Running Head: Instructional Technology in K-12 Schools

Whats Happening in Instructional Technology: Trends and their Consequences for the
Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade.
Charles Wilcox
California State University Monterey Bay
IST524 Instructional Technology
November 26, 2014

Instructional Technology in K-12 Schools

As the topic of instructional technology in education comes into the forefront more and
more with each passing school year, the debate continues to rage with regard to how and to what
degree teachers will integrate technology and online learning into the classroom. There seem to
be as many opinions as there are educators and thus the task of completing an academic paper
based upon any one consensus in particular may be considerably daunting. This paper will focus
on three main topics; what the current issues and trends there are in fully online and modified
distance learning academies in California for grades K-12, how public K-12 educators are
implementing online learning into traditional classrooms and the direction public education is
going in terms of online learning and distance education.
There are many challenges facing school districts in terms of instructional technology.
School district administrators are faced with difficult decisions each school year in terms of how
school budgets will be used for new curriculum. As our technologies become more
sophisticated, questions such as whether the money is spent on traditional textbooks or on
etextbooks is becoming more of an issue. There is also the question of equity in terms of internet
availability in rural areas and how that affects those school districts (Cook, 2014). The question
of equitable access to all of these new instructional technologies comes into play when
discussing adoption of new curriculum, in what form that curriculum takes, and how it will be
delivered. This is not only important in terms of technology and the availability of it, but also
with how the new Common Core Standards affect new curriculum being developed. According
to a recent Project Tomorrow survey, approximately 58% of the 325,000 respondents in grades 3
through 12 affirmed access to devices such as smartphones, tablets, ereaders or notebook
computers (Project Tomorrow, 2013). This statistic demonstrates the difficulty educators face
when integrating instructional technology with the expectation that students will have access to

Instructional Technology in K-12 Schools

the materials outside of the classroom. If only 58% of the overall student body has internet
access, it does not allow for equity on the part of the students who lack such services. The
question is how do school districts compensate for this lack of equity?
It is also necessary to discuss the issue of online private K-12 schools such as k12.com.
Online schools such as k12 provide online curriculum for elementary through secondary schools.
However these online schools frequently come at a cost to the student and they are only available
to those with an internet connection. Wireless technology is rapidly closing the gap on those
who have access to the internet, but the biggest gap remains with those who live in rural areas
where internet access is still in the future. While school districts in urban locations such as Los
Angeles and San Diego are spending more than $700 per pupil on tablets and notebooks loaded
with curriculum (Blume,Ceasar, 2013), rural schools without wireless internet access are having
a hard time justifying the purchase of such technology when their one-time budget for new
technology is mandated from the state of California for $200 per student (Oh, 2014). The most
pressing issue as it stands now would be to enable the schools and school districts in rural areas
to gain access to wireless technology. Rural students would be able to take advantage of the
same technology that students in urban areas have, whether that technology is in their local
public school or through online private schools.
With regard to online K-12 education, there remains considerable debate as to how well
students perform in that environment as compared to students in traditional classrooms. Studies
have shown that, when compared to traditional classrooms, online students perform the same if
not slightly better (Barbour, 2013). However there remain questions with regard to the rigor and
subjectivity of online classes as well as the type of learner that tends to succeed in an online
environment as opposed to traditional classrooms. In addition, Barbour points out that those

Instructional Technology in K-12 Schools

students who tend to do well in an online environment are self-motivated and self-directed
(Barbour p.9). The conclusion that can be drawn from this analysis is that online coursework
tends to favor those types of students who would most likely thrive in any particular academic
environment.
Online schools such as K12.com offer coursework that is aligned with the Common Core
Standards, and while there are options for students to purchase teacher-led curriculum delivered
strictly online, there are also both full curricular private and public online schools. These public
online schools are tuition free and receive funding from public sources. Online public schools
may appear to be a current viable option for families who tend to move frequently, such as
military families, as well as students who may be home-bound for different reasons such as
health issues.
Public educators in grades K-12 adopt online curriculum in different ways, depending on
grade level and subject matter. Educators are also using different technologies for different
classroom purposes. For example, Google Classroom is a new set of online, cloud-based tools
for teachers. Google Classroom provides organization of assignments, assessment design,
classroom management tools, classroom organization and website hosting. (Google.com, 2014)
While Google Classroom is available to public school teachers, it can only be accessed once the
school district has adopted it. This is done for classroom privacy purposes; consequently those
without district access will find it difficult to learn as much about the product as is possible with
those who do have access.
However, there tends to be some teacher reluctance to the use of online curriculum in the
classroom and its effectiveness. This reluctance may be due in large part to such factors as the
teachers personal comfort with new technologies and time allotted by the district for training,

Instructional Technology in K-12 Schools

coupled with a lack of tech support and specialists to teach students computer literacy prior to
integration of online curriculum (Mumtaz p.3). In order to find solutions to these concerns, one
must understand that the concerns on the part of these educators are valid in that the students and
the teachers will need to know how to use the technology before they can use it to their fullest
extent. For example, the new Smarter Balanced test in public K-12 schools, which has replaced
the STAR end-of-year test is integral to this discussion. The Smarter-Balanced test is now being
administered to third through twelfth grade students for language arts and math assessment at the
end of the school year. These tests are administered exclusively on computers. Students take
each portion of the test on the computer and are allowed only scratch paper during math testing,
but they are encouraged to use the calculators provided on the computer screen. Consequently,
students must know how to successfully navigate through the program in order to take the test.
Since the students are being assessed for language arts and math, they need to be able to use the
program with the same ease of use as if they were taking a paper test. As both educators and
students learn to use these new technologies with greater automaticity, the trend will continue to
move toward greater integration of instructional technology into the K-12 classroom as it
becomes mandated from the state level, but it will take some time for students and teachers to
use new technology with automaticity.
The trend in public K-12 education is moving toward instructional technology in terms of
etextbooks, online formative and summative assessment, classroom management, family
communication, classroom flipping and global collaboration. While there remains resistance to
incorporation of new technologies into the classroom (Mumtaz, 2000), it would seem that the
evidence of how these new technologies are trending toward ease of use and integration, coupled
with the adoption of the new Common Core Standards demonstrates a certain inevitability. The

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role of the online educator as opposed to the classroom teacher will evolve as well in terms of the
perception of the teacher/student relationship. How the teacher interacts with the student in an
online format is inherently different than from a regular classroom environment in terms of time
and space. How the teacher conducts lectures, assessments and student interaction will require
them to create a paradigm shift (Easton, p.95) in their approach to teaching. For the online
teacher, or the classroom teacher integrating online teaching into the classroom to enhance
learning, there must be an ability on the part of the teacher to be able to use the technology with
automaticity and utilize it to enhance learning. The online teacher needs to understand both the
medium and the curriculum before implementing the new teaching method (Barbour, 2013). As
with any new technology, this integration of curriculum and the technology medium will require
time to design, develop, implement and evaluate.
As the evidence provided in this paper would suggest, the trend in K-12 education is
toward greater integration with instructional technology. The greater the capabilities of online
instruction, the more possibilities there are for instructional design and the use of newer
technologies as they become available. There will be challenges in how these technologies are
developed to their fullest extent. Since the field remains relatively new, there is little recorded
data to use for the assessment of how useful new programs are and how well they are being
designed (Barbour 2013). It remains critical for the instructional designer in this case to analyze
every learning situation and design the optimum instructional strategy, regardless of how or
which technological medium is concerned. It is imperative that the instructional designer
compare and contrast the difference between online instruction and classroom instruction. What
is important is that the instructional design is customized for the media that it is to be presented
in, and for the learners who will be using it. As Lowes points out, classroom instruction and

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online instruction come with different instructional methods which are exclusive to each media
and the differences must be acknowledged in the design (Lowes, 2005). It is important to be
objective when investigating new technologies as they become available and determine if they
will facilitate learning better than other methods. Public education is at a critical juncture as it
integrates these new techniques and technologies. How educators and administrators choose to
integrate them is of equal importance as to what will be used, but the future of K-12 Education
and instructional design seem to be cemented in place together.

Instructional Technology in K-12 Schools

References

Barbour, M. K. (2013). The landscape of K-12 online learning: Examining what is known.
Handbook of distance education, 3, 574-593.

Blume, H., & Ceasar, S. (2013). As schools give students computers, price of l.a.s program
stands out. L.A. times online. Access date: 11/29/2014.

Cook, G. (n.d.). Money matters: paying for technology. American school board journal.
Accessed 11/28/2014.

Easton, S. S. (2003). Clarifying the instructor's role in online distance learning.Communication

Education, 52(2), 87-105.

Google Classroom (n.d.). Google.com/edu/products/productivity-tools/classroom/. Accessed:

11/27/2014.

Lowes, S. (2005). Online teaching and classroom change: The impact of virtual high school on
its teachers and their schools. Unpublished manuscript.

Mumtaz, S. (2000). Factors affecting teachers' use of information and communications

technology: a review of the literature. Journal of information technology for teacher
education, 9(3), 319-342.

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Project Tomorrow (n.d.). Tomorrow.org/speakup/index.html. Accessed 11/29/2014

Smarter Balanced Test (n.d.). Smarterbalanced.org. Accessed 11/26/2014