisted instruction, or
b) integrated learning systems technology, or
c) simulations and software that teaches higher order thinking, or
d) collaborative networked technologies, or
e) design and programming technologies,
show positive gains in achievement on researcher constructed tests, standardized tests, and national tests.
3.1.6 Alberta Learning Technology Developments and Funding (March 2000)
In Meeting the Challenge IV, Alberta Education’s Business Plan for 1997/1998 to 1999/2000, the integration of technology in education was identified as a new goal (Goal 5) and as a key area for improving Alberta’s education system. Technology integration also was to be addressed in school authority three-year education plans for 1997/1998 to 1999/2000.
Technology integration continued as a goal and an area for improvement in Alberta Education’s Business Plans for 1998/1999 to 2000/2001 and for 1999/2000 to 2001/2002 and in school author- ity three-year education plans.
Technology integration continues to be identified in Alberta Learning's 2000/2001 to 2002/ 2003 business plan. In the most recent Alberta Learning announcements on technology (March 20, 2000), numerous areas of activity were updated and organized into the following topics:
• Policy and Planning
• Curriculum and Assessment
• Professional Development
• Hardware and Software
• Provincial Networking For Learning
• Electronic Communications With Stakeholders
NOTE: For complete report see Appendix A: Alberta Learning Technology Developments Update, March 2000
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