Education in the Information Qe: Why Cornputers Should Be a Cüutious Addition to Teachers' Tool Kits
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M.J. Candidate Education in the Information Qe: Why cornputers should be a cüutious addition to teachers' tool kits b y Bev W&e. B.J. A thesis submitted to the Ficulty of Grüduaie Studies and Reselirch in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Journaiism School of Journalism and Communication Carleton University Ottawa. Ontario May 29.7000 copyright 2000. Bev Wake National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*l of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Weilingtan Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON KIAW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distniute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT: Canadian classroorns are entering the information age with the introduction of computers and networked communications systems. Among govemments fundins the wiring of Canüdian schools. one of the few growth areas in education today. there'ï ü srnse computers will help students Isrirn and in turn make Canada a more çonipetitivc country. While students are using computrrs in intrresting ways. the qtimisni nlüy not be entircly würrianted. Instead of nishing to connect classroorns. schools mtiy wnt to slow down and look at where the expensive rquiprnent ctin br used in the most effective ways. This thesis will look at how computers are being used in clrissroonis. why schools are computerizing and whether computers cmhelp students Irarn. It will then look at the cost of cornputerization at ü timr of cutbacks and some of ihc hidden coïts cornputers bring with them. including ties to the business world and cinlint. i~dwnising. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1 would like to rxtend a sincere thank you to the individuals who volunteered their t i me to cissist in the resrÿrch process. pu-ticularl y students and staff at Lillooet Srcondan, Scli«ol and Brentwood Bay Elrmeniary School in British Columbia and Brookfirld High Schoal and .Mutchmor Public School in Ottawa. Thanks also to the l'i~*torilriVrw in Victoria. British Columbia for allowin,a me to reuse somr of the information 1 had gathered during my two years as a reporter at the neaspiipcr. during which timr 1 covered educiition in the Greater Victoria School District. Thiin k\ also to Carleton Professor Peter Johansen. who provided assistance in aswmhl ing t hr proposa1 for t his project and assisted in üssembling Cli~rprrrFi'iir. Finally. ~hünkyou to rny thrsis advisor Dan Pottier whose tirnr. patience and thouphtful commrnts were appreciated throughout the rrsearch and writing process. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Prehce: .............................................................................1 II Introduction: ....................................................................3 III Chaptcr One: Smlirt classrooms . man kids'? ............... 17 IV Chaptcr Turo: Baçk to Basics ..................................... 37 V Chripvr Thrre: The Great Debüte ................................ 90 VI Chapter Four: Tradr-offs ........................................... 141 VI1 Chaptcr Fivc: YNN and cornmodification ................ 188 VI Il Chapter Six: Spceds bumps ..................................... 231 IX 1ntcrvit.w~.................................................................. 248 S Docunwnts Cited .......................................................7 - 1 XI Docuriwnts Consulted .................................................. 263 PREFACE Thi thrsis is designed to offer some insizht into how compiiters are being used in Canadian clnssrooms today. for what reasons and at what cosi. Due to the scope of the projeci -- and the size of Canada -- it was not possible to observe classrooms throughout the country. ;\cçordin~ly. observations will be limited to sçhools in Victoria and Lillooet in British Columbia and the Ottawa area of Ontario. Because observations were limited to B.C. and Ottawa schools. rrsearch at the governmrnt lcvcl is also focused on Ontario and British Colunihia. It aras hoped that in çhoosing thosr two provinces a rringr: of experiencrs coiild be found. Not only are the two provinces separateci geoi~raphically.they rire wpürnred poliriçall>,.British Columbia is sovcrned by the New Dernomtic Party and ~ilihi~~glischool districts in that province have experiencrd cutbacks to education fundins. ihcy hwtin*t experiencrd them to the same cxtent as boards in Ontario. _oovrmed b y r he consrrvnt ive Mikr Harris _oovrrnment. Whrircvcr possible. information has been provided about poliçies and programs in othcr parts of the country -- and in many cases the situations are similar throughout the country -- howevrr there is an emphasis on prograrns in B.C. and Ontario. INTRODUCTION Roger Lnuzon sits apan from the rest of the students in Joei Wrinch's senior draftin? class ît Lillooet Secondary School in British Columbia. The only Grade 12 student in the Grade 1 1 - 12 ciass. Lauzon is a year's wonh of assignments ahead of the othrr students. In sonie wys. Wrinch says. Lauzon is also ahead of him whrn it cornes to understanding the coniputer progrüm usrd in the dratiing class. Lriuzon's intense brown eyrs are holienrd somewhat by his dark hiiir and olive skin. but his interest in computers shines through in those eyes as he eagerly esplains how rasily computers can he incorporrited into the drahing class. as well as the role thcy can play. The drafting class is heid in a lab with 14 cornputers. 10 of which are licensed to run a hiaie-of-the-an drlitiins program called Micro Station. The cost of the licence was S4.0 hr rwo ycars. and Wrinch isn't sure the school will bc able to afford to renrw it when it cspirc5 in Septcmhcr 200 1. Although Lauzon says hr'd riither work in mrchanics than in Jrafting riticr he graduates. he is convincrd Micro Station helps draRing studenis leam and thît the school should do what it crin to make sure the licence is renewed. The prosram. he says. isn't difficult to leam. And once it's lelirned. it not only saves tirne so students can movr onto more cornplicüied projects fiister. but provides students with a riinse of onscreen views they may othrwise never ser. Lauzon. for examplr. spent threr wceks desipine a hotel with the program -- line by linr. block by block. Once dcsipd. the cornputer progrm rnüblcd him to look ai the hotel frorn üny angle. It îllows full-ürchitectural rendering of designs. using colour choices pickrd by the designer. The program. which also does t hree-dimensional mapping. rven allows for landscapin_oout side the designed buildings. "This is the bcst way to lem." Lauzon says. "1 could probably spend my whole lik on 3 hrrc and not lram everything there is to learn." And. üccording to Lauzon. more teachers should use computers and software of this calibre in their clrissrooms. "In todriy's technological age. I think more money should be spent on computers. ht.c:i~ist. cuniputers arc being used more and more -- more and more jobs are gains to use compiitt'rii.. In inan? uyS. Lauzon would bç the perfrct spokrspcrson for govemmenis intrnt on sreing cornputers in every Canadian classroom. al1 hooked up to the Internet. and soon. Laumn i\ \O Îrnpwssed with computers. he wçnt out and houeht his own just before Chrihtniii5 l +IO -- ;I Pcntiurn proccssor driven machine which. packrigrcl wirh vanous progrm\ tic cliow himself. cost $2.099. Though he likrs to play ymes sometimes. Lniizim \;I> tic ii\r.\ the computer mainly for school work. There's a lot of information iiv;iiliihlc. Iic .II! ..including copies of old provincial exams which clin be used as study ai& ;iiid iiiii~~~.iI\in hubjects likr math and physiçs. BLI~u 11 i IL- L..iii/on could be a poster boy for computers in the clüssroom. he also cpiio~iii/~\wiiis ol-ihe pittalls -- likr Iazy rescarch. a hesitancy to read and lrss lrarning. Bduic IIC Iwiipli~hi5 own computer. Lauzon had used his mother's for projects. His nicirb iiiqw\d. Iic zays. becausr his projects "looked more professional" than those his cl;i\iii;iiC\ hlh! tiiind. Lauzon uscd word processine propams Cor English assignmrnts ih~iiwiil~i c.ii~-II Iiir iiiistakçs wiih spell check and grammar check. mistakes that again woulil LIIIIW~iccd hy many students unaided by computrrs. Tlicii ilicrc'r L;iiiz«n's favourite commands -- cut and paste. With many of his projects nou . Iic \;I! \. tic doesn't have to read very much. He completed a project on B.C. last ycür h! ciii Iin; and pasting tiom Encarta 98 and Web sites on rhr Intemet. He says he did a "litrlc bit" 01- rcwritin_oand designed a title page. "I don' t think I iictually read everything that was in there." Lauzon says. matter-of- factly. unaware that his tactics were at best unethical and at worst constituted plagiarism. He sa'.; he doesn't feel guilty. He got a good mark and contends he did the research hiniself -- downloading it from the CD-ROM encyclopedia and the Intemet. Sure. students c»dd iilso çopy out of books and bound encyclopedias in the past. but at least then they hud t« rcad it and rewrite it rather than juxt trinsporting the materiül from one document to anotlictr with two simple commünds. Though Wrinch trüches with computers. he's well ciware of such drawbacks.