Cuban Synthesis

Cuban Synthesis

Teachers and Machines – by Larry Cuban - ©1986
Katie Hill – EDUC 628

In his book, “Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology Since 1920,” Larry Cuban writes about the history of technology in the classroom since the early part of the Twentieth Century, and focuses mainly on the use of film, radio, television, and computer use by instructors to teach students. In the introduction to the book, Cuban presents three central questions that guide his writing and give readers a direction to concentrate their thoughts upon. These questions are:

·         Once the new technology was adopted by school districts as appropriate for children, to what degree did teachers use film, radio, and instructional television?

·         What explains the degree of teacher use of these technologies since the 1920’s?

·         Based upon patterns in teacher use of film, radio, and classroom television, what is the likely level of teacher use of computers in the 1980’s, and what is the potential influence of this technology?

Cuban delivers a simple and holistic view of the major educational technology innovations and studies why these are simply regarded as “fads” that have since faded and their use barely remembered. The utilization of these technologies becomes the main focus of Cuban’s book as he seeks to discover the reasons behind lack of use. In the Introduction, Cuban defines useful instruction technology as, “…any device available to teachers for use in instructing students in a more efficient and stimulating manner than the sole use of the teacher’s voice,” (pg. 4). The problem is that although film, radio, and television were considered to be useful, their most efficient uses were not explored as a result of the “fading out” and loss of popularity of the medium.

Although the type of technology involved, Cuban brings about an interesting finding in the studies that he cites, and that is the level of education that technology is used in. For every study discussed, Cuban found that elementary instructors incorporated technology in their classrooms far more often than junior high school or high school teachers, who show decreased use as the grade level of students increases. Although the level of use varies significantly between grade levels, however as pointed out, the overall use of technology is low, and the study findings paint a far different picture than that of the political and popular media culture who would have the public believe that technology is and was an integral classroom component.

There are several reasons that this could be the case, and they are not what many outside of the educational field might tend to believe, which is that teachers are too “stubborn” to learn the new technology or embrace new trends in education, including the use of technology in the classroom. I actually have already outlined and discussed two of these reasons in my discussion of Cuban’s first chapter. In short, I feel that two major reasons for the lack of technology use in the classroom are; bureaucratic processes and paperwork that must be completed and submitted through appropriate channels and pipelines before a piece of technology may be introduced in to the classroom and used to instruct a lesson, and secondly, many times the technology is so complicated to use, set up, troubleshoot, take down and return, that many instructors feel their time is better spent utilizing alternative methods of instruction.

Of course, budget constraints are an obvious barrier to technology use in classrooms that plagues an overwhelming majority of schools today, and spreads to the university level as we experience a tremendous economic crunch. “New” technologies tend to be rather expensive, and without grants to fund multiple technology purchases, teachers often struggle with finding the time and logistics necessary to provide every student exposure to new technology while providing quality instruction to the other 24 students, while everyone is asking for help or instruction during their work. Even with a classroom full of technology for each student, I can attest that as a technology instructor, there are often such learning curves with particular technology or software that instruction becomes a cumbersome task that requires re-writing of the curriculum or course objectives.

Address the commonalities across Cuban, Hughes, and Postman -- that is, what themes and ideas did you find that the three authors shared.

The three books that we have studied in the course, by Cuban, Hughes, and Postman have all addressed technology in very different ways, giving readers a variety of topics for thought and discussion. Although there were definitely differences, such as the opinion of technology as Postman believed that technology was inherently destined to take over the world, Hughes believed that technology should serve as a method of “balancing nature” and re-creating the Earth to an “Edenic state,” and Cuban examines almost exclusively technology in the classroom and the extent to which it is utilized by instructors in the Twentieth Century.

As Postman and Hughes exhibited somewhat polar opposite views of technology, Cuban echoes those notions in a less obvious way providing the reader with a balanced view of technology that is solely devoted to its adoption and utilization in the classroom. Postman’s view of technology was that of a warning to all that at some point, technology would turn against humans and eventually destroy any evidence of human tradition or history at all, and control the human race for eternity. Cuban does not come close to Postman’s scare tactics, but does present the arguments brought forth by many noted people, such as Einstein, Dewey, Kilpatrick and others who had progressive views of education, and especially educational technology. As many of these notables predicted, technologies such as film and radio would become a replacement for teachers, and would be as efficient and perhaps more effective as traditional instruction of the day. In current times, we see this as completely false, and perhaps never will teachers be replaced with machinery even with the many technological advancements that have been made.

With the different opinions of these writers, one theme that I find to be constant across all writings is that exercising caution when implementing and utilizing new technology is the key to preventing potential problems caused by technological innovations. Postman writes almost exclusively about the dangers of technology and how it has ruined culture, however issues a strong warning to future technologies that are released and used by society. Hughes addresses this issue by providing a detailed historical account of failed innovations and their consequences on history and the environment. Cuban discusses the issue of “wasted” classroom technologies that have been purchased but not used by teachers for the past hundred years, and warns that the computer could be the next educational technology fad that wastes time, money, and valuable resources but is mostly ignored by instructors in their classrooms.

What different ideas did Cuban raise?

Cuban’s writings are a terrific resource for teachers because the reader learns many lessons that are directly related to educational technology, and provides a deeper understanding and level of research to address crucial trends in education. Not only are the crucial trends in educational technology identified by Cuban, but he does a remarkable job at bringing out underlying issues that may be causing lack of classroom use. Although Cuban wrote his book in 1986, he looks toward the future to make predictions about the use of computers in the classroom. The predictions that Cuban makes regarding computer classroom use are incorrect, but he does provide a justification for underlying themes in educational technology in the modern classroom.

There are definitely some similarities and underlying themes in Cuban’s writing that relate directly to modern educational practices both in P-12 and post-secondary educational systems. His discussion of the barriers to providing adequate instructional technology equipment and practices in the classroom is the most prominent, where many of our current budget constraints as well as teacher disinterest in these methods cause hindrances for the implementation of technology. Cuban also hits upon the progressives and their very strong push to bring technology into the classroom and almost force the use of this equipment onto teachers and students, which only creates a tension that is unnecessary for the true delivery of lessons and the practice of learning.

In chapter 1, Cuban lists some figures and tables that are relative to the use of many of our technological advances today within the classroom. What comes to mind is the use of interactive tools such as “clickers,” as well as some equipment such as document cameras and/or webcams, and curriculum delivery web based applications that grade student work on a subjective basis with the use of keywords and programming. What I find as an information management instructor is that these are also many times considered “fads,” and technologies that have experienced their 15 minutes of fame, as film and radio were in the early Twentieth Century. However, I cannot say that some of these technologies are relevant and useful to the students and instructor, granted the instructor utilizes these technologies in a “best practices” manner that provides the most relevant instruction to students. There are several of our adjuncts who swear by the curriculum delivery programs that we “tried out” last year, however, I am willing to engage in a very strong debate regarding my feelings of their complete inadequacy and uselessness in the classroom. These adjuncts are good instructors, and apparently have found this technology a “good fit,” for them; however, I detest and cringe at the thought of even trying another piece of technology that resembles this software.

The other theme that Cuban addresses that is directly relatable to today’s classroom is the lack of teacher interest in using some of these technologies. As many educational “experts” who have never taught inside a classroom for one day would claim, this is simply a result of teacher “laziness” or “apathy” about using the technology. From my own experience, I have found that this is far from the truth with the exception of those teachers who are close to retirement and have decided to “coast” and rely on tenure to get them through, which is another topic for another course. Many times, the district has placed so many regulations and stipulations on the use of the technology that instructors simply find their time better spent dedicated to lesson preparation or other classroom duties. The technologies that are current and upcoming are in theory, great ideas and well-intentioned for educational use. However, unless they are being use on a continual basis, the set-up, training for users, and process of use is so time consuming that our time-starved classrooms simply choose to forego the “wasted time,” and choose something more familiar and consistent in our classrooms. There are several methods for solving this issue, from the loosening of regulations imposed by administration, to support staff to perform set-up and break-down tasks while instructors are engaged in other activities with students.

Cuban has discussed and researched many valid reasons why teachers have not adopted and adapted to frequent use of other types of educational technology such as film, radio, and television. However, when the book was published in 1986, the “microcomputer” had yet to make its’ mainstream plunge into American homes, and almost every aspect of life. Cuban had expectations for the computer and predictions that the computer would have a usage very similar to that of film, radio, and television and on page 99, Cuban defends his feelings for this prediction. As with many of Cuban’s other arguments, he follows a similar approach to teacher use that depends on convenience and adaptability along with administrative support and scheduling issues.

For many years, Cuban’s feelings about computer use in the classroom was correct, and widespread use of microcomputers in schools didn’t truly begin until the late 1990’s when the affordability of computers became such that the average middle-class American family could afford to own one in their homes. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with many other philanthropic organizations are responsible for ensuring that computers were available to many low-income areas of the country, both rural and urban which furthered the use of personal computers even more. In the 1990’s, there were several computer software programs available for educational use, and as a child, I still remember playing “Oregon Trail,” and “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and being so thrilled at the prospect of having control over my own learning and pace (of course then, I was not aware of that fact). However, the development of the World Wide Web and Internet was picking up speed at a rapid pace, and in a few years exploded onto the scene and has changed the lives of every American.

As the Internet evolved, so did the computer, and in a positive way that allowed more portability and user friendly attributes causing more and more frequent use by everyone, including those in education. Computers provided a type of personal user interaction that was never possible with film, radio, and television. Suddenly with a room full of computers, students took control of their learning and developed a set of skills beyond that of the software program, but began to develop technical skills that came naturally from learning to use a computer and the accompanying software. A new type of curriculum formed and a new teaching profession was born, which is my current profession where instructors teach students to utilize computer applications and learn the hardware technicalities and construction of a computer. Teachers and students became experts and many times, students taught teachers which fostered a sense of collaboration between learners and instructors that has proved to improve student performance in almost any situation.

The development of the computer projector and application software made the personal computer even more relevant and useful in the classroom. Previously, teachers had the ability to find and create materials that would enhance student learning, but there was not a way to share those with the class as a group. With the projector came that ability and opened even more doors to usher the microcomputer and peripherals into the classroom and allowed students to become the masters of these instruments to create their own learning experiences that are tailored to their own learning styles and pace. Since that time, the use of computers in the classroom has exploded, and even the most technologically independent courses, such as history, English, reading and literature have become hosts for new technology products that serve to make these subjects relative to students and their experiences. Cuban was not wrong in his prediction, just a bit under exaggerated in his predictions.

Cuban provides an amazing insight into the attitudes and psychological reasoning behind lack of teacher use of technology in the classroom, which is relatable to almost anyone who has experienced the ills of public education. The issue of teacher energy levels and rhythm is brought to light when Cuban discusses the reluctance by teachers to utilize technology for fear of being labeled as a teacher utilizing technology in order to avoid lecturing or to take a break during the day, which is heavily frowned upon by society and educational administrators currently and in the past.

Cuban says “…while media in classrooms may be inflexible and unreliable, they do offer that teacher cadre of willing users a tiny but important way of coping with energy loss during the day, providing a breath-catching break without calling it so.” Teacher energy rhythm is a commonly ignored issue in classroom studies, and has often been blamed for lack of student achievement. Teachers who were not standing in front of a classroom the entire day were considered to be lazy or ineffective, when that is not always the case. Granted, we have all had that stereotypical gym teacher that reads the newspaper while students run laps or play dodgeball that only stops to blow the whistle when it’s time for a water or bathroom break. That is the extreme end of the spectrum, although, unfortunately most students have experienced one or even several teachers with this attitude and energy level throughout their time in school.

The truth is that educational media can provide a type of “break” for teachers that is often seen as a “lazy” teacher’s escape from students and duties, and maybe it is….but does anyone want to argue that when a human being is exposed to the mental work conditions that teachers deal with on a daily basis that a break of some length is needed? Of course there are those who have never taught that will argue that’s what lunch, recess, and “planning periods,” as if those are secret retreats that teachers with draw to free from students and stress, but unfortunately no such place exists. Cuban very subtly touches on the fact that this break may be a reason for teachers to incorporate technology, simply for the break from students. From experience, if an instructor is going to incorporate technology on a regular basis, getting a break is not the reason…simply because there are too many glitches with technology and student interruptions, etc., that can truly provide a break for technology using instructors.

Teacher energy is definitely worthy of study, and the energy cycles of teachers are no different than that of others or even students. The physical stress that teachers undergo is usually minimal, however the mental and psychological stress is one that can easily cause an instructor to lose energy and become “drained” at certain times of the day, and just like students, teachers need to be re-charged and refreshed as well. We tend to forget that all teachers are humans with very different physical characteristics and body rhythms, which causes different needs for instructors. Perhaps by providing an extended break for teachers away from students and interruptions, higher teacher performance and student learning may take place as a result of a refreshed instructor.

As a technology instructor, seldom have I found a writing that addresses the issue of technology use in the classroom as Cuban does. Although this book is outdated in technological terms, educators experience many of the same dilemmas with classroom technology in modern times. Although the computer has revolutionized the classroom technology arena, and Cuban’s prediction was slightly skewed, the same issues of utilization, convenience, and availability arise in today’s schools, which directly impacts the use of this technology by the instructor just as the previous technologies of film, radio, and television. I would highly recommend this book to anyone working in the educational technology field as it would serve to improve technological services provided by educators to their students and stakeholders.