Hilee Draehn
March 26, 2001
Lesson 9 COMM 5350a
Lesson 9:
A. Undertake an Internet search of websites addressing issues of cost-effectiveness
and cost benefit analysis of educational technology and share your finding via
email with the class.
The following are two websites that address the cost of educational technology and possible funding solutions.
1. Ross, Randy L. (1995). The cost of school-based educational technology programs.
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR634/MR634.html
This study offers information on the range of resources and inputs that go into a school-based technology program. Its primary goal is to provide a framework for helping educators and policymakers structure their thinking about the costs related to using technology in delivering education. The study does not try to assess the effectiveness of educational technology programs. This report helps to fill the gap in research on the costs of educational technology programs in K-12 schools. Using in-depth case studies of eight schools that use technology extensively to facilitate instruction, the study generates comprehensive estimates of what it costs a school to set up a technology program. No attempt was made to assess the effectiveness of the technology programs we investigated. The study's goal was limited to understanding the costs and main causes of cost variation in school-based technology programs.
2. Investing in school technology: strategies to meet the funding challenge.
(1997).
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/techinvest/
The purpose of this paper is to provide state and local policy makers, state legislatures, state superintendents and departments of education, local school boards, and school district superintendents, some tools and pointers for thinking about their educational technology plans and for developing comprehensive strategies for funding those plans. The paper, prompted by the need to introduce all children to technology as we move into the Information Age, is segmented into topics that highlight the educational technology paradigm, cost, and funding.
B. Develop your own particular position of technology as an effective instructional
tool, and share your perspectives via email with other classmates and the instructor.
As an educator, I have used technology as a tool for both children in terms
of educational software and adults in regards to word processing, grade recording,
calendar creating, and worksheet making. However, the manner in which the computer
was utilized in these situations, while useful, was hindering and somewhat static.
That is, the children had few opportunities to work collaboratively, process
higher order thinking skills, o r generate new knowledge. I feel that if technology
is going to be truly utilized in the classroom meaningfully, the tool must be
viewed as one of production; that is, not only should a learner know how to
operate the machine, but the learner must also know how to use it to produce
a product. The following list of aspects that should be carefully considered
before "jumping in" to using technology.