The title of the article, A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Student Outcomes is a bit intimidating. So it is with some trepidation that I dare to suggest that the authors (Waxman, H.C., Lin, M., & Michko, G. M.) may have drawn the wrong conclusion. Previous studies showed that integrating technology in the classroom produced positive effects in terms facilitating independent learning and increasing time on task. This study sought to quantify the effect of classroom technology integration on student outcomes.
I'm not a research expert so I really can't comment on the study's methodology and results, but to make my point, I'm willing to accept them as valid. The analysis shows that teaching and learning with technology has a moderate positive impact on student outcomes. I am completely on board with that. My problem is with the authors' conclusion which states, "The result from the present study indicate that the overall effects are nearly twice as large as other recent meta-analyses conducted in the area of instructional technology. This finding suggests that the overall effects of technology on student outcomes may be greater than previously thought." I disagree. What this finding suggests to me is that the overall positive effects of technology on student outcomes is increasing over time.
To me, this misinterpretation is a prime example of how the educational establishment has failed to grasp the transformational effect technology has had on society, and the implications of that transformation for education. To be sure, some schools have made some progress on this front since this study was published in 2003, but while the adaptation of technology in schools has been incremental, the technological advances in business, medicine, entertainment, etc. have been monumental. The job I do today didn't even exist in 2003. When I graduated from college, the technology required to do my job would have filled a small warehouse. Today, I can do almost my entire job using the technology available in my iPhone. Are we adequately preparing young people for the kind of employment opportunities that exist today? Or do we really believe that they are better served by continuing to educate them in institutions that are not substantially different that they were 75-years ago.
If anyone is looking for a very interesting read on the topic of why education has been so slow to adapt to the "Knowledge Revolution," I recommend Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology by Allan Collins and Richard Halverson.
One thing that many of these "expert studies" do not seem to realize is that in many cases, when using technology, you are able to get some initial buy in from students. The place that student interest is lost is when the teacher is not familiar with the usage of the technology as a teaching tool. If these studies gauged the learning between classrooms that use technology to those who have a technology literate teacher leading the class, there might be interesting statistics found.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Chris about the stated exponential growth of achievement that is claimed to be have by infusing technology into the classroom. I think that infusing technology in the beginning of the learning process can increase the "wow" factor of education. After the "wow we're using computers" novelty wears off the students will slip back into their old routines unless their teacher can successfully harness the technology to better deliver the content. Many of the studies cited will be using dynamic teachers who are "first-adopters" of technology or any other teaching improvement. I think that the teachers who are actively searching for how to improve their instruction will always get better results than teachers who rest on their laurels.
ReplyDelete