Project RE-TECH: An Investigation of Technology Effectiveness in Higher Education Classrooms for Preservice Special Education Teachers

Carl L. Ferguson Jr., Assistant Professor
Department of Teacher Education
Nicholls State University
P.O. Box 2035
Thibodaux, LA 70310
Voice(504)448-4338
Fax (504) 448-4926
Internet: te-clf@nich-nsunet.nich.edu

Jane Mangum, Professor
Department of Teacher Education
Nicholls State University
P.O. Box 2035
Thibodaux, LA 70310
Voice (504) 448-4316
Fax (504) 448-4926
Internet: te-jm@nich-nsunet.nich.edu

Web Posted on: November 22, 1997

Introduction

The explosion of computer hardware and the software applications to manipulate this hardware permeates the pedagogical fiber of every educator today (Large, Beheshti, Breuleux, & Renaud, 1994). Educators are constantly bombarded with the heralded news that the latest multimedia technology will revolutionize the way children are taught and the way they will learn (Daiute & Morse, 1994). Moreover, the general public is often equally mesmerized and frenzied by the mindnumbing rhetoric associated with computer company advancements, such as the recent release of Microsoft's Windows '95, which in turn translates into large annual purchases of hardware and software packages (Wolf, 1996).

Although the availability of the new multimedia hardware and software is slow to arrive at some educational institutions, many in education across the country are exploring uses of this technology to enhance student learning and achievement (Bransford, Sherwood, Hasselbring, Kinzer, Williams, 1990; Swan, 1994). Applications for students of all ages abound in multiple areas of interest and range from talking or "living books" on CD-ROM to teaching complex medical procedures in an interactive computer simulated environment. Yet the amount of research conducted to evaluate the use of the new technologies as a teaching tool is scarce and only beginning to emerge.

Statement of Problem

Identifying the effective instructional components of technology is best illustrated in the computer assisted instruction (CAI) literature. Several reviews of research on CAI have found that drill and practice software produce measurable increases in student achievement on standardized tests (Vinsonhaler & Bass, 1972; Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, & Kulik, 1985). Also more recent reviews have used meta-analytic procedures to identify and compare studies' effect sizes and have found that shorter CAI treatments were more effective than longer treatments for increasing student achievement and produced larger effect sizes (Liao & Bright, 1991; Khalili & Shashaani, 1994). The data on the use of multimedia technology is less clear.

The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt University (1993) has been researching the use of interactive laserdiscs to increase the higher order thinking skills and problem-solving abilities of elementary students. Through the use of contextualized video segments students are taught how to solve mathematical problems and generate new problems. Results of their research with typically developing fifth and sixth grader found a greater ability of students to solve multi-step problems over students in traditional mathematics instruction. The Jasper experiment, however, only researched one aspect of multimedia instruction; the use of video and videodiscs.

Although preliminary multimedia research has been conducted at the elementary and secondary level, almost no published research is available on the efficacy of multimedia instructional formats with students in higher education.

Method

In this study we propose to accomplish two major goals:

• 1) Develop a multimedia product for use as an introduction to Direct Instruction for undergraduate and graduate students in special education;
• 2) Evaluate this multimedia product through a research study conducted on the Nicholls campus.

Goal One

One of the major theoretical, practical and methodological underpinnings of our teacher education program in Special Education is the teaching of Direct Instruction (DI). DI has been a predominant method used with students at-risk for school failure since it's emergence in the 1970's (Kinder, & Carnine, 1991). DI, and it's commercially available curricula, are complex and not easily comprehended by most NSU undergraduate and graduate students. A multimedia presentation of DI is believed to be an instructional method useful for teaching NSU students the basics of DI and to contextualize the complexities of this instructional approach. There are not currently any multimedia products on the market for teaching DI besides some training videotapes. Hence, the development of this product represents a significant contribution to our profession and could lead to further external funding from state and federal sources.

Goal Two

The development of any instructional product must be tested for it's effectiveness and whether it produces the desired results. Our second goal of this proposal is to execute a research study that examines the implementation of our multimedia product with undergraduate students in education. We propose to test the multimedia product with students randomly chosen from three sections of EDUC 211, The Psychology and Education of the Exceptional Child. Each semester the Department of Teacher Education offers three sections of EDUC 211; often with three different instructors. This situation interfaces well with our research design. We are proposing to implement three different presentations, or treatments, of the multimedia product. The first treatment consists of the multimedia product as an individual learning station. Students randomly chosen for this treatment will go to an independent learning station in the College of Education's Technology Resource Center and peruse the product independently. The second treatment will consist of the multimedia product presented as a whole group presentation with one of the researchers acting as the facilitator. The third treatment will also consist of whole group instruction but will consist of a presentation of the content only with handouts. The information conveyed in each treatment will remain constant; the presentation of the content will be the manipulated or independent variable. The dependent variable will be a pre and post test on DI content that all participants will take. The same participants will also take a second posttest, one month after the treatment, to test long term retrieval of information. Therefore, the research questions we attempt to address are:

• 1) Does instructional presentation of DI content make a significant difference on student attainment of content?
• 2) Are there significant differences between each experimental group on content attainment?
• 3) Is there an instructional presentation format that significantly impacts students' long term retrieval of information?

References

Bangert-Drowns, R. L., Kulik, J. A., & Kulik, C. C. (1985). Effectiveness of computer-based education in secondary schools. Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, 12, 59-68.

Bransford, J. D., Sherwood, R. D., Hasselbring, T. S., Kinzer, C. K., & Williams, S. M. (1990). Anchored instruction: Why we need it and how technology can help. in D. Nix and R. Spiro (Eds.), Cognition, education and multimedia: Exploring ideas in high technology (p. 115-141). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Daiute, C. & Morse, F. (1994). Access to knowledge and expression: Multimedia writing tools for students with diverse needs and strengths. Journal of Special Education Technology, 12, 221-256.

Khalili, A., & Shashaani, L. (1994). The effectiveness of computer applications: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research on Computing in Education. 27, 4861.

Kinder, D., & Carnine, D. (1991). Direct Instruction: What it is and what it is becoming. Journal of Behavioral Education, 1, 193-213.

Large, A., Beheshti, J., Breuleux, A., & Renaud, A. (1994). Multimedia and comprehension: A cognitive study. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45(7), 515-528.

Liao, Y. C., & Bright, G. W. (1991). Effects of computer programming on cognitive outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 7, 251-268.

The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt University. (April, 1993). The Jasper experiment: Using video to furnish real-world problem-solving contexts. Arithmetic Teacher, 474-478.

Swan, K. (1994). History, hypermedia and criss-crossed landscapes. Journal of Educational multimedia and hypermedia, 3, 120-139.

Vinsonhaler, J. F., & Bass, R. K. (1972). A summary of ten major studies on CAI drill and practice. Educational Technology, 12, 29-32.

Wolf, G. (February, 1996). Steve Jobs: The next insanely great thing.Wired, 102-107.