Training Teachers for the Computer Classroom

In our training program, we try to let teachers know right away that they can adapt the syllabus they’ve used in the traditional classroom. Trying to use exactly the same activities in a computer classroom that they used in a traditional classroom, though, usually ends up frustrating both students and teachers.

As we’ve observed and taught classes in the computer classroom, we’ve noticed three key changes that affect the kinds and quantity of classroom activities:

1. Because students write more in a word processor than they will on paper, writing activities take longer (but are more productive).
2. Because students have access to word processing, they want to write more and listen less. Therefore, classroom activities shift quickly and naturally toward student writing and away from teacher talk.
3. As students take more responsibility for their work through their classroom writing (even during small-group activities or after small- and large-group discussions), they are more and more inclined to set the pace of the class. Teachers who plan fewer activities find it much easier to accommodate the self-pacing that develops in the computer classroom. Our motto for this shift is "less is more."

• Less is More
• Teacher Commentary: On students taking more responsibility for their learning