TECHNOLOGY

WHEREAS, technology use holds a twofold promise that is still unrealized for our nation's schools. For students it makes available a world of learning resources¾not only the substance of knowledge, but the challenge of learning how to learn through individual experimentation and self-correction. For teachers it brings the long sought-after luxury of individualization, a crucial component of the constant struggle to energize students into self-created learning. Outside the teaching-learning context it can also help both teachers and their schools better organize the learning enterprise, thereby saving valuable time needed for students. Once initial capital investments are made it could also save money as well.

Since 1980 there has been a growing interest in and use of technology in our schools. In fact, American schools have spent close to $2 billion on computers in a 10-year period--an impressive sum, but only a tenth of what is spent nationwide on personal computers every year. So, while 95 percent of our public schools have at least one computer intended for instructional use, the vast majority remain insufficiently equipped to make them a central element of instruction. Even those students who use computers in school do so for only about one hour per week, one tenth of what experts say they should. As for the newer, interactive learning technologies, they have been prohibitively expensive to gain widespread use.

Limited computer availability has also been marked by an unacceptable disparity between what is offered in relatively poor schools and their wealthier counterparts. The data also suggest that low-achieving students are more likely to use what computers are available for drill and practice rather than for solving problems and more creative learning activities. Basically, even with computers, most of what defines the instructional process remains the same.

Even where computers are in place, only half the teachers use them for instruction. Too few have ever had the opportunity to learn about computers. The Office of Technology Assessment reports that only about one-third of all K-12 teachers have had even 10 hours of computer training. Where training has occurred rarely has it gone further than computer literacy.

Further, the use of technology to make the education sector more efficient and productive has lagged far behind other sectors of our society. Education has by far the lowest level of capital investment in technology per employee (about $1,000 per employee as compared to an average of $50,000 per job for the economy as a whole).

The AFT strongly advocates the initiation of a comprehensive pro-technology policy involving federal, state and local investments. Without the following immediate efforts, our schools and students will be unable to benefit from new learning resources. Our teachers will remain unaware of the rich technology resources available to them, and our schools will continue to be plagued by inefficiencies that technology might help eradicate:

RESOLVED that:

• Investment in human capital to expand technology use is critical. Teachers and school-related personnel need training and sustained support in how to use these technologies in relation to the learning process. They also need time to plan for the integration of technology into management and teaching;

• Additional federal funds must be made available for technology purchase. Chapter 1 programs in every state fund the purchase and/or lease of hardware and software and almost 60 percent of Chapter I teachers in public schools report that they use computers to teach. Federal block grants (Chapter 2) can also be used to purchase hardware and software, and most states rank Chapter 2 as one of the top three sources for funding technology at the district level. This kind of support must be increased to encourage supplementation through local, state and private sector resources;

• States must designate funds for teacher training, software evaluation, information dissemination, demonstrations of new uses of technology and to equip teachers with the technology itself.

• State-level teacher certification requirements should incorporate technology expertise.

• Creative funding mechanisms (the sale of bonds, for example) to generate more technology investment should be encouraged.

• All staff should be involved when new technologies are brought into the schools.

• School districts should take care to make comprehensive approaches to the introduction of new technology¾i.e., to rationalize the new systems so as not to generate new inefficiencies through fragmentation or redundancy.

• Technology cannot be simply an add-on. The whole school needs to be reorganized to integrate and maximize the use of new technologies effec­tively. Technology and the knowledge of how to use technology are essential ingredients in empowering teachers and paraprofessionals to become developers and managers of student learning.