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Key Questions and Indicators Counting equipment might seem a straightforward assignment, but it can quickly become complex. Technology administrators will want to determine what qualifies a piece of equipment to be counted or not. They must pay careful attention to whether technology resources are actually available to their intended users when needed. See the sidebar on "Presence, Access, and Availability." The key questions below address two issues: Are appropriate technology resources available, and are they accessible to their intended users?
This question deals with the availability of up-to-date equipment (and its supporting infrastructure). User access is addressed in the following key questions. Restriction to up-to-date or multimedia computers addresses the issue of whether the installed computer base is appropriate to current usage demands. In the listed indicators, whenever computers are mentioned, only up-to-date computers are included.
INDICATORS
TERM DEFINITIONS AND CATEGORIES Bandwidth: Example ratings for bandwidth amount: 33.6 KBPS or under; 56 KBPS; 128 KBPS; 256 KBPS; 512 KBPS; 768 KBPS (.5 T1); 1.544 MBPS (T1); Ethernet; DS(1) or higher. Broadcast video receivers: Example of broadcast video receiving device types: closedcircuit building-level cable system, external cable system. Connection types: Refers to the kind of link between a computer and external networking resources. Example of connection types: dial-up via modem; wired LAN and router; wireless LAN and router; cable modem; satellite/modem hybrid link; full satellite (two-way) link. External input devices: Example of dedicated external input device types: videocassette recorder, digital video disk, compact disk (various formats). Instructional setting: Includes both regular classrooms and computer laboratories. Multimedia computer: Refers to computers capable of running Windows 95 or Macintosh OS8.0 or later operating systems, with chipsets such as Pentium (200 MHz) or PowerPC 200 MHz or Imac G3 or better, with at least 64MB of random-access memory (RAM), with CD-ROM or DVD player, and with a sound card, manufactured in the 5 years prior to data collection. Projection devices: Example of projection device types: large monitor, overhead opaque projector, computer projector or electronic whiteboard, overhead transparency projector. Up-to-date: Computers manufactured in the 5 years prior to data collection. Example rating for computer age groupings: 0-12 months between manufacture and data collection; 13-36 months between manufacture and data collection; and over 37 months. Videoconferencing/distance education equipment capability: Example of types: dedicated room or facility; in one or more classrooms, no capability in building. Note: These definitions will necessarily change in order to encompass prevailing standards as technology progresses. Instructional settings can be more than classrooms. Instructional settings include regular classrooms and computer laboratories, but any setting in which instruction takes place could be considered within this category, such as "pull-out" rooms for remedial or special education, for instance. Media centers (what used to be called libraries) might be included, as well as specialized laboratories (chemistry labs, for instance) or rooms dedicated to distance education. It is even possible that some instruction may take place off-campus and therefore be included as a setting in this category, especially in the case of laptop loan or grant programs. The presence of multimedia computers is an important indicator of technology capability. Such computers allow the user to display images, video, and sound as well as text, and therefore create opportunities for learning from a variety of media resources, or from resources that use these capabilities simultaneously. More exciting is the prospect that students can create multimedia reports and presentations (as well as other resources) themselves. Depending on the subject matter and teachers' preferences, such capabilities can expand the repertory of student capacities and create useful skills and forms of expression for use later in life. Key Question 2. Is equipment available for use by students? The general question of access to multimedia computers, and to computers connected to networks and the Internet, has been addressed in the previous key question. Indicators for the present key question deal with student access, both to computers generally and to more specialized computer resources. Since access to multimedia computers and to those connected to the Internet can impact educational achievement, it may be important to understand the extent to which such computing resources are actually available. Computers referred to in this key question are only those to which students have preferential access; the count does not include computers used for administrative purposes or for the exclusive use of teachers. As before, when the term computer is used, the reference is to up-to-date computers. If computer labs are a prominent component of technology access in a given district or school, it may be important to collect additional information. Indicators for the amount of time in the school week that students spend in the computer lab, or for the percentage of classes that regularly use the computer lab, may provide more detail to round out the picture of access. INDICATORS (for term definitions and categories)
Key Question 3. Is equipment available for use by teachers? This question refers to computers reserved for the exclusive use of teachers, where use is not generally shared with students. This is an important issue: computer-based curriculum planning and instructional management are much more likely to take place if teachers have dedicated computers exclusively for their use, because teachers have access to the resources when and where they are needed. Similarly, it is important to know if teachers have access to portable ("laptop") computers, since their work will often be done at home after the school day. Note, again, that the reference to computers implies that they are up-to-date. A reviewer pointed out that, in situations where teachers can dedicate any computer in a school network to their exclusive use simply by entering their username and password, questions about computers reserved for the exclusive use of teachers might be confusing. The confusion can be resolved if it is understood that the intent is to assess teacher access to computing: if a teacher can only use a computer if no student wants it, he or she does not have dedicated access. There might be excellent access for everyone in such a situation, which can be assessed by the overall ratio of computers to instructional settings, but it will not be dedicated access. More detail on the use of technology by teachers might be obtained
by asking whether the same software (say, an electronic gradebook or
curriculum support software) is available at home as at work. This question
might be more properly addressed under the key questions of Chapter
4, Technology Applications, or Chapter 7, Technology Integration.
Decision support systems call for computers. School leaders and support staff need computers to use data management systems which in turn can have great impact on decision making, improving educational management and, ultimately, student care and performance. It makes no sense to provide technology to support instruction and not for support of school management functions. Creating an integrated management system can benefit all users in a school or district; information can usefully flow both from the teachers and the classroom to administrators, and from school management to instructional staff. For example, computer-based attendance systems allow for immediate administrative action upon a teacher recording an absence (i.e., a follow-up telephone call to the home or parent that same morning). Likewise, aggregate information on absences, health condition, and test results for a given student may help a teacher make educational decisions. Users might want to break down administrative and support staff into narrower categories, such as student support personnel (counselors, social service specialists, health personnel), administrative support staff (transportation coordinators, attendance officers, dietitian/cafeteria manager), or leaders (principal, assistant principal, etc.). INDICATORS (for term definitions and categories)
Key Question 5. Does the infrastructure have the capacity to support the school's technology needs? Connection to a school local-area-network (LAN) or, through such a network, to a district-wide wide-area-network (WAN) greatly expands what can be done with a computer. Access to shared resources such as printers or shared memory, or to electronic mail, or to specialized instruments or computing devices, can support collective work and increase the efficient use of resources. Access to the Internet opens up a whole world of riches, with attendant risks. A limiting consideration is the amount of bandwidth (the term refers to the amount of information that can traverse the network each second) available to each computer. INDICATORS (for term definitions and categories)
Unit Record Structure Almost all of the indicators just discussed can be derived straightforwardly from a school district's inventory and maintenance system for technology equipment. Many school districts already have such computerized systems. The data elements listed below could form the basis of a comprehensive technology equipment database. At the core is the notion of a unit record-a uniform record kept for each identifiable unit. In this chapter, for example, a single piece of equipment would constitute one unit on which records would be kept. A system based on unit records would meet day-to-day administrative needs and support overall assessment and planning-as well as providing data to answer some of the most usual survey questions. These suggested records are not intended to define data collection. Instead, they illustrate basic units of a data system from which data elements and indicators can be derived to answer important policy and planning questions. The following list of data elements, along with others defining basic school components such as classrooms and adapted from other NCES handbooks, can be used to create the indicators listed in this chapter. The complete list of data elements for this guide can be found in Appendix A; a number of detailed examples illustrating the creation of indicators from data elements can be found in Appendix B. LIST OF POTENTIAL DATA ELEMENTS FOR A UNIT RECORD: SAMPLE UNIT RECORD FOR TECHNOLOGY-RELATED EQUIPMENT For each computer or server, or associated peripheral equipment:
Other components in system (monitor; printer(s); DVD; CD-ROM; floppy drive; superdrive; ZIP drive; network card; video camera; other installed cards). For each:
For other (non-computer) equipment:
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