District/School Administration PK-16 Program Support
Educational Technology

Final Report for the 2005 Content Institutes on Technology

Content Institute Survey

At the end of each content institute, participants were asked to complete a survey. They were asked to check off the technologies that they planned to use in the future, in their classes and in their lesson planning. There were 503 participants in all, with 198 enrolled in humanities institutes and 305 enrolled in science, technology/engineering, and mathematics institutes.

Future Use in the Classroom

For classroom use, the technology selected by the greatest number of participants was the digital camera (31%), followed by multimedia presentations (28%) and spreadsheets (20%).

Looking at only participants in humanities content institutes, the top two technologies were still the digital camera and multimedia presentations. However, the third most common technology was the scanner. The same held true for participants in science, technology/engineering, and mathematics content institutes, except that the third most common technology selected was the graphing calculator.

Looking at participants from various grade levels in humanities content institutes, the top two technologies remained the digital camera and multimedia presentations. The third most popular technology varied and included databases, digital camcorders, scanners, electronic whiteboards, and spreadsheets.

There was more variation in responses from participants at different grade levels in the science, technology/engineering, and mathematics content institutes. In the lower grades, the digital camera was still the most popular technology, followed by VES (MassONE). At the middle and high school levels, the digital camera was among the top three technologies, but the graphing calculator tended to be more popular. Spreadsheets, probes/data loggers, and multimedia presentations also made it to the top of the list.

Future Use in Lesson Planning

For use in lesson planning, the technology selected by the greatest number of participants was VES, now MassONE (32%), followed by spreadsheets (21%) and multimedia presentations (21%).

Looking only at participants in humanities content institutes, the top technology was still VES (MassONE). However, the next most popular technologies were the digital camera and multimedia presentations. For participants in science, technology/engineering, and mathematics content institutes, VES (MassONE) remained the top technology, followed by spreadsheets, presentations, and the Standards Tool.

Note that several of the technologies listed in the survey are tools within VES (MassONE): Standards Tool, Discussion Forum, Virtual Hard Drive, and Teaching & Learning Resources.,

Looking at participants from various grade levels in humanities content institutes, the top technology tended to be VES. The second and third most popular technologies varied and included the standards tool, discussion forum, virtual hard drive, NCS Mentor, digital camera, multimedia presentations, and scanner.

Looking at participants from various grade levels in the science, technology/engineering, and mathematics content institutes, VES (MassONE) tended to remain the most popular technology at the lower levels. Spreadsheets were the most popular with middle school participants. At the high school level, the graphing calculator was named most often, followed by spreadsheets.