Integration of the Internet into the Curriculum - Professional Development Strategies at St. Michael's Grammar School

Tony Carrucan Email: carrutss@stmichaels.vic.edu.au Deputy Head of English, Coordinator - Year 10 Computer Applications

Tony Crewe Email: crewetss@stmichaels.vic.edu.au Director of Computing, Head of Information Technology

St. Michael's Grammar School, Redan St, St. Kilda, VIC, 3182. Phone (03) 9529 4577, Fax (03) 9510 9392
Home Page - http://www.stmichaels.vic.edu.au

Keywords: Internet, Curriculum, Secondary Education, Primary Education

Introduction

This poster describes how St. Michael's Grammar School has integrated the Internet into its Curriculum and its plans for 1997 and beyond.

Background

St. Michael's Grammar School is an independent school in Melbourne, Victoria which in 1994 committed itself to using the Internet in a meaningful way across the curriculum. In 1996 all computers in the School's network have access to the Internet. Each student and staff member has their own e-mail address. A number of key staff have committed themselves to the development of the appropriate curriculum strategies and effective professional development activities.

History of Internet Access

In May 1994, the School decided to explore the educational possibilities of the Internet. The School invested in two 14.4 modems; one was connected to an existing desktop computer in the staffroom, and the other was connected with a notebook computer that staff could borrow to take home. These connections were certainly frustrating due the unreliability of the connection and the incredible amount of time taken to down load documents from the Internet. Although there were obvious drawbacks with this initial connection, there were also several positive eventualities. The access helped identify key members of staff who were prepared to commit to the technology. The staff notebook also helped overcome the perennial problem of finding time to develop new skills.

In October 1994, the School decided to investigate different strategies to incorporate the Internet into the curriculum. Working with OzEmail, trials were made connecting seven desktop computers but we were disappointed once again with the reliability and the speed of access.

In 1995, the School finally decided to solve our access difficulties by installing a 64K ISDN line. The School now operates with a Novell network incorporating a UNIX box. There are three laboratories and the library which incorporates 110 desktop computers. 1300 students and 150 staff have their own e-mail address, and all have open access to the World Wide Web. They access their accounts using a log-in and individual password. Our decision (in keeping with the School's philosophy ) to provide unlimited and unrestricted access to the Internet certainly generated interest and speculation in the print and electronic media.

Although considered, the School decided against the development a contract which detailed the appropriate use of the Internet. We are aware that other schools have requested that students and parents sign this document. While we obviously respect that decision we have not implemented such a move due to our belief that a change in the ethos will develop through providing students with the responsibility to manage their own resource.

The School has established a "rights and responsibilities" document (AUP) that is provided and explained to staff, students and parents. Rather than signing a document we promote staff supervision, program checking services and positioning of workstations to monitor student work on the Internet.

The students are certainly made aware of their responsibilities and stipulations when using the Internet. A breach of this AUP would result in punitive action and/or or pastoral care as would apply in other aspects of the School. If a serious breach occurs the student would be removed from the network for a period of time.

During 1996 an enormous amount of planning has occured with long term strategies being developed. This includes the upgrading our our ISDN connection and network backbone (possibly incorporating an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) set-up). We are planning to upgrade a range of our desktop computers as well as setting up several classrooms as intelligent classrooms, where students can connect notebooks into the School's network.

Such facilities will be needed as the curriculum and student needs continue to develop. We wish to be able to handle the considerable increase in traffic due to enhanced video and sound applications. Services such as video on demand, video conferencing and other microlinks would then be developed.

1997: by utilising the broadband connection it is envisaged that the services offered by integrated multimedia and video conferencing will complement and broaden the learning activities involved in all subjects.

Curriculum Focus

At St. Michael's we believe that all teachers must teach computing in the same manner that all teachers are teachers of language. It is an integral part of all subjects and therefore any work involving the Internet must be justified by legitimate curriculum applications. For instance we would not encourage participation in a project that explores different chemical reactions in a test tube if the same test could be completed in the Science laboratory. We would, however, encourage any work that would broaden existing learning activities. For instance, recently as part of the Year 10 English course, we were examining the issue of racism in our study of a range of texts. Tony Carrucan was concerned that the students' understanding of the issue was confined by the classroom environment, namely geographic restrictions. To take the students beyond their cultural and social awareness, Tony Carrucan designed a collaborative project that was based around our classroom activities. By posting the work on a project service (i.e. HILITES from Global SchoolNet) students from 4 different countries completed the same activities. Subsequent communication and e-mail exchanges between all students certainly broadened the students' understanding of the global problem.

Teacher Concerns

Although we certainly stressed the curriculum as the driving force behind any technological integration we were very conscious of the fact that, simply providing the teachers with the resources and imparting the necessary skills to use the technology, would only satisfy a small component of the staff education. Effective staff inservice programs would have to address the concerns of staff. Unless the teachers were intrinsically motivated, the most comprehensive inservice would have no affect on changing the culture of the teaching environment. Our teachers voiced their concerns:

Our Professional Development program was specifically designed to alter the teacher's role at times, from being 'the sage on the stage' to being `the guide from the side'. We are also trying to get to a level where the technology is invisible. A poet is someone who writes a poem, not someone who uses a pencil. The use of technology is just using the appropriate tool for the task. This process is still ongoing and it incorporates the acquisition of the access skills and advice and strategies on how to conduct a class using the new skills.

Computer Reference Committee

The Computer Reference Group was established in late 1995 to help facilitate the modification of the learning process while ensuring that there was a definite focus and direction among the various members of the School. Again, to reiterate the curriculum thrust in our integration of this technology, this group was formed to include teachers from all faculties, the Junior School and the library, together with senior members of the administration. The group meets weekly and has assumed many important roles:

Professional Development

We have conducted a range of different inservices with varying degrees of success. The first stage was to develop the skill and expertise of the critical mass of staff who had voluntarily joined the Computer Reference Group. These staff attended several inservices and conferences and they also enrolled in accredited courses. On one occasion a specialist from Sydney was flown down to conduct a 'Train the Trainer' course over two days. The only stipulation for the staff who attended this course was that they work with another teacher outside the group to help develop their competence and motivation.

In 1994, all staff had experienced a hands-on inservice using Gopher for document retrieval. This initiative helped to develop an awareness amongst the staff. The administration provided time release for all staff at the start of each term in 1995 for full school inservices. These inservices were conducted by members of the Computer Reference Group. Although these Internet sessions were certainly effective at developing the skill level of the staff, we were surprised that our efforts actually alienated some teachers. It was at this stage that several teachers felt uncomfortable and threatened due to their lack of expertise. Although the Internet is simply a point and click technology, these staff struggled with the basic computing concepts. It is interesting that these staff disguised their discomfort by becoming critical of all moves to integrate the technology into the curriculum.

This trend clarified the point that the critical mass should not always be at the forefront of the educational programs so we decided to work behind the scenes on the next inservice. The actual inservice was certainly the most effective at showing how the technology could be applied in the classroom. We used one of the most valuable resources to achieve this end - the students. Working with teachers from outside of the computer group, we encouraged them to select a boy and girl from their class to explain the procedures and the outcomes of an Internet activity that had taken place in their classroom. The sheer enthusiasm displayed by the students helped to alleviate the concerns of many of the cynics.

After getting more of the staff on side, the next stage was to ensure that a motivated teacher from each faculty worked within their own department to incorporate a range of Internet applications into the curriculum. During this time the Headmaster reiterated the School's commitment to integrate the technology into all aspects of the curriculum. After detailing plans for the future he also clarified the situation that he regarded the acquisition of these new skills as an essential part of teaching expertise. Quite simply, he made it clear that he expected all staff to embrace the technology and reassess and modify their teaching styles to accommodate this thrust.

To ensure that professional development is successful in your school, the program must involve a fully united approach - the teachers, office staff, administration and students must share a common goal. Staff were also helped with their skills and new teaching styles through the adoption of the 'buddy' system. For instance, members of the Computer Reference Committee were given time release to team teach with members of staff who wished to be accompanied in their initial visits to the computer laboratories. This process was certainly effective at countering much of the apprehension that teachers felt when confronted by the technology. In all professional development processes it is vital to allow all parties to express concerns.

Similar to all professional development initiatives, the process is ongoing. New staff are linked up with a mentor who is responsible to ensure a smooth transition occurs. Part of this transition and assimilation is the new staff seminars that detail the School's commitment to the Internet. Obviously these inservices also include hands-on sessions to facilitate skill acquisition. The mentor helps the new teacher with ideas and encouragement to use The Internet as part of their teaching practice.

All teachers are encouraged to develop their own teaching resources by attending conferences and seminars that are specific to their teaching areas. Members of the Computer Reference Committee are also encouraged to attend and present papers at a range of State, National and International conferences. When teachers have attended a technology conference, they are encouraged to present a report to the Computer Reference Committee at one of the weekly meetings. In this way we attempt to promote communication between all faculties.

The School has also been very active in providing educational inservice seminars for outside organisations. To date we have inserviced over 50 schools and conducted a range of conferences for subject associations. Many of our staff have been involved in teaching these groups. Those involved have certainly developed their personal expertise. Importantly the teachers have extended their network of Internet contacts.

St. Michael's Internet Group (SMIG)

While we have explained the importance of professional development of staff, we have yet to accentuate the important role that our students have assumed in helping to integrate the Internet into our curriculum. In 1995 soon after we developed the Computer Reference Committee, we organised a student group named St. Michael's Internet Group. The group comprised 3 boys and 3 girls who were skilled and experienced with the use of the Internet. In accordance with the concepts of self-paced learning and student empowerment that the Internet endorses, this group was given the freedom to work with a degree of independence and initiative on a range of School initiatives. Tony Carrucan is involved with the workings of the group as supervising teacher. His role is to help the students achieve their objectives by acting as a mediator between Faculty Heads, administration, local community and media bodies.

The student group has represented the school on Internet issues and featured widely on electronic and print media due to their achievements.

SMIG's primary objective is to 'assist with the smooth integration of the Internet into the classroom'. They are achieving this aim through the development of St. Michael's home pages and an e-mail Helpdesk.. Members of the group have also presented posters at seminars and together with staff, they help to provide assistance and advice to students in the computer laboratories.

The main way the students have helped staff integrate the technology is through the construction and development of the home pages. SMIG developed a range of pages in response to a brief delivered by the Computer Reference Group. They also met with senior administration staff to clarify aspects of School policy. Once the group understood the direction and the functions desired for our home page, they were given freedom to design the structure, graphics and text for the pages. Tony Carrucan's only role was to proofread the final product before the pages were posted on our server. When the the final product was reviewed we were all made acutely aware of their incredible skill and expertise.

Soon after the posting, the SMIG inserviced staff from the Computer Reference Committee to explain how they created several aspects of the page.

In creating all the material in the St. Michael's Web Pages SMIG have created the following educational resources:
Teacher's Home Page.
  • links to teacher resources, to expand teaching resources.
  • links to connect our teachers to other teachers worldwide.
  • links to collaborative project sites.
  • links to educational and recreational resources.
  • access to a comprehensive page that explains a range of search engines.
  • links to faculty home pages and teachers e-mail addresses for communication and the submission of work via the electronic medium, these faculty pages provide course content, due dates, samples of students work, photographic representations, hypertext versions of texts created by teachers within the School etc.

Official St. Michael's Home Page.
  • several pages here incorporate information on the School, its background, philosophy and history.
  • SMIG also developed a virtual tour of the School, incorporating photographs and video to provide a true representation of the School's facilities.
  • external links to contact staff within the School.

The SMIG have recently changed their group structure to ensure that the workload is spread and the competence of the student body is expanded. The original 6 students - 3 boys and 3 girls - have now assumed corporate roles and they have each accepted the responsibility for three new students to the group. Each 'corporate' student has a particular responsibility ie working with the Heads of Faculty to develop and enhance the Faculty page structure. The more experienced students tutor the novice students and provide them with direction and advice.

Other corporate student members are currently building links with local organisations and businesses. They have also been requested to create pages for subject associations and national corporations.

Tony Carrucan's role is to ensure that the student group are not overcommitted. As a sidelight, many of the students are incorporating SMIG tasks with their class work. They are using home page construction to satisfy Work Requirements in Information technology subjects.

St. Michael's Multimedia User Group (SMMUG)

Another student group that has recently been developed is the St. Michael's Multimedia User Group (SMMUG). This group liaises directly with the SMIG to ensure there is not only a transfer of expertise but also to ensure that a degree of continuity is achieved. In line with the St. Michael's philosophy that students have a direct impact on their learning environment, this autonomous group work on 'real' applications in the preparation of multimedia presentations. Hence the group are actively involved not only in the research and development of multimedia applications, but also in the design and format of teaching and administrative resources. We have also ensured that they receive credit for these resources and they now form part of the course requirements of their VCE/HSC studies.

Projects

The following shows just an example of the range of work in progress or planned for 1996.

Junior School

Senior School

The Future

In the future we will continue to explore and develop the changing nature of teaching while being conscious of the paradigm shift that is occurring. Technically we will be integrating the Internet with a range of broadband services that will accomodate the multi-media aspect of the Internet, interactive services (including Video on Demand), intelligent classrooms and video conferencing. The video conference facility will provide links with industry, foster alliances between like institutions and expand our push in technological campuses and distance learning.

Copyright

Tony Carrucan, Tony Crewe © 1996. The authors assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM, and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author.
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