In a DOE Challenge grant, Barbara Means and her colleagues at SRI cited vital implementation principles for the role of technology in facilitating school reform:
- Time must be devoted to developing a unifying vision;
- Good curricular content must precede technology design;
- Technology should be used across subject matters and classrooms;
- Adequate technology access is needed for all students;
- Easily accessible technical support is critical;
- Teachers need time to learn to use technology and to incorporate it into their curricular goals;
- The project must provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate with peers;
- The system should provide rewards and recognition for exemplary technology-supported activities; and
- Technology has its greatest impacts when placed in the hands of students.
Means, et al conducted a very comprehensive study over a range of projects, looking at the benefits of computer technology for students. Teachers reported that technology enhanced their efforts by:
- adding to the students’perception that their work is authentic and important;
- increasing the complexity with which students can deal successfully;
- dramatically enhancing student motivation and self-esteem;
- making obvious the need for longer blocks of time for projects;
- creating a multiplicity of roles, leading to student specialization in different aspects of technology use;
- instigating greater collaboration with students helping peers and sometimes their teachers; and
- giving teachers additional impetus to take on a coaching and advisory role.