5.3.1 Time and the Curriculum

In this sub-category, two main issues provide the focus of beliefs: time and the curriculum. Some of the beliefs in this section could have been grouped separately, i.e. some in a sub-category of time and others in a sub-category related to the curriculum. However, while teachers might believe that the Internet is "good resource" for the curriculum, they may also see it as a "great time-waster". The importance of time management in teaching was expressed by this teacher’s comments in relation to use of the Internet: "Time is of the essence when teaching therefore one is apt to give up before achieving success." Many teachers in this study referred to lack of available time to be able to prepare for use of the Internet in their teaching: "All of potential (sic) for internet is unlimited but like many others there is no time to get on it. I do not have preparation time of any kind and I have to leave some time for a personal life". Teachers expressed the belief that use of the Internet in the teaching of French is "time-consuming", that it requires opportunities for "advance preparation" and that "availability of preparation time necessary to use the internet in class is limited". While a teacher may want to devote more time to the Internet, "There are so many demands put on teachers, it is very difficult to find the time to do all the things one would like to do".

Time can be consumed by "surfing aimlessly", by students "browsing the web in other areas", by needing to screen sources "so as to ensure that communication is in French" waiting for information to be downloaded, translating sites and posting student work on the Internet. Preparation time may be lengthened as the technology becomes more sophisticated: "je passe plus de temps à analyser une vidéo qu'à analyser un vieux film fixe ou une photo; je passe plus de temps à préparer, dans mon ordinateur, un exercice avec des liens hypertextes qu'à ronéotyper un texte, je passe un temps fou à essayer de suivre les trop rapides évolutions informatiques...".

The vast nature of the Internet can challenge the time that teachers have available to them: "I am constantly exploring new sites that friends or the listservs that I belong to recommend and trying to come up with innovative seasonal projects as well. There is so much material on the web and so little free-time to access it!" Time is necessary in order to plan properly in order to make best use of instructional periods: "Few teachers are willing to spend the time it takes to find sites, plan lessons around them and assess their effectiveness. Without that commitment, these projects can eat up valuable time and lead nowhere". Another teacher described needing the preparation time in order to reach a certain comfort level in the use of technology: "I can’t seem to find the time to get prepared where I feel comfortable using it as a teaching tool".

In terms of teachers’ beliefs about time and the Internet, the curriculum plays an important and conflicting role. Having sufficient time to devote to the curriculum may mean that there is not time for integration of the Internet as this teacher explains:

I’m afraid that the projects will take a long time to complete. I’m always pressed to cover all the objectives by June and I’m afraid that I’ll fall behind by taking my students to computer room. The Internet seems like something extra that needs to be taught, even though i now (sic) it’s supposed to be integrated into the curriculum like any other tool.

Some teachers in the study described not using the Internet more because of a lack of "instructional time to complete the prescribed curriculum". They noted that use of OLEs may actually decrease "the necessary instructional time needed for the completion of the prescribed curriculum". Concerns about time led one teacher to affirm that "Using the internet with young children is not using instructional time wisely". In the following excerpt, a teacher described in detail the challenges related to use of OLEs and time at the primary level:

The time needed to plan effective use of the internet is daunting. Simply finding appropriate sites takes forever when you end up with over 500 hits on a certain topic and those hits have links, and the links have links.. well, before you know it, you've been on-line for 3 hours and still haven't figured out what you're going to do for your internet class! This being said, I have to admit that this is very time-consuming. Working with young children always is. Typing even a few sentences takes forever, and when you add typing in a second language, correcting, using accents, etc., it's even worse. (And this is assuming that your computers are up and running when you need them). This is the problem with keypal activities, too.

Finding sites related to the curriculum that are at the appropriate level of difficulty for the students and evaluating if the sites are at a level the students can understand may also consume valuable time: "With such an intense curriculum, to use the Internet one must have appropriate sites to ensure objectives of lessons could be achieved and make maximum use of time". Teachers remarked that they already have plenty of resources with which they are very busy, that their program is "already so jam-packed full of activities, you have to make an effort to fit in an Internet activity usually at the expense of something else". Others explained that they cannot use the Internet because there is "too much other curriculum to cover". One teacher described the conflict between time, technology and the curriculum:

Our educational system works against these very valuable but time-eating learning projects. There's the "curriculum to cover" - always more than is ever possible even without the extra projects. Why do just two themes when we can do six? And what's wrong with a system that has kids and teachers running from one subject (sometimes even one room) to the next, with no time to reflect, to process, to - gasp! - relax? It drives me crazy. And as long as teachers are willing to play by those antiquated rules, the nouvelles technologies will remain just that.

As one teacher observed: "Every one of my colleagues says the same thing: "I'd love to do that (e-mail correspondence, joint research projects, global surveys, etc.), but I don't have time". The traditional curriculum always takes precedence, and ‘covering the material’ as laid out in the district curriculum guide is forever the driving force". Other teachers may argue that the problem is, not with lack of time and curriculum demands, but with the teachers themselves: "I think that teachers do feel pressured by many factors to cover their curriculum but I think the main problem why teachers don't "fit " anything else in is with the time-management skills and the motivation of the teacher." Personal factors may also play a role: "There is no free time at school and I have a very busy family life. Computers and technology are not ‘interests’ of mine. I tend to focus more on creative aspects of teaching (i.e. art, music, singing, writing etc.)." It may also be that what is needed to balance time and the curriculum is commitment:

The number one skill to master is time-management! Teachers need time to search out international schools that seem promising for collaborative work; time to correspond with teachers on the other end and to plan the course of action; time to look at their own curricular needs - either thematic (Native Americans, the human body, the rain forest, etc.) or linguistic (literacy skills, vocabulary development) and to embed those objectives into the project; time to work on the project in class and still get in math, reading, science, etc.; time to assess the project and students' individual performance; and finally, time to learn the technical stuff. If teachers can manage all that, they have all the skills they need. But that is one huge task, and without a deep-seated commitment to looking "outside the box," that just ain't gonna happen!!!

Certain issues related to curriculum and teaching independent of the issue of time may, for some teachers, present challenges to use of OLEs. One teacher questioned the Internet’s "relevance to the curriculum". Another noted that she did not "see a lot of benefit coming from it". Other teachers commented that "matching projects/activities with curriculum objectives is sometimes a problem" or that "the activities and lessons suggested are not conducive to Internet usage". Others explained that they do not use the Internet because they "...have a very good program to use and time is also a factor ...". Another teacher explained: "I do not feel that I need to use the Internet more often since it is important to vary teaching methods and resources to provide students the best opportunity for learning". Beliefs about what constitutes effective learning can also affect a teacher’s willingness to use or interest in OLEs: "While a great deal can be learned from the Internet, it should not be used as the sole resource. There are many other valuable resources available which should not be overlooked simply because we, as educators, have jumped on the ‘computer bandwagon’. Moderation and variety are the keys to successful learning".

Teachers may need to be reassured that there is indeed a benefit coming from use of OLEs. Curriculum outcomes and objectives must be the driving force behind attempts at technology integration according to this teacher’s beliefs:

It is a resource, however, that needs to be used with specific goals in mind which require frequent evaluation to determine if the technology is indeed able to meet curricular outcomes. I find it somewhat disturbing that some educators feel they are progressive in their methods simply because they use computers. Again we must keep our objectives in clear view and ensure that students are benefitting from the technology.

Use of OLEs, on one hand, and the curriculum, on the other, may be seen as being in competition with each other. Teachers commented that "there is too much material to be covered in the curriculum to allow teachers to experiment with the Internet". This may be the case particularly for primary teachers: "I find the primary French Immersion program to be ‘surchargé’ already because we really have to build up children’s language levels so that they can understand the materials and information which come at them everyday." The following primary teacher explains why she does not believe in encouraging online learning with her students:

Teaching grade 2 students to go on the Internet (regardless of Fre-eng) when they should be taught sound reading and writing principles seems to me to be putting the cart before the horse. Our curriculum is overloaded. Therefore one would have to be done at the expense of the other. Above all else, I want my kids to enjoy and value a good book.

Other challenges that were raised by teachers focused specifically on working in a second language in OLEs. In the following excerpt, the teacher argues that there are challenges that arise in online learning simply because of the fact that students are working in a language which is not native to them:

But most importantly, we are talkng (sic) about a second language here! Unless you happen to be fortunate enough to have French-speaking support in your media center, it is up to the teacher to provide the linguistic help that non-natives need to navigate their way through the Internet. Project-based learning is very different in the L2 classroom, where students' language acquisition is far below their intellectual abilities. It doesn't matter if you're in a third grade French immersion class, in high school or even at the university: unless your L2 reading level is on a par with that of your native language, everything takes twice as long, and the teacher's role as language resource is critical if students are really going to benefit from their time spent on the ‘Net’.

The following excerpt presents the results of one teacher’s attempts at conducting an online project. The teacher describes her frustrations with trying to teach her students how to design web pages in French:

I am pleased with the pages but I feel as if I did not meet the objectives of the French curriculum. Most (all really) of the classes in the lab were conducted in English. It is impossible to teach grade eight Core students how to do something so complicated using the French language. Also, because we have only 16 machines and each class has 25+ kids of varying abilities and motivation, several kids finished a week before the others. Add into this the students who were absent every time we went to the lab (they don't even have a web created!), and it made for some confusion

The conflict and problems evident in the beliefs in this sub-category highlight the problems encountered by teachers in relation to trying to organize their time in order to meet the demands of the curriculum and of working in OLEs. Increased training and support may not address all of the issues related to time and the curriculum, but, as the next section may illustrate, some teachers believe that the lack of training, support and a clear vision represent significant challenges to use of OLEs for the teaching and learning of FSFL.