Dr. Moersch has published a variety of articles on key issues related to instructional leadership, classroom technology use, and best practices that support higher levels of technology implementation. The recent popularity of his book, Beyond Hardware: Using Existing Technology to Promote Higher-Level Thinking, has prompted a widely anticipated sequel, Beyond Hardware II: How to Teach Better With Technology, due to be released by the International Society for Technology in Education later this year.

Published Books

Beyond Hardware: Using Existing Technology to Promote Higher-Level Thinking
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
This debut title provides a systematic approach for educators eager to promote higher-order thinking skills in the face of limited technology budgets. The author, who has been a school administrator and classroom teacher as well as researcher and national consultant, demonstrates why decision makers should invest technology dollars in teachers rather than in fancy new hardware. He provides a framework for using existing technology to develop and revise lesson plans that promote critical thinking skills. Includes the author's empirically validated assessment tool, and a detailed vision for future applications of instructional technology.

Published Articles

Electronic Portfolio Production for Performance Assessment of Undergraduate Learners
by Amy Keefe, Edward Kobrinski, Phyllis Keen, Ed.D., Christopher Mattia, and Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
For several years, teacher education programs across the nation have been turning to performance-based assessments for documenting learner performance. Performance-based assessment requires learners to provide an answer or create a product that demonstrates personal knowledge or skills, or better understanding of what is learned and put it into practice.

Measurers of Success: Six Instruments to Assess Teachers' Use of Technology
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
During the past few years, a major trend throughout the United States has been to assess teachers' technology usage in the classroom. The motivation behind the movement to assess teachers, students, parents, and administrators has varied. Some stakeholders use the data to satisfy federal grant requirements or state mandates; others use the data to plan staff development classes and workshops for their colleagues. Teachers sometimes want to self assess their technology skills or level of technology integration to create meaningful and targeted action plans for their own professional development.

Next Steps: Using LoTi as a Research Tool
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
The race to get classrooms connected to the web has been unprecedented since the days following Sputnik and the rapid mobilization of resources to improve K-12 math and science education in the United States via the passage of the National Defense Education Act in 1958. Today, close to 84% of the teachers across the country have at least one computer in the classroom while over half of these teachers are connected with high speed access to the Internet. The proliferation of hardware and software has provided students and faculty with fingertip access to easy-to-use, yet powerful productivity tools, multimedia applications, and virtual simulations to support the learning environment in ways never thought possible. Such a massive push to wire the schools; however, has not come without its price.

Assessing Current Technology Use in the Classroom: A Key to Efficient Staff Development and Technology Planning
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
How exactly can we quantify how teachers are using technology in the classroom and the general academic achievement that results from their instructional technology (IT) practices? As school systems nationwide plan their purchases of additional hardware, software, and related peripherals as well as their related staff development activities, information about each school's current IT practices is critical. Recent studies have found strong links among technology, academic achievement, staff development, and classroom instructional practices. Learn to accurately measure how authentically computers are being integrated into the curriculum in this article.

Computer Efficiency: Measuring the Instructional Use of Technology
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
A local news station documenting the current status of computers in the schools provided a provocative comparison between the stereotyped "haves" versus "have-nots". At one school, parents, teachers, and students were viewed as trapped with aging Apple IIe computers collecting dust in some remote computer lab while their contemporaries on the other side of the tracks were seen enjoying the fruits of a recently passed-bond levy--new Power Macintosh computers with full AV capability connected by an Ethernet configuration with unlimited access to the global internet. Use the instrument described in this article to evaluate your computer efficiency in support of concept- and process-based instruction, consequential learning, and the development of students' higher order thinking skills.

Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi): A Framework for Measuring Classroom Technology Use
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
Since the introduction of the Apple IIe computer in the early 1980's, the term "technology" has represented a broad range of interests and has been the subject of numerous interpretations. In school systems nationwide, technology has been the focus of curriculum renewal projects and school funding debates, and has served as the rallying cry for ushering many school districts into the 21st century. Our fascination with technology stems, in a large degree, from its ambiguity within existing paradigms. Does technology represent things (e.g., computers, modems, pencils, microscopes, televisions), words or ideas (e.g., progress, change), processes (e.g., animal breeding, voting), or delivery systems (e.g., expert versus novice systems)? Learn about Dr. Moersch's Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) Framework including the eight discrete implementation levels teachers can demonstrate, ranging from Non-Use (Level 0) to Refinement (Level 6).

Electronic Portfolios: Some Pivotal Questions
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
The emergence of electronic portfolios on the educational landscape is the result of two major innovations--one pedagogical, the other technological. Education's renewed commitment to concept/process-based learning, and its emphasis on relevancy and authentic applications have created a growing demand for dynamic assessment strategies and instruments that measure multiple dimensions of a student's academic progress. Extending beyond a paper and pencil format, this new breed of assessment strategies embraces a wide variety of media (e.g., pictures, sound, video, computer-based multimedia presentations) to document student success across the curriculum. Read about some of the hottest issues surrounding electronic portfolios including hardware requirements for their use, recommended removable media mass storage devices, and strategies to save the classroom teacher valuable time with managing student portfolios electronically.

Labs for Learning: An Experiential-Based Action Model
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
The challenges confronting today's classroom teachers are unprecedented. Teaching to major themes, integrating technology-based tools (e.g., telecommunications, databases, spreadsheets, CD-ROM-based simulations), supporting concept/process-based instruction and negotiated learning, and employing alternative assessment strategies have signaled both opportunities and concerns for educational practitioners nationwide. Exactly how can one expect to do all of these things in a manner that is consistent with a constructivist theory of learning but does not leave our instructional curriculum void of meaningful and relevant student experiences? Read this position paper describing and validating the Experiential-Based Action Model as it relates to authentic instruction, inquiry-based learning, and student relevancy.

Enhancing Students' Thinking Skills: Exploring Model Technology-Integration Sites
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
Precisely what should the model technology integration classroom look like? Does such a classroom imply that each student has ready access to a computer, modem, CD-ROM player, and the Internet? To the contrary, the model technology integration classrooms illustrated in this article possess relatively few computers or, in some cases, access computers exclusively through the school's computer lab or library. What makes these classrooms truly unique is the manner in which computers are used as a tool to support student thinking and reasoning skills across the curriculum. Learn about some of the more promising ways in which students can be challenged to think in classrooms that have seamlessly integrated technology, critical content, and complex thinking skills.

Choose the Right Graph
by Christopher Moersch, Ed.D.
The Farquhars' insightful commentary on the importance of graphic presentation in the 19th Century has equal significance today. Contrary to popular belief, interpreting and generating graphs related to real world phenomena is not limited to some distant research laboratory or federally-funded think tank. It is very much a lifelong skill. Though the science of constructing bar charts, pie charts, and box plots has been "taught" for years, the practical application or art of graphing has been relatively neglected in classrooms nationwide. Explore the world of graphing (called an individual's graphicacy) that requires some fundamental understanding of a few basic, yet essential, graphing conventions, idiosyncrasies, and prerequisites.