Technology as a Tool: A Tools Approach. Technology can play various instructional roles--and it is the responsibility of the teacher to decide how to best use technology to support student learning. A tools approach assumes that general-purpose software, such as word processing or paint programs or an Internet World Wide Web browser, can be flexibly applied by the learner to various topics. Thus the teacher is more of a 'facilitator of learning' rather than a 'dispenser of knowledge'.

What Students Do With Computers. Computers can play a variety of roles in school. They can be used:

• to teach
• to facilitate the study of traditional content-area topics
• to provide opportunities for students to learn how to use technology or
• to give students general-purpose tolls for performing academic tasks more efficiently (Becker, 1991a).

These distinctions are similar to what was originally called the tutor, tool, tutee model (Taylor, 1980). In the role of tutor, a computer application could be designed specifically to teach the student (for example, a tutorial program explains how to use a photospectrometer, and a drill-and-practice program helps an elementary school student become more proficient with number facts). Computer tools are more general-purpose applications designed to help the user function more productively. Such tools include word processing programs used to write reports and database programs used to organize and search for information about all the students in an elementary school. Applications that allow students to search for information on the Internet would also be considered tools. When functioning in the tutee role, the student programs (or teaches) the computer.

In secondary schools, most students use tool applications (Word processing, spreadsheets, World Wide Web browsers, and databases), and this emphasis seems to be increasing. Elementary school students spend more time than secondary students working with tutorial applications, but the emphasis on tool applications particularly word processing, is also increasing rapidly (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995). Given the description of computer tools provided here, there is some danger that you might misinterpret what students actually do. Much of the time students spend working with computer tools, they are actually learning to use them, not using them to do academic work in other areas. For example, students may learn to use the various features of a word processing program as part of a computer literacy class, but then not write their English themes or history papers using the computer. Becker (1991a) estimates that secondary school students spend only 25 percent of their computer time doing what he defines as "productive work." Productive work includes learning course content directly from the computer, using the computer to rehearse or practice content skills, or using the computer to complete course assignments such as writing paper. These specific estimates are now outdated, but the concern about the extent to which students actually learn with technology persists (Mehlinger, 1996). Learning about the computer and learning to use the computer are important. However, the message is clear: Technology is not yet well integrated into secondary school content-area instruction.

The situation in elementary schools is a bit different. Younger students spend more of their time using applications that teach typical content-area material. Math and language arts receive the most attention. With the recent interest in tool application, however, students now also spend time learning to use computer tools (Becker, 1991a). Computer coordinators estimate that elementary students spend the largest proportion of computer time learning keyboarding skills and using word processing programs (Office of Technology Assessment, 1995).

Finally, there are several ways teachers can integrate technology in content-are instruction. As mentioned above, students can use computer tools to do work related to their course. Students can also learn with the assistance of the computer. A distinction often applied to computer-based learning is whether the computer experience focuses on factual knowledge and basic skills or on higher-level problem solving and critical thinking. For a variety of reasons, experiences focused on the mastery of factual knowledge and basic skills have dominated early computer applications. One of the reasons why elementary school teachers spend proportionately more time with content-area software is that these teachers involve students in drill-and-practice activities and factual tutorial programs more often than high school teachers. Among elementary school teachers using a single type of instructional application more than five times during the year, the most frequent application was drill (56 percent of teachers). Drill activities are also used frequently by high school teachers and still represent the most frequent single category of use for most disciplines: 25 percent of science and math teachers (Becker 1991a). Even within related disciplines such as the sciences, use of drill activities varies a great deal. Biology teachers are more likely to use drill software than are physics teachers (Baird, 1989). Based on Grabe/Grabe, Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning, 2/e, 1998