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Tips for Evaluating Ed Tech Efficacy Studies

Kelly Searsmith — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:33:28 +0000

As ed tech publishers strive to convince markets of the value of their products, the question of how their claims should be evaluated and by whom is raised. Here, Watters practical tips for non-experts who want to get a baseline of whether claims they are encountering may be valid.

How to Judge if Research is Trustworthy

B. Gillard

by Audrey Watters/ MindShift / 31 January 2012

Scientists are notorious for questioning the veracity of publicized research — and with good reason. They want to know: Who conducted the research? Where was it published? What were the survey questions?

It’s that much more important when it comes to evaluating research in education that will affect the investment decisions of teachers, parents, and administrators.

Case in point: does the iPad boost student learning? Is it a solid educational tool, as the headline from a recent article in Wired magazine says, maintaining that the devices are improving student engagement and assessment.

To read more…

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Media Multitasking in Tween Girls May Impair Social Development

Kelly Searsmith — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:36:12 +0000

The original title of this CNN article suggests the results pertain to “youth” in general, but the article says recent Stanford research did not include boys, because male social development is more varied and extends more over time than girls’.

by Mark Milan / CNN / 25 January 2012

FaceTime, the Apple video-chat application, is not a replacement for real human interaction, especially for children, according to a new study.

Tween girls who spend much of their waking hours switching frantically between YouTube, Facebook, television and text messaging are more likely to develop social problems, says a Stanford University study published in a scientific journal on Wednesday.

Young girls who spend the most time multitasking between various digital devices, communicating online or watching video are the least likely to develop normal social tendencies, according to the survey of 3,461 American girls aged 8 to 12 who volunteered responses.

To read more…

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Virtual Schools on the Rise, but Are They Right for K-12 Students?

Kelly Searsmith — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:38:41 +0000

Virtual schools are cost effective and allow for certain flexibilities (in scheduling, environment), but are critics worry about the lack of individualized learning, the loss of a face-to-face student-teacher relationship, and the lack of socialization. This article examines these points, allow ample room for virtual school proponents to mount a defense.

by Athena Jones / CNN / 30 January 2012

K12 Chicago Ad

It’s a Tuesday morning in January, and seventh-grader Katerina Christhilf is learning algebra. But it’s no ordinary class. This one takes place entirely online, led by a teacher a few miles away.

As part of her training to become a ballerina, Katerina takes dance lessons four times a week, including up to eight hours on Fridays. All that training makes it hard to go to a conventional school, so she takes science, literature, composition, vocabulary, history, music, art and French – a full course-load – from the comfort of her home, through Virginia Virtual Academy, a program run by K12 Inc. that began operating in the state in 2009.

“Ballet is really important to me and it’s usually in the mornings, so if I went to school I would only be able to go on the weekends,” Katerina explained. “Sometimes I’ll study in the morning and I’ll do a few classes and then I’ll go to ballet for maybe like three or four hours and I’ll come back home and I’ll do some more.”

Katerina is one of a growing number of students who go to school online full time. About a quarter of a million students in kindergarten through 12th grade were enrolled in full-time online schools last year, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a 25% increase over the previous year. Some parents choose these schools because their children are struggling in traditional schools; others do so for their flexible schedules.

To read more and view video…

Image Source: K12 Chicago

Everything You Thought You Knew About Learning Is Wrong

Kelly Searsmith — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:22:10 +0000

If learning is brainwork, then the science o f learning helps us to get our brains to work better, to ensure improved learning outcomes. Although this article is brief and its title overly sensational, Sundern describes several practical techniques, grounded in research, that would be helpful to any student or teacher — not to mention all of us lifelong learners.

by Garth Sundern / Wired Geek Dad column / 29 January 2012

Taking notes during class? Topic-focused study? A consistent learning environment? All are exactly opposite of the best strategies for learning.

I recently had the good fortune to interview Robert Bjork, the director of the UCLA Learning and Forgetting Lab, a distinguished professor of psychology, and a massively renowned expert on packing things in your brain in a way that keeps them from leaking out.

It turns out that everything I thought I knew about learning is wrong.

First, he told me, think about how you attack a pile of study material.

“People tend to try to learn in blocks,” Bjork said. “Mastering one thing before moving on to the next.”

Instead of doing that Bjork recommends interleaving. The strategy suggest that instead of spending an hour working on your tennis serve, you mix in a range of skills like backhands, volleys, overhead smashes, and footwork.

To read more…

Image Source: article (original: jems_web, Flicker)

Are Some Children Being Left Behind in the Ed Tech Revolution?

Kelly Searsmith — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:52:21 +0000

A recent Chicago Tribune article claims that they are, and during a week when other news outlets are reporting increases in iPad and Chromebook use in schools…

As some schools plunge into technology, poor schools are left behind: Quickening pace of technology widens the digital divide.

by Nick Pandolfo / Chicago Tribune: The Hechinger Report / 25 January 2012

On a recent Friday morning, 15-year-old Jerod Franklin stared at his hands as he labored to type up memories of the first time he grilled steak. Next to him, classmate Brittany Levy tackled a piece about a trip to the hospital.

The Bronzeville Scholastic Institute ninth-graders were working on writing assignments in the school’s homework lab, whose 24 computers are shared by nearly a thousand students from the three schools that occupy DuSable High School’s campus on the South Side.

“The ratio of computers to students is absurd,” said English teacher Andrew Flaherty, a veteran educator who reports that many of his students cannot afford computers at home and don’t get enough time to use them at school. As a result, Bronzeville Scholastic students born into a digital era struggle with basic skills, such as saving work to a flash drive and setting margins in Microsoft Word.

To read more…

Image Source: article (image: Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune, 17 January 2012)

Computer Technology that Supports Instruction is Proven to Make a Difference

Kelly Searsmith — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:35:35 +0000

A research study published last spring in the Review of Educational Research (March 2011 vol. 81 no. 1 4-28) conducted a meta-analysis of the last 40 years of research data to answer the question of whether computer technologies in the traditional face-to-face classroom improve learning outcomes. The results are encouraging.

Author Rana Tamim of Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University (Dubai) and several researchers from Concordia University examined 1055 primary studies based on data from 60,000 studentsfrom elementary school to college, concluding that

a significant positive small to moderate effect size favoring the utilization of technology in the experimental condition over more traditional instruction (i.e., technology free) in the control group…computer technology that supports instruction has a marginally but significantly higher average effect size compared to technology applications that provide direct instruction. Also, it was found that the average effect size for K–12 applications of computer technology was higher than computer applications introduced in postsecondary classrooms.

In their discussion, Tamim et al. call for more the continued study of what types and applications of technology are most effective in supporting instructional objectives, writing:

We support Clark’s (1983, 1994) view that technology serves at the pleasure of instructional design, pedagogical approaches, and teacher practices and generally agree with the view of Ross, Morrison, and Lowther (2010) that ‘educational technology is not a homogeneous “intervention” but a broad variety of modalities, tools, and strategies for learning. Its effectiveness, therefore, depends on how well it helps teachers and students achieve the desired instructional goals’ (p. 19). Thus, it is arguable that it is aspects of the goals of instruction, pedagogy, teacher effectiveness, subject matter, age level, fidelity of technology implementation, and possibly other factors that may represent more powerful influences on effect sizes than the nature of the technology intervention. It is incumbent on future researchers and primary meta-analyses to help sort out these nuances, so that computers will be used as effectively as possible to support the aims of instruction.

The complete article is accessible free online.

Are Apps the Key to Revolutionizing Autism Learning?

Kelly Searsmith — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:46:05 +0000

The world of special education is being transformed by technology, especially visually-based interactive applications that empower the child to not only learn but also to express learning.

by Philippa Roxby / BBC News/ 15 January 2012

“She has gone from being a little girl who had no way of showing us how much she knew, to a little girl who now has a portable device she can laugh, play and engage with,” says her mother Sam Rospigliosi, from Edinburgh.

“Who knows, she might even use it as her voice in the years ahead if she never learns how to speak again.”

Veronica is six years old and severely affected by autism. She has significant learning difficulties and finds many social situations very difficult. She lost all her speech three years ago.

But in common with many other children like her, touchscreen computers have provided a way of learning and communicating that plays to her strengths.

To read more…

Image Source: article (Veronica)

Exams in South Korea: The one-shot society

Kelly Searsmith — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:56:22 +0000

The article suggests that high academic achievement based on rote learning can no longer support the creative entrepreneurship that will be necessary for South Korea’s continued economic growth. Even more crucial may be the room for individual choice in one’s education, career, and life course — and the happiness that comes with it.

The system that has helped South Korea to prosper is beginning to break down

The Economist / 17 December 2011

ON NOVEMBER 10th South Korea went silent. Aircraft were grounded. Offices opened late. Commuters stayed off the roads. The police stood by to deal with emergencies among the students who were taking their university entrance exams that day.

Every year the country comes to a halt on the day of the exams, for it is the most important day in most South Koreans’ lives. The single set of multiple-choice tests that students take that day determines their future. Those who score well can enter one of Korea’s best universities, which has traditionally guaranteed them a job-for-life as a high-flying bureaucrat or desk warrior at a chaebol (conglomerate). Those who score poorly are doomed to attend a lesser university, or no university at all. They will then have to join a less prestigious firm and, since switching employers is frowned upon, may be stuck there for the rest of their lives. Ticking a few wrong boxes, then, may mean that they are permanently locked out of the upper tier of Korean society.

To read more…

Image Source: stock.xchng (Image ID: 632376)

One Laptop per Child Debutes Rugged Tablet for Students in Developing World

Kelly Searsmith — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:20:51 +0000

Begun in 2007, One Laptop Per Child reports having distributed over 2 million XOs the world over. The laptops are designed to enable reading and learning with internet connectivity. The latest version, designed by fuseproject, debuted at CES 2012 and costs just under $100, down by almost half from its earlier form. For a quick overview of the XO-3, mainly from the perspective of fuseproject founder Yves Behar, see Dezeen.

CES also introduced competition for the XO: the Aakash Ubislate 7, a tablet that retails at just $50.

According to the OLPC faq, “OLPC is based on constructionist theories of learning pioneered by Seymour Papert and Alan Kay, and on the principles in Nicholas Negroponte’s book Being Digital” [link added].

by Zoe Fox / Mashable Tech / 8 January 2012

One Laptop Per Child will unveil its XO 3.0 tablet at the Consumer Electronics Showin Las Vegas Monday. The fully functional tablet is designed to be inexpensive, use little energy and brave extreme weather conditions.

The rugged tablet includes the Marvell ARMADA PXA618 SOC processor, Avastar Wi-Fi SOC, standard or Pixel Qi sunlight-readable display, and supports Android and Linux operating systems. Unlike any other tablet on the market, it can be powered by solar energy, other alternative sources or hand-cranks.

To read more…

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Debating the ‘Flipped Classroom’ at Stanford

Kelly Searsmith — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:08:08 +0000

In the flipped model of blended learning, students watch online lectures and then complete assignments to which teachers respond directly, sometimes in a classroom setting and sometimes, as in this Stanford version, entirely online. One student’s critique of Stanford University’s public experiment in flipped instruction receives a measured response in Marc Perry’s recent article in “Wired Campus.”

by Marc Perry / Chronicle of Higher Education, Wired Campus blog / 5 January 2012

Stanford University got lots of attention for inviting the public to participate in a series of free online computer-science classes. One thing that’s drawn less notice is how some of the technologies that help facilitate those mega-classes are changing the experience for Stanford students learning the same subjects. Now a Stanford student is provoking a debate on those innovations, with a blog postcritiquing the rigor and format of the “flipped classroom” teaching method deployed in his machine-learning course.

In one version of that course offered to Stanford students, the traditional teaching format was inverted, with lectures presented through online videos and optional once-a-week class meetings devoted to problem solving with the professor. The videos, plus auto-graded assignments, were also offered to the public in the free online version of the machine-learning class. As of November, a staggering 94,000 people had signed up to take that course.

To read more…

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