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Developing Technological and Content Knowledge through Publishing Web
Pages
Carol A. Long
Department of Special Education
Winona State University, U.S.A.
clong@vax2.winona.msus.edu
Sue P. Reehm
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Eastern Kentucky University, U.S.A.
elereehm@acs.eku.edu
Mary Ito Dennison
Department of Special Education
Winona State University, U.S.A.
mdennison@vax2.winona.msus.edu
To enhance learning and the acquisition of technological skills, a home page was developed and made
available on the World Wide Web. Preservice teachers at Winona State University enrolled in a Special
Education course on characteristics of students with mild disabilities were required to develop interactive web
pages connecting content, recent research, and local, state, national and on-line resources pertaining to
learning disabilities and mental retardation.
The project was done in four phases. During the first phase information was gathered and plans were
completed. Plans included how to organize the students into teams, what technological training was needed,
and how to assess computer and inter net competence and attitudes. Students were introduced to the project in
the second phase and were randomly assigned to teams with graduate students designated as team leaders. One
group was charged with creating a web page on the topic of learning disabilities and the other group was
required to generate a web page on mental retardation. During the second week of class, groups were
organized by subdividing into smaller teams and topics for subsequent web pages were assigned so that
information gathering could begin immediately. The third phase consisted of directing the students as they
generated the web pages. The graduate students were instructed in HTML and web page design. The
undergraduate students were assisted in researching information for page content on learning disabilities and
mental retardation.
The students created 15 web pages which were linked to the Department of Special Education home page. The
pages provide definitions for the two disability categories which reflect national and state interpretations.
Listings of common characteristics of children with learning disabilities and children with mild mental
retardation are given. The students included a bibliography of recent research on learning disabilities and
mental retardation and resources for locating further information and assistance.
The fourth and final phase of the project was the evaluation phase and was done in three parts. During the first
phase, a pretest was administered to determine attitudes toward technology and perceived Internet competence.
In comparing the results of the questions, the students felt it was very important for teachers to know how to
use a computer but ranked their knowledge of computers below the computer knowledge of other college
students. The students reported the need for computers to be used in every classroom and most reported they
were comfortable working with computers. T-tests were used to compare the means for the graduates and
undergraduates on each question. There was no significant difference found between t he two groups on any
other the questions.
At the completion of the project, the same survey was given as a posttest. No significant difference between the
pre- and posttest was found on the questions related to the attitudes and general use of technology. However, a
comparison of the results on the pre- and posttest Internet questions found several of the scores were