The level of integration of information technology and curriculum

Author: Ma Ning, Yu Shengquan Institute of Modern Educational Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875

Abstract The article is based on actual teaching Starting from the needs of reform and teaching, the intermediate process and status of the integration of information technology and curriculum were analyzed and discussed in detail. According to the different degrees and depths of the integration of information technology and curriculum, the process was divided into three stages and ten levels. It also introduces in detail the characteristics of each stage and level, the guiding ideology of teaching, main technical features, precautions, etc.

The rapid development of information technology will inevitably lead to comprehensive changes in education from purpose, content, form, method to organization. However, this kind of change will never happen overnight, but will go through many intermediate processes and states. Determining the shape and characteristics of each intermediate process will definitely bring huge reference value to the entire education reform and teachers. Dr. Liu Rude of Beijing Normal University divides the process of integrating information technology and education into four stages: computer literacy training stage, curriculum integration stage, curriculum reform stage, and all-round education reform stage.

However, in the process of practical research on integrating information technology and basic education, we found that the above "four stages" theory is somewhat general and cannot be used to describe specific courses and Detailed evaluation of teaching is not of sufficient significance for actual teaching guidance. Faced with numerous on-site classes and observation classes on curriculum reform, we often say which class is better based on our feelings, but cannot find a standard or basis for evaluation that we can rely on. We don’t know which class has a deeper “reform”. . At present, the role and role of information technology in teaching may vary. It may be a demonstration tool or an interactive tool, but eventually information technology will become an advanced cognitive tool to assist students in learning and drive a comprehensive education reform. So how many stages does the integration of information technology and curriculum go through, from demonstration tools to cognitive tools to final reform? Can it be expressed according to a certain hierarchical progressive relationship?

According to the different degrees and depths of the integration of information technology and curriculum, the integration process can be roughly divided into three stages: the closed, knowledge-centered curriculum integration stage; the open, resource-centered curriculum integration stage Centered curriculum integration stage; comprehensive curriculum integration stage. At different stages, technology investment and student learning investment are different.

According to the views of B. Means and others, the core of modern education reform is to change students' passive learning into engaged learning (Engaged Learning), allowing them to learn in an authentic (Authentic) environment and take on challenging learning tasks. The ultimate goal of applying technology in education is to promote the transformation of learning patterns from low input (passive) to high input (active) [2]. In the teaching process, teaching activities and learning activities have a certain degree of dependence on technology (hereinafter referred to as high dependence and low dependence). According to the learning form and the degree of dependence of teaching on technology, a development process as shown in Figure 1 can be established. There are many ways to achieve the transition from the low dependence and low investment stage to the high dependence and high investment stage. A and b in the figure are different strategic routes. Generally speaking, there is an increasing pattern on both the horizontal and vertical axes. Based on the different levels of student participation in learning throughout the process and the different requirements for the characteristics and functions of information technology based on different levels of student participation, we have refined the three stages of integrating information technology into courses into ten levels. The teaching strategies at each level, students' learning styles, teachers' roles, students' roles, teaching evaluation methods and basis, and the role of information technology at different levels are compared and elaborated. See Table 1, and are discussed in the text. The relevant contents of the three stages and ten levels are discussed in detail.

1. Stage 1: Closed, knowledge-centered curriculum integration

Traditional teaching and most current teaching belong to this stage: all teaching strictly follows the syllabus , sealing students in textbooks or simple courseware, completely isolating them from rich resources and reality. Design all teaching activities according to the arrangement of teaching materials and the requirements of class hours. If the course content is small, arrange some discussions and design more activities. If the course content is large, use the form of "full class teaching" to ensure that there is no timeout and no time limit. A little while.

Although certain tutoring software is used, the current tutoring software is also compiled based on the above ideas, so there is no breakthrough. The entire teaching is conducted under the guidance of "knowledge" as the center. The teaching objectives, teaching content, teaching form and teaching organization are no different from traditional classroom teaching. The entire teaching process is still based on the teacher's teaching, and the students are still passive. The responder and the object of knowledge being instilled. The introduction of information technology has only made some progress in helping teachers reduce their teaching workload, but has not made substantial progress in the development of students' thinking and abilities compared with traditional methods. According to the degree of reliance of teaching on technology and the degree of student investment, this stage can be refined into the following three levels.

1. Information technology as a demonstration tool (total first level)

This is the initial form of information technology used in subject teaching and the lowest level of integration of information technology and curriculum. It is also the level at which most basic education and higher education are currently located.

Teachers can use ready-made computer-assisted teaching software or multimedia material libraries, and select appropriate parts to use in their own explanations; they can also use Powerpoint or some multimedia production tools to comprehensively utilize various teaching materials. Write your own presentations or multimedia courseware to clearly explain the structure of the explanation, vividly demonstrate some of the difficult-to-understand content, or use charts, animations, etc. to show the dynamic change process and theoretical models, etc. In addition, teachers can also use simulation software or external sensors to computers to demonstrate certain experimental phenomena to help students understand the knowledge they have learned. In this way, through reasonable design and selection, computers have replaced traditional media such as slides, projections, chalk, and blackboards, and have achieved educational functions that they cannot achieve.

Of course, the information technology we are referring to here is not a pretentious one as a presentation tool. If the use of information technology cannot achieve the teaching effect of projection, slide show, video, or simply replaces projection, slide show, video and other media and becomes a kind of decoration or embellishment in teaching, its use will be meaningless. Therefore, teaching at this level relies less on information technology and is only used occasionally when necessary. Students can only listen and watch, but have no chance to practice. Therefore, it is still passive learning.

2. Information technology as a communication tool (total second level)

Communication between people is one of the important links in teaching and one of the important factors in the success or failure of teaching. If information technology can be introduced into teaching and create certain communication opportunities between students and teachers, students and students in and out of class, even if it does not directly change teaching strategies and teaching methods, it will certainly promote the cultivation of teachers-student relationships and improve students' learning interest and enthusiasm.

"Information technology as a communication tool" refers to the introduction of information technology into teaching as an auxiliary teaching method, mainly completing the role of emotional communication between teachers and students. To achieve the above goals, complex information technology is not required, and only simple BBS, chat rooms and other tools can be used in a hardware environment with Internet or local area network. Teachers can set up some special topics or chat rooms according to the needs of teaching or students’ interests, such as: I need help, my opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of teachers, etc., and give students the right to freely open special topics and chat rooms, so that they can have opportunities after class Fully communicate about the format of the course, the strengths and weaknesses of the teacher, and unsolvable problems.

Lecture-based teaching is still the main teaching strategy at this level. Students still complete learning tasks in the form of individual homework. The evaluation method is also the same as at the previous level. The role of the teacher and the role of the students have basically not changed. However, teachers have one more job: the organization and management of communication. Due to the arousal of students' emotions and interest in learning, they are more motivated to learn than the previous level. In addition, this level places new requirements on information technology: the use of the Internet and local area networks.

3. Information technology as an individual tutoring tool (the third level)

With the rapid development of computer software technology, a large number of practice software and computer-aided testing software have appeared , allowing students to consolidate and become proficient in the knowledge they have learned through exercises and tests, decide the direction of next step of study, and realize individual tutoring teaching. At this level, computer software partially replaces teachers' functions, such as setting questions, assessing, etc. Therefore, teaching has a strong dependence on technology. In addition, teaching can also pay attention to the individual differences of students to a certain extent. , improve students’ engagement in learning.

The main application technologies include individual tutoring software and communication tools between teachers and students.

According to different learning content and learning goals, the interaction methods provided by individual tutoring software are also different, reflecting different teaching (or learning) methods, thus forming different sub-systems. The model of individual tutoring software reflects the interactive methods when using computers for learning, including: drills and exercises, dialogues, games, simulations, tests, question answering, etc.

At this level, the main teaching strategies adopted include individual tutoring and individualized learning. Although the teaching is still closed and centered on "knowledge", Students have abundant opportunities to come into contact with excellent software and are highly motivated to learn. When they encounter problems in learning, they can ask teachers or other students for advice. Teachers should always pay attention to students' learning progress and provide timely guidance and help when they encounter obstacles or problems. The final evaluation method is still based on tests.

Phase 2: Open, resource-centered curriculum integration

The first phase of information technology and curriculum integration is basically Closed, focusing on individualized learning and teaching. In the second stage, teaching concepts, guiding ideology of teaching design, teachers' roles and students' roles will all undergo major changes. Educators are increasingly paying attention to students' meaning construction of the knowledge they have learned. Teaching design has changed from knowledge-centered to resource-centered and learning-centered. The entire teaching is open to resources. When students learn knowledge in a certain subject, Knowledge of many other subjects can be obtained. Students can complete the cultivation of various abilities on the basis of possessing rich resources. Students become the main body of learning, and teachers become the guides, helpers, and organizers of students' learning. According to the order of cultivating students' abilities from low to high, this stage can be refined into four levels (becoming the overall fifth to eighth levels). The abilities of students focused on cultivating at each level are: information acquisition and analysis. Ability - information analysis and processing ability - collaboration ability - exploration and innovation ability.

1. Information technology provides resource environment (the fourth level)

The information society needs new talents with information capabilities, and information capabilities refer to the acquisition of , the ability to analyze and process information [3]. With the rapid development of network technology, network resources can be said to be vast. How to quickly and accurately find the resources you need in the vast ocean of information, and how to quickly judge the resources? Value and making trade-offs, and how to rationally recombine resources for your own use are all related to the success or failure of individuals and teams. Using information technology to provide a resource environment is to break through the limitation that books are the main source of knowledge, use various related resources to enrich closed and isolated classroom teaching, and greatly expand the amount of teaching knowledge, so that students no longer just learn the content in textbooks. But it can broaden your mind and see the thoughts of hundreds of schools of thought.

At this level, students’ information ability is mainly cultivated to obtain information and analyze information, so that students can achieve multi-faceted understanding of things in the process of screening large amounts of information. learn. Teachers can organize the required resources before class, save them in a specific folder or create an internal website, and let students access the folder to select useful information; they can also provide students with appropriate reference information, such as URLs , search engines, related people, etc., students themselves go to the Internet or resource libraries to collect materials. In comparison, the latter can cultivate students' ability to obtain and analyze information better than the former. However, due to the limitations of the real environment, such as slow Internet speed, low students' information processing capabilities, and inability to access the Internet, the first method can also be used, but teachers are required to provide as many resources as possible to allow students to process the information. Possibility of "filtering".

This level is the basis for all subsequent levels of teaching. In the information society, students can create and invent only when they find resources.

2. Information technology as an information processing tool (the fifth level)

The upper level mainly cultivates students’ information acquisition and analysis capabilities, emphasizing students’ ability to process large amounts of information. Comprehensive understanding and learning of things in the process of filtering information. This level mainly cultivates students' information ability to analyze and process information, and emphasizes students' reorganization, processing and re-application of information in the process of rapid extraction of large amounts of information.

This level cannot be established alone and must rely on "information technology to provide resource environment" - if there are no resources for exploration and information acquisition cannot be achieved, information analysis and processing cannot be carried out at all, which also shows that this level is more The fourth floor is advanced.

In this level of teaching, the focus is on cultivating students' information processing capabilities and fluent expression of thinking, so as to internalize a large amount of knowledge. Task-based teaching strategies can be used at this level, and are suitable for all grades from the upper grades of primary school to above. For example, let sixth-grade students write a composition about the place you most yearn for. Students can freely travel online and choose the mountains and rivers of their motherland. The magnificent scene, and then reprocess the text, graphics, etc., and write a beautiful and touching composition in Word.

During the teaching process, teachers should pay close attention to the entire information processing process of students and provide timely guidance and help when they encounter difficulties.

3. Information technology as a collaborative tool (total sixth level)

Compared with individualized learning, collaborative learning is conducive to promoting students’ advanced cognition The development of abilities helps to cultivate students' cooperative awareness, skills, abilities, sense of responsibility and other qualities, so it has received widespread attention from educators. However, in traditional classroom teaching, teachers are often powerless due to limitations in the number of students, teaching content and other factors. Computer network technology provides a good technical foundation and supporting environment for the integration of information technology and courses to achieve collaborative learning. The computer network environment has greatly expanded the scope of collaboration and reduced the unnecessary expenditure of energy on collaboration. In the collaborative learning process based on the Internet network, there are four basic collaboration modes: competition, collaboration, partnership and role-playing [4]. Different types of collaborative learning in organizations have different levels of technology requirements.

Competition refers to two or more learners conducting competitive learning through the Internet for the same learning content or learning situation to see who can achieve the teaching objectives first. While cultivating students' skills and abilities, they also cultivate students' competitive awareness and abilities. In online collaborative learning based on the competition model, the learning system generally proposes a problem or goal and provides students with relevant information to solve the problem or achieve the goal. When learners start learning, they first select a competitor from the list of online learners (you can also choose a computer as a competitor), negotiate a competition agreement, and then start to solve learning problems independently. During the learning process, learners can see the status of their competitors and their own status, and learners can adjust their learning strategies based on their own status and that of the other side. Competition is generally carried out with the support of highly intelligent online teaching software.

Collaboration means that multiple learners complete a learning task together. In the process of completing the task together, the learners give full play to their cognitive characteristics. , argue with each other, help each other, remind each other or carry out division of labor and cooperation. Learners' deep understanding and comprehension of learning content are gradually formed in this process of close communication and coordination with peers. Collaboration requires the support of a variety of network technologies, such as video conferencing systems, chat rooms, message boards, etc.

Partnership is a process of finding students in the online environment who are similar to their partners in the real environment, and then collaborating and making progress together. Another form of partnership is for an intelligent computer to play the role of a partner, studying and playing with students, and giving advice when necessary.

Role-playing refers to the process in which students play a certain role in a situation similar to reality or history created using network technology and learn from each other in the role. To realize role-playing, real-time interactive network tools are generally used, such as: net-meeting, video conferencing, multi-functional chat rooms, etc.

It can be found that in the above four learning modes, learning and teaching basically occur with the support of network technology, and students spend most of their time in a state of investment. .

4. Information technology as a research and development tool (total seventh level)

Although we emphasize the processing and processing of information, as well as the cultivation of collaboration capabilities, But the most important thing is to cultivate students' ability to explore, discover and solve problems on their own, and have creative thinking skills. This is the ultimate goal of education. In teaching to achieve this goal, information technology plays the role of "research and development tool".

Many tool-based teaching software can provide good support for teaching and learning at this level. For example, in middle school mathematics teaching, the geometric sketchpad can provide students with the opportunity to do things on their own and explore problems: when faced with problems, students can put forward their own assumptions and reasoning through thinking and collaboration, and then use the geometric sketchpad to verify; in addition, Students can also use the geometric sketchpad to conduct experiments on their own to discover and summarize some mathematical rules and phenomena, such as: the sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180 degrees, the existence and calculation of pi, etc. With the rapid development of information technology, the application of new technologies in teaching provides strong support for students' exploration and learning. For example, in economics courses, virtual reality technology can simulate real business situations, allowing students to learn in various fields. Make decisions and choices under real and complex conditions to improve students' ability to solve real problems.

Exploratory teaching and problem-solving teaching are both teaching models that use information technology as a research and development tool, and they have also achieved certain results. However, how to better utilize the role of information technology and design a model that can better cultivate students' creative thinking ability is still one of the directions that all educational personnel at home and abroad are striving for.

Phase 3: Comprehensive curriculum integration

Although the seven levels in the first two stages are very different from each other, they , they have not carried out comprehensive reform and informatization of teaching content, teaching objectives, and teaching organizational structure. When the first seven levels are promoted and used on a larger scale and achieve great success, when educational theories and learning theories are fully developed and utilized, when the application of information technology in teaching is discussed more systematically and scientifically and refinement, it will inevitably promote a major change in education, promote the reform of educational content, teaching objectives, and teaching organizational structure, thereby completing the informatization of the entire teaching and seamlessly integrating information technology into every aspect of education. Reach the higher goals of information technology and curriculum reform.

1. Educational content reform

The application of information technology in teaching has brought a strong impact on the traditional teaching content structure. Teaching content that emphasizes the internal connections of knowledge, basic theories, and relevance to the real world is becoming more and more important, while teaching content that is largely divorced from reality, simple knowledge transfer, and technical training has become a redundancy and obstacle. Secondly, the presentation form of teaching content will also undergo great changes, from the original textual and linear structure to a multimedia and hyperlink structure. At present, some provincial and municipal education departments have begun to explore the reform of teaching content in response to the local education situation and the progress of curriculum reform. For example, in order to improve the literacy and reading teaching of lower primary school students, the Guangdong Provincial Teaching Institute published "Innovative Education Experimental Textbook".

In general, the development trend of educational content is as follows: the difficulty of teaching materials increases, emphasis is placed on basic theories, and the internal connection of knowledge is emphasized. Teaching materials should be rewritten according to the principles of high difficulty, high speed and theoreticalization. The curriculum design should focus on reasonable subject structure, small but precise teaching content, and focus on enabling students to master general basic principles to develop students' cognitive abilities. The syllabus should focus on the cultivation of abilities, especially thinking skills and creativity, rather than the teaching of ready-made knowledge and general technical training, and the foundation should be broad. Educational content should also be combined with production practice to focus on cultivating students’ ability to solve authenticity problems. The multimediaization of teaching materials uses multimedia, especially hypermedia technology, to establish a structured, dynamic, and visual representation of teaching content. When students are learning a certain content, they can jump to any knowledge points and resources related to the content. More and more teaching materials and reference books have become multimedia. They not only contain text and graphics, but also present information representations of sound, animation, video and simulated three-dimensional scene teaching materials.

2. Reform of teaching objectives

A series of reforms in educational content will have a strong impact on the existing knowledge-centered teaching objectives, which are based on ability. The core teaching objectives will become the main body. These abilities include: ① information processing (acquisition, organization, operation and evaluation) skills; ② problem-solving ability; ③ critical thinking ability; ④ learning ability; ⑤ ability to cooperate and collaborate with others. These goals have been paid attention to by some people to a certain extent, and some pioneers have tried the teaching of the above goals in actual teaching, such as some teaching strategies and models mentioned in the seven levels of the first two stages. However, these attempts after all It is small-scale, short-term, and organized in a spontaneous manner. With the continuous deepening of information technology and curriculum reform, new teaching goals that emphasize helping students participate in authentic tasks and produce authentic projects will inevitably emerge.

3. Reform of the teaching organization structure

With the reform of educational content and teaching objectives, the teaching organization structure and form will also undergo corresponding changes. The teaching objectives emphasize the issue of authenticity as the core of learning. This requires that teaching must break the traditional 45 or 50-minute class time and space constraints where students sit in the classroom and listen to lectures. It must be based on projects and questions as units. Learning time and space are redesigned and planned. In terms of the organizational form of teaching and the grouping of activity arrangements, we must also break the traditional homogeneous grouping by ability and implement heterogeneous grouping.

Many foreign research institutions and schools have begun the process of reforming the teaching organization structure. For example, the Michigan State University in the United States designed a 6-8 grade mathematics and economics course for a school. The class is like this: In order to allow students to learn mathematics in daily life, understand society at the same time, and understand the basis for parents to make some choices, a 13-day class was conducted. Let students be divided into groups, and each group must choose a career to build a family based on your income and tax situation, including choosing a loan method to buy a house, buying furniture, choosing a loan method to buy a car, choosing a family's daily consumption, etc. , calculate the monthly income and expenditure statement, and finally conduct a group report. Students completed the assignment happily in a collaborative manner in an authenticity problem situation.

Although many basic education colleges in our country have also begun vigorous curriculum integration, no matter what kind of technology is introduced and how rich activities are designed, basically all Restricted by the prescribed class hours, the first criterion for all educational staff to evaluate classes is to see whether the teacher's teaching exceeds the time limit. It is impossible to win an award if the teacher's teaching exceeds the time limit by more than 3 minutes, which completely limits the teacher's creative and design talents. It can be seen that my country’s education reform still needs further development.

Currently, many teachers and educational researchers have begun the process of experimentation and exploration of integrating information technology with curriculum, and they have accumulated valuable experience and wealth in their jobs. , However, the integration of information technology and curriculum is a long and arduous process that requires the efforts and unremitting pursuit of all educational staff in our country.