Major Software Use Clusters Associated with Expert Computer-Using Teachers and
Teachers Holding Objectives Correlated with High Levels of Out-of-Class Student Computer Use Earlier in this report, we introduced a set of 30
clusters of computer-assigning teachers, 10 at each of three school levels. Each cluster represents a group of teachers whose pattern of software use by students during class time was relatively similar to one another and
distinguishable from that of other teachers at the same school level. In the earlier section we showed how a plurality of computer-assigning teachers at each school level (30% of all teachers or more than 40% of all
computer-assigning teachers) could be described as "limited users," but that there were as many as nine distinct patterns of software use that other teachers followed at each school level. We indicated how teachers in some
clusters focused on a single type of software, while other clusters reflected more diverse software use patterns that were, nevertheless, distinct from one another. We also suggested that overall frequency of student computer use
was distinguishable from diversity of software used, and we classified some teachers' pattern of assigning computer work as "focused but frequent" while others could be seen as "diverse but not frequent." Finally, we showed
how teachers of some subjects were clearly over-represented in certain clusters and under-represented in others. Since that point in the paper, we have introduced other aspects of teachers' practices—the objectives they have for
student computer use, the ways in which they use computers for professional functions, and the computer skills and platform-specific expertise they possess. Each of those is also a dimension on which clusters of teachers
might distinguish themselves. Those aspects, along with other basic conditions of teachers' practice, such as the socio-economic background of their student enrollments, provide a way to help us further characterize different
modal patterns of teaching with computers. As a summary clarification, the clusters were defined
on the basis of the pattern of frequency of student software use across 10 types of software as reported by the teacher. Each of the other dimensions by which we characterize a given cluster comes from the correlation
between that pattern of software use and these other dimensions of practice or teaching conditions. The principal purpose of this analysis is exploratory. In subsequent reports in this series, as we examine other aspects of teachers' work environments, personal background, personal pedagogy, and orientation towards the teaching role, we will learn which of these various aspects also distinguish teachers in terms of their "cluster"–i.e., the pattern of software use which they bring to their instructional activities.
All of the contrasts that we have uncovered so far are included in Tables 22, 23, and 24, one for each of the three school levels. As in the earlier discussion, rather than characterizing each one of the 30 clusters of
computer-assigning teachers, we will limit commentary to certain contrasts. In particular, we will focus on characterizing those clusters that contain the teachers who are most "accomplished" in their computer use—that is,
teachers with generally high levels of computer skill and professional software use and whose objectives for computer use appear to result in more out-of-class class-related student computer use (having primary objectives for
students of presenting before an audience, communicating with other people, finding out ideas and information, and improving written work). We will also comment on the specific software that these "most accomplished
teacher-clusters) clusters identified as most valuable in their teaching practice.
Upper-Elementary Grades Clusters
At the elementary school level, the 35 teachers in Cluster 1-10 (see Table 22) clearly stand out on all of the criteria we selected for
attention. Cluster 1-10 teachers are very high on general computer skills; they report high levels of platform-specific experience; they are extremely high on professional use, and they have distinctively strong objectives in
exactly the four areas identified earlier as related to high levels of out-of-class student computer use. (Not surprisingly, they have the highest level of out-of-class computer use by students of any cluster except for one
high-school cluster.) These teachers' students use computers very frequently, using nearly every single type of software our survey inquired about. As a group, by a large margin, the single software title they most often
mention as "most valuable" for their students is the multimedia authoring program, Hyperstudio (two thirds named it as most valuable). They are relatively rich in classroom computer resources, with 38% of them (still not a
majority) having at least a 1:4 ratio of computers to students in their room. However, they also use computers outside their classroom, with 50% reporting both classroom and lab settings as equally central to their students'
work. They do teach in economically advantaged schools, but their students are not particularly high in attributed "ability" or prior achievement.
TABLE 22. UPPER-ELEMENTARY GRADES CLUSTERS: CHARACTERISTICS OF Subsequent examination of this group and the others will reveal the way these teachers might or might not differ from
others in terms of their personal teaching philosophy, the characteristic way that they organize classroom learning, their
orientation towards their own classroom versus their teaching peers both at their own school and beyond, the kinds of
changes in their approach to teaching that they report having made over the past three years, the degree of support that
exists for teachers' computer use at their school, the extent of formal training opportunities provided to them, the types of
pressures which these teachers feel, or don't feel, how much technology their school has as a whole, the extent of a
school-wide emphasis on instructional reform and the level of administrative support for computers and for reform, and their own personal educational background and teaching experience.
A second elementary level cluster of interest is Cluster 1-5, which we call "focused multimedia." The 52 teachers in this
cluster are higher on measures of personal computer expertise and professional use than any other elementary cluster
except for the just-discussed Cluster 1-10, even though the extent of their students' computer use is not quite as great as
some others. These teachers' main emphasis is on student development of multimedia products, along with word
processing, and exploratory use of most other types of software. They disproportionately include two of our targeted
objectives for computer use–writing and presentation to an audience. Again, and not surprisingly given their objectives, it
is Hyperstudio that is far and away their most frequently named "best" software program for students with thirds of the
teachers in this cluster naming it to be so. This group's practice appears to suffer from not having enough computers in
their own classroom (33% of them have none at all), but they use whatever computer resources are available to them.
Their students disproportionately have access to Macintosh computers, but compared to other teachers they are more likely to report having students work one-on-one at computers rather than in pairs (which may be explained by their
higher-than-average choice of "analyzing information" as a prime objective for computer use. As we explore other parts of
our data, it will be interesting to learn the advantages and disadvantages these teachers bring to their computer-use
practice. We suspect that among their advantages are excellent pedagogy, but that poor school support constrains them from carrying out a more extensive computer-based practice.
COMPUTER USE, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
Although three of the middle grades clusters contain teachers who are clearly expert and well-experienced in computer
use (and two more clusters that approach that level), on the criterion of "objectives associated with out-of-class student
use," none of the clusters seem as remarkable as Cluster 1-10 did at the elementary level. (See Table 23.) Cluster 2-8
comes the closest. In this group, teachers isproportionately chose "finding out about ideas and information" and
"presenting information to an audience" as principal objectives for student computer use, and clearly did not select skill
mastery or remediation. Although not quite as computer-knowledgeable or active as some other middle grades clusters
(particularly 2-9 and 2-10), teachers in this cluster are more likely to be academic subject-matter specialists (particularly
in English and science) rather than computer or fine arts teachers, as in Cluster 2-9, or "mixed academic teachers," as in
Cluster 2-10. Their choice of software emphasizes word processing (ClarisWorks is clearly the most popular) and the
World Wide Web (Netscape), while other software is used in more exploratory ways. (Only 11% mention Hyperstudio, for
example.) As with Cluster 1-5, their students disproportionately have access to Macintosh computers, and teachers seem to use both classroom and shared space facilities for their students' computer work.
The other two middle grades clusters with high levels of teacher computer expertise (2-9 and 2-10) are mainly advantaged
in terms of access to computers. A majority of teachers in Cluster 2-9 had at least a 1:4 ratio of computers to students in
their classroom, while 83% of Cluster 2-10 teachers had a 1:2 ratio somewhere in the school, better than most other
groups. Both of these clusters of teachers used a richer mix of software, more frequently, than did teachers in Cluster
2-8. However, despite of their breadth of software use, Cluster 2-9's teachers appear to emphasize the "skills" involved in
learning and using software and definitely, for example, do not prioritize "improving written expression" as a goal of their
computer use. The three software titles most often named as "most valuable" for this group were Microsoft Office (which
is primarily a high-school-and-older package), Netscape, and Hyperstudio— quite a diverse set. The 2-9 teachers also
exhibit some confusion between intention and practice, as they selected "learning to work collaboratively" more than other
teachers did, but they also most often reported assigning students to computers on a one-on-one basis rather than having
them work in pairs. Whereas teachers in Clusters 2-8 and 2-10 both report relatively high levels of out-of-class computer
use by students, the teachers in Cluster 2-9 report only average levels of such use. Cluster 2-10 teachers, like Cluster 2-8's, name ClarisWorks and Netscape as their most valued software for their students.