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Status
of Instructional
Technology
in Elementary-Secondary
and
Higher
Education
in the
United
States
Barbara
Bichelmeyer,
Abstract
In
the
United
States,
the
implementation
of educational
technology
is influenced
by many
factors,
but
in elementary-secondary
and
higher
education
the
recent
economic
recession
forced
a slowdown
in technology
investments.
In
higher
education,
analog
media,
such
as overhead
projection,
videos,
and
slides,
are
still
heavily
used.
Digital
media
use
is growing,
but
at a
slower
rate
each
year.
Most
instructors
exchange
e-mail
with
students,
but
smaller
percentages
use
more
sophisticated
applications.
Course
management
systems,
now
ubiquitous,
are
prompting
the
integration
of technology
into
instruction.
Over
two-thirds
of all
universities
offer
distance
education,
and
enrollments
grow
by about
25 percent
per
year,
but
funding
for
information
technology
continues
to be
the
highest
concern.
In
elementary-secondary
education,
technology
integration
has
been
influenced
by the
"No
Child
Left
Behind"
initiative,
which
requires
increased
standardized
testing.
Hence,
the
focus
has
been
on the
use
of computers
as a
tool
for
assessment.
While
about
one-half
of all
teachers
regularly
use
computers
for
instructional
purposes,
those
uses
tend
to be
rather
marginal.
When
at school,
students
in grades
4-12
use
computers
predominately
in a
computer
lab,
most
commonly
to find
information,
visit
school
websites,
and
to take
tests.
K-3
students
use
technology
to play
learning
games,
create
pictures,
and
practice
spelling
and
reading.
The
student-per-Internet-connected
computer
ratio
was
4.3:1
in 2004.
Schools,
like
universities,
are
going
wireless.
The
percentage
of schools
with
wireless
networks
nearly
doubled
from
2003
to 2004.
Professional
development
continues
to lag
behind
teachers'
needs.
The
largest
barriers
to greater
adoption
and
use
of computers
are
lack
of time
to prepare
and
insufficient
technical
support.
Virtual
schools
continue
to proliferate
and
attract
new
students.
These
findings
indicate
that
pervasive
access
to information
technology
infrastructure
does
not
guarantee
its
use.
Social
and
psychological
factors
impinge
on educators'
use
of ICT.
The
United
States
has
a vast
and
extensive
formal
education
enterprise,
although
it could
not
properly
be called
a system.
At
the
elementary-secondary
level
it is
an amalgam
of 94,000
public
schools
and
28,000
private
schools
distributed
among
50 states
and
ten
other
jurisdictions.
These
schools
enroll
61 million
young
people,
who
are
taught
by 3.4
million
teachers.
Legal
responsibility
for
public
education
resides
at the
state
level,
from
which
the
great
majority
of operating
revenues
flow.
Laws
governing
the
establishment
and
operation
of schools
and
their
curricula
are
made
at the
state
level.
Additional
revenues
and
regulations
come
from
the
federal
government
and
from
the
15,000
local
school
districts,
each
possessing
a good
deal
of autonomy.
At
the
post-secondary
level,
611
public
four-year
colleges
and
universities
are
supported
by the
governments
of the
fifty
states
and
other
jurisdictions.
California,
for
example,
maintains
33 public
universities;
Pennsylvania
has
45;
Iowa
has
three.
In
addition,
there
are
1713
private
four-year
colleges
and
universities,
which
are
autonomous
and
self-supporting.
There
are
also
a total
of 1844
public
and
private
two-year
post-secondary
institutions.
Altogether,
these
post-secondary
institutions
enroll
some
16 million
students,
who
are
taught
by about
800,000
professors
(All
statistics
are
from
National
Center
for
Education
Statistics,
2003).
The
implementation
of educational
technology
in such
a large
and
complex
set
of institutions
is influenced
by many
factors-political,
economic,
and
institutional.
Those
forces
play
out
differently
at the
elementary-secondary
and
higher
education
levels,
so these
two
sectors
will
be discussed
separately
in this
report.
Since
funding
for
technology
integration
in education-both
at the
lower
and
higher
education
levels-is
so dependent
on revenues
of state
governments,
the
economic
recession
of 2000-2003
forced
a slowdown
in technology
investments.
However,
state
tax
revenues
in the
first
quarter
of 2004
increased
dramatically
over
the
year
before
(Jenny,
2004),
signaling
an easing
of the
budgetary
crises
faced
by many
states.
Increased
government
and
corporate
revenues
are
expected
to trickle
down
to improve
the
ability
of schools
and
post-secondary
institutions
to acquire
new
technological
hardware
and
software.
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