Literature review
Introduction
There has been the adoption of The Common Core States Standards in many states in the United States. The standards are used to enable students learn and have basic skills in the areas that are being taught. The common trends in this field are that of technology use in the testing and learning process. Technology is becoming a common platform where learning takes place. The Common Core Standards have been integrated with technology so that it enables students to learn how to use these techniques. This is not the core reason for this integration; the main reason is to have students be able to learn in all areas in their process of learning. Technology can be used to solve mathematical problems, to enhance the literacy of the students, or to enhance the skill of communication. All these areas are important in and this calls for technology to be integrated in the learning process. There is a need to have technology in the learning process because it is part of the learning process. The Common Core Standards (CCS) that has been used in the learning process has had to include technology. This means that the learning content will have to be changed all the states and their curriculum. This paper will review the various works regarding the new Common Core Standards that are used with the integration of technology. This will be reviewed with particular focus on English Language Arts. There are changes that will be realized with the introduction of technology in this field. The integration of technology in the standards help students has the ability to get knowledge independently. This is because they have the tools that they will use to get this knowledge.
Challenges of technology embedded standards in CCS
There are issues of concern in the process of developing technology standards to be embedded in the Common Core Standards. These issues have not been addresses well. According to Saine (2013), there are issues that should be considered when embedding technology to the standards. Saine (2013) was concerned about equity in the development of these standards. This is something that has not been integrated and considered in the development of this new shift in core standards.
Equity challenge within schools
One of the concerns that have been raised by Saine (2013) is that of equity. The argument is that computer access is not equal in all the colleges. One concern with this is whether all students access the same facilities in their schools. Digital media and internet is not evenly distributed and not readily available to all places due to geographical or economical reasons, there are places where digital media is not yet well established. This will affect the accessibility of the internet by the students who are found in such areas. There are students who cannot access this digital media that would be necessary for the computerized testing. The new testing models that have been computerized include Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). Another model is that of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). PARCC is made of 12 states in the United States and the United States Virgin Islands. The consortium is trying to solve assessment systems. They are undertaking this by trying to come up with a common set of K-12 assessments that will be used in English Language Arts and Mathematics depending on the factor that is required for the college students to be considered ready(Porter, McMaken, Hwang, & Yang, 2011).
There have been effort to address this issue where there have strides to ensure that 99% of students in colleges could access the internet within the next five years. With this promise, the issue that arises is whether teachers would have the necessary skills to impart knowledge and the necessary training to the students. There are issues with which this would be integrated to the learning process.
One interesting issue that needs to be addressed with PARCC is the technology guidelines that were released. The emphasis was put more on the compatibility of the use of computers with the Common Core Standards which have been there in place. There is the issue of capacity planning guideline which is a guide for schools on how they are required to plan for the new developments. Schools are required to prepare for the assessment of technology infrastructure(Mathis, 2010).
Seane (2013) argues that the concerns and the effort that are done by the government in addressing the issue of technology are genuine but not exhaustive. The literature and the effort that has been undertaken regarding PARCC are needed but other issues have been left unattended. One issue that comes into mind is why there are many schools in the United States have not been connected to the fast internet. With the interconnections that are seen in this century, it is hard to understand why there are some places where Internet is not accessible. All students are entitled to gain access to fast Internet. Research shows that 80% of schools have Internet access in the United States. The Internet and technology use include the use of iPads, computers, and smartboard while teaching. It is also important to assess whether the teachers were well equipped to undertake the assessment and integration of technology(Carmichael & Martino, 2010).
Capacity planning and preparedness
One other issue that has not been addressed in integrating technology for Common Core Standards and assessment is that of preparedness by the concerned parties. Research shows that few schools have the plans and capacity to assess the students in their preparedness to use Common Core Standards which has been infused with technology. Different schools have different plans that they use to introduce student testing. There is a need that schools have the right tools in order to integrate technology in their curriculum and the testing process(Initiative, 2010).
Bandwidth and support
The issue of bandwidth availability in all places has been a challenge in world. There are efforts that have been put in place by the government but then it is not enough. This is because of the fact that many issues still exist regarding connectivity of the whole country. There are spots where wireless connections have been set. Although this is the case, this is still an issue because the wireless connections are not strong enough to support the program. With the integration of technology in CCSS, there is a need to have reliable and efficient connectivity. This aspect is not caused by the teachers and school administrators. It is caused by the lack of the government to improve the infrastructure that has been put in place. Bandwidth is a crucial parameter that has been cited as an urgent issue of concern. Many teachers and school administrators agree that it is one of the limiting factors in the implementation of technology based CCSS(Saine, 2013).
Another issue of concern is the lack of proper training and support. Support is an important aspect with the use of technology. This is because technology keeps on changing. There are instances where teachers have struggled to get technology and learn how it works while in class. They spent most of their time in trying to learn the technology that they use instead of concentrating in the CCSS and the testing process. The process of integrating technology is an important one that should be assessed and undertaken well in schools. Without proper support, technology can cause distraction instead of the purposes with which they were intended to undertake. Implementations like Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) are an example where technology can bring distractions while working(Krubsack, n.d.).
The use of technology to undertake CCSS demands many things that have not been provided. This is the reason why schools are constantly in search for the required capacities in this process. Many schools are faced with capacity planning issues as they have not put in place strictures and plans to address this new CCSS standard that uses technology. Many teachers have expressed concerns about technology-based CCSS. It is argued that this CCSS model demands a lot from the teachers and the school administration. There is a need to change many things within the school. This process is found to be involving as there would be a need to almost completely overhaul the structure of the school. The main concern is that of the school to provide the infrastructure and the tools that will be used by the students. This is in the quest to solve the issue of availability of the required infrastructure(Saine, 2013).
The issue of equity and support is an important one because it differentiates the students who are able uses CCSS which has been integrated with technology and those that do not access this model of CCSS. This, therefore, shows that equity and support are important components that need to be addressed so that the program is considered to be successful. The poor equipment of the Internet for some schools, like district schools, will have the students and teachers at a disadvantaged position. One issue that has been stated is that there are issues that should be addressed by the government. One issue is that of having the right infrastructure. Students may be disadvantage not because of the lack of infrastructure from the school but because of the lack of support from the government(Shulman, 1986).
Technology is seen to affect from both perspectives. The first perspective is that it works well when it is in place and enhances learning in schools. This is the reason why it is implemented in the first place. If there is no bandwidth and enough support, it will make the teachers to be apprehensive about the use of technology in their daily routine(Initiative, 2010).
New literacies with technology based CCSS
With technology, there have been concerns and predictions that there will be changes in the curricula of the various states. This is because technology has changed the process of communication the world over. This is expected to change the content that is taught in many schools. There will be new literacies in many schools. The changes come as a result of new approaches to teaching and the new parameters that are brought about by technology. This is true with the fact that many children turn to media instead of the print media. Many children spend their time on the Internet and in using technology. This will change the literacies in Language Arts. New literacies are normally associated with digital media and especially with the use of information and communication technologies.
One issue that is faced in integrating technology and literacies in the young learners is the nature of technology. Technology keeps on evolving and thus the young learners will change with the changing technology. There are no support from teachers to support this changing paradigm and new source of literacies. There is a need to ensure that eth learners are supported as they explore the digital media and be guided on the new forms of literacies.
Bridging content knowledge
There is a need to look beyond technology itself while addressing the aspect of CCSS. This is because CCSS is already integrated. There is a need to have a way in which this new technology will be taught to the students. It is not so much about what to have the learners get but much about how the technology is being taught. This is the aspect of pedagogy. The educators need to construct a way in which technology can be taught so that the young learners can have a way of constructing knowledge. This is an important issue that should be addressed. In the quest to integrate technology to CCSS, many teachers strive to learn the content of technology and forget to learn how best to pass this important information to the young learners. This idea was proposed by Shulman (1986) where there was the mention of pedagogical knowledge and the content that is being taught. What results was the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)(Roberts, Shedd, & Norman, 2010).
In the past, there have been difficulties for teachers in their quest to integrate technology in their teaching process in meaningful ways. This is because the main focus was the learning of the technology itself instead of learning technology in order to be used to learn other areas. Technology has been the center of focus instead of being a means of learning new areas of literacy. The new CCSS call for technology to be used in learning other areas and not a new area of learning in itself. It has been emphasized that technology should be used as a tool and not as content that should be learned. Technology should be used as a tool that will serve the learning of other areas like communication, collaboration, and ideas synthesis. With the support of tools that support this new approach, there are many successes that have been reported concerning the use of technology in learning.
Conclusion
This literature has been undertaken and has contributed in understanding the challenges that are faced by teachers and schools while striving to adopt technology in CCSS. The literature has been exhaustive and has delved in a wide coverage so that the issues that affect the teachers and students have been addressed. One drawback is that there is no much study on the effort that have been undertaken in all states and the rest of the world concerning the use of technology in CCSS. This is one thing that is missing and should be aspect of future research.
References
Carmichael, S., & Martino, G. (2010). The State of State Standards--and the Common Core--in 2010. Thomas B. Fordham .
Initiative, C. C. S. S. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History. Social Studies, Science, and Technical .
Krubsack, J. (n.d.). Common Core Standards. cvmuseum.com.
Mathis, W. (2010). The “Common Core” standards initiative: An effective reform tool. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public .
Porter, A., McMaken, J., Hwang, J., & Yang, R. (2011). Common core standards the new US intended curriculum. Educational Researcher.
Roberts, K., Shedd, M., & Norman, R. (2010). The Common Core Standards on Technology : Feature Articles.
Saine, P. (2013). Implementation and assessment of technology-based Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts: An exploratory study. Technology in the Classroom, 100–105.
Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.
