The Relationship between Technological Innovation and Collegial Interaction.

This report examines the process by which an immediate-access-to-technology environment influences the frequency, form and substance of collegial interaction among classroom teachers. The study covered a five year period, utilizing data from 32 elementary and secondary teachers in five schools located in four different states. Over time, teachers’ interactions moved from informal, infrequent exchanges to structured technical assistance to formalized team teaching. However, the process of building collaboration was lengthy, involved overcoming numerous obstacles, and varied for elementary and secondary teachers. Introduction Technology clearly has the potential to vastly transform relationships between teachers and students and even what schools look like. However, the history of education reform provides scant evidence that such a transformation will occur simply because the technology exists. Schools have demonstrated an unyielding resistance to change over the decades. Reforms that are adopted tend to be those that readily fit existing organizational structures and practices. (David, 1990, p. 76) The effective use of technology in elementary and secondary school classrooms is often a slow process marked by a variety of obstacles, and one of the key obstacles is a condition common in many schools: teacher isolation. This report examines how technology-rich environments, like the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow, influence and encourage collegial interaction among teachers, and how teachers who already enjoy a high level of interaction are able to implement new technology and instructional strategies more quickly. The adoption of innovation and the creation of a collaborative environment are complementary conditions for change, and constructive change occurs most quickly in environments where these two conditions are operating simultaneously. The nationwide movement toward restructuring schools acknowledges that innovations introduced at only one level of a system are not likely to succeed, and that lasting change will not occur simply by giving teachers the latest technological tools. Teachers must be provided with on-going support which is available only if the larger system in which they are working changes as well. The reduction of teacher isolation is an important part of that change. Research on Collegial Interaction and Innovation Researchers have identified regular opportunities for interaction with colleagues as an important feature of a successful work environment (Purkey & Smith, 1983). Teacher inter-action in effective schools tends to be frequent, task focused, and widespread (Little 1982; Rutter, Maughanm Mortimore & Ouston, 1979). However, in many schools, opportunities for interaction are limited and communication tends to be informal and infrequent, even though teachers believe their teaching could be improved by working with colleagues (Corcoran, 1988). Attempts to increase teacher interaction typically involve creating formalized team teaching arrangements, sometimes across grade levels and disciplines. These changes in school structures increase the incidence of collaborative teaching and the overall amount of task-related communication (Charters, 1980). However, teachers are reluctant to sustain team allegiance over time (Charters, 1980) and need long-term assistance in order to make teaming work effectively and efficiently (Rutherford, 1981). Innovation can be extremely difficult to institutionalize because homeostatic forces in schools are more powerful than innovative forces (Joyce, 1982). Teachers may also resist change because the innovation comes from policy makers or non-teaching experts (Butt, 1984; Common, 1983). Serious commitment to innovation occurs only after teachers see that it really does assist them in teaching their students (Gersten & Guskey, 1985). However, this type of change does not occur quickly, but evolves over a period of time (Dwyer, Ringstaff & Sandholtz, 1990; Gersten & Guskey, 1985). In addition to identifying time as a critical resource, researchers point to the importance of a supportive organizational environment and collegial sharing in moving teachers toward the adoption of innovations (Educational Technology Center, 1985; Joyce, 1982; Henson, 1987). This paper links these two areas of research by examining the relationship between collegial interaction and technological innovation. During the five years this of study, the symbiotic relationship between innovation and teacher collaboration became increasingly apparent. As innovation was introduced and adopted, teachers interactions moved from informal infrequent exchanges to structured technical assistance and finally to team teaching. The Study This qualitative study utilizes data from 32 elementary and secondary teachers in five schools located in four different states. The ACOT classrooms represent the diverse populations and conditions found in contemporary public schooling. Each of these sites began with one classroom in the fall of 1986, adding classrooms, staff, and students in subsequent years. Site Grades Teachers Students Community/Socio-Economic Status 1 1-4 8 180 Suburban/High Income 2 5-6 7 180 Rural/Middle Income 3 4-6 4 90 Inner-City/Low Income 4 4 & Sp. Ed. 4 80 Suburban-Urban/Low-Middle Income 5 9-12 9 120 Urban/Low-Middle Income Table 1. The status of each ACOT study site in the spring of 1990. The elementary classes are equipped with Apple IIe, IIGS, and Macintosh® computers. The high school is an all Macintosh installation. In addition to the computers, classrooms are equipped with printers, scanners, laser disks and videotape players, modems, CD ROM drives, and hundreds of software titles. The technology is used as a tool to support learning across the curriculum. No attempt is made to replace existing instructional technologies with computers. By design, the classrooms are true multimedia environments where students and teachers use textbooks, workbooks, manipulative math materials, white boards, crayons, paper, glue, overhead projectors, televisions, pianos, as well as computers. The operating principle is to use the media that best supports the learning goal. The ACOT project provides a variety of supports for teachers with the goals of increasing teachers’ knowledge of theories on teaching and learning, expanding their technical expertise, and encouraging them to share acquired knowledge and skills. This support ranges from holding conferences and training workshops to providing technical equipment and professional release time. In addition, all sites are linked by a telecommunications network, called AppleLink,® that permits teachers to communicate with teachers at other sites as well as the Apple ACOT staff. Data Collection The sources of data for this study, covering from October 1985 through June 1990, include weekly reports sent via electronic mail; correspondence between sites, and bimonthly audio tapes on which teachers reflected about their experiences. Although this study does not include observational data, systematic observations by independent researchers support the self-report data reported in this investigation (Gearhart, Herman, Baker, Novak, & Whittaker, 1990; Tierney, 1988). The data have been divided into two databases, which together have nearly 20,000 entries. A relational database, Double Helix, allows the data to be organized in a number of ways (e.g., by teacher, by school site, by dates, by thematic categories). Because the project spans five years, some of the teachers represented in the database were not involved for this entire time. Thus, simply examining individual teachers’ data in terms of chronological dates could be misleading. At some sites, teachers worked with the same group of teachers and students over several years, while at other schools the key players changed more frequently. Each year of the project brought about additional changes in site organization, in the types of available equipment, and in project goals. Rather than examining change within individual teachers over time, we viewed the data collectively, documenting general trends related to collegial interaction during the evolution of the project. (For a thorough discussion of the data collection strategies and methodology used in this study, please see Dwyer, Ringstaff, Sandholtz, Keirns, & Grant,1990). Results This report deals primarily with the collegial interaction among teachers rather than instructional changes. However, the two areas are closely related. Figure 1 displays the new patterns of teaching and learning that emerged over time. This progression can be viewed as an evolutionary process similar to other models of educational change (e.g., Berman & McLaughlin, 1976; Giacquinta, 1973; Gross & Herriott, 1979). The five stages of instructional evolution in the ACOT classrooms include: Entry, Adoption, Adaptation, Appropriation, and Invention. In this model, text-based curriculum delivered in a lecture-recitation-seat work mode is first strengthened through the use of technology and then gradually replaced by far more dynamic learning experiences for the students. (For a more thorough treatment of the changes in instructional practices, see Dwyer, Ringstaff, & Sandholtz,1990). PHASE INSTRUCTIONAL PEDAGOGY OUTCOME TECHNOLOGY Entry Text Lecture Social & Cognitive Recitation Seatwork Adoption Text Lecture Social & Cognitive Recitation Seatwork High Computer Access Adaptation Text Lecture Social & Cognitive Recitation Seatwork High Play & Experiment Social & Cognitive Computer Access Appropriation Text Lecture Social & Cognitive Recitation Seatwork High Individualized Social & Cognitive Computer Cooperative Access Project-based Simulation Interdiscipline Distance Multimodal Self-paced Invention Immediate Interact Social & Cognitive Computer Do Access Create Figure 1: Instructional Evolution in Technology-Intensive Classrooms INSTRUCTIONAL PHASE COLLEGIAL INTERACTION Entry Emot