As present trends in education indicate, learning with technology is increasingly being considered as a means of instructional delivery for K-1 2 learners. Educational leaders must be informed of how to provide the experiences, skills, and knowledge required of the learners for whom they are responsible.
This qualitative study examined the conceptualization of a school district's attempt to design and implement a high-computer-access (HCA) program. Research methodologies included interview, observation, and analysis of related documents. The results comprised the thinking of the HCA program designers and how they viewed learning theory and effective instruction principles in relationship to the HCA environments they were creating.
The findings from this study indicated that designing and implementing an HCA program into a school district involves several issues. These issues were organized into the following themes: (a) goals and assumptions; (b) appropriation; (c) transformative teaching; (d) child-centered instruction; and (e) logistics.
The goals and assumptions theme addressed the participants' thinking about the organization's and the designers' goals that evolved during the design phase. The appropriations theme encompassed the use of computer as a learning and teaching tool.
Reported changes in instructional planning and delivery are represented in the transformative teaching theme. The child-centered instruction theme resulted from participants' numerous references to learning theory. The fifth theme, logistics, included the procurement, maintenance, and knowledge acquisition inherent in HCA environments.
Further investigation of these themes may assist educational leaders who would choose to implement HCA environments into their schools.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unf.edu/oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1345 |
| Date | 01 January 2002 |
| Creators | Gutknecht, Constance Dianne |
| Publisher | UNF Digital Commons |
| Source Sets | University of North Florida |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | UNF Theses and Dissertations |
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