Meta-Analysis Misses Mark

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. 

Principles of Teaching and Learning

Oddly enough, after reading the article Principles of Teaching and Learning from the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence at Carnegie Mellon University, the first thing that struck me was the juxtaposition of the two elements. The title lists Teaching first, but the body of the article talks about Learning first and Teaching second. It may seem trivial, but I think this is an important distinction. The introduction points out that a "learner-centered perspective is a hallmark of the Eberly Center’s approach to teaching." Despite the title, the article seems to have the sequence correct; the principles of learning and the needs of the students must direct the application of the teaching principles, not the other way around.

From my perspective as a non-teacher, the Principles of Learning seem to be true and accurate. One principle addresses the impact of student motivation on learning, pointing out that intrinsic motivations play a larger role in student learning as they, "gain greater autonomy over what, when and how they study and learn." Since virtual school students have a great deal more autonomy than their traditional school counterparts, this point is particularly relevant to the students at iQ Academy. According to the article, student motivation is maximized when they find positive value in the learning goal, expect to be successful and perceive support from their environment. That makes perfect sense to me and could serve as an important reference point for our teaching staff.

I found several similarities between the Teaching Principles, and the topics I hear being discussed in iQ Academy staff development sessions; things like aligning learning objectives, instructional activities and assessments, articulating explicit expectations and progressively refining our courses. The principle that talks about "acquiring relevant knowledge about students" is particularly challenging for online teachers who don't have the benefit of seeing their students every day. This was a major topic of conversation at a summit meeting I attended last week where a research firm presented their findings from a market segmentation study that looked the characteristics of different "categories" of virtual school students. The challenge to the school leaders in attendance was to figure out how to use that information to better serve our students and families. I left the meeting with a personal action item to discuss this point with our staff to see how knowing this kind of information might change the way they approach their teaching.

Overall, I found a lot to like about this article, but I do think they should consider changing the title to Principles of Learning and Teaching.

Full-Time E-Learning Not Seen as Viable Option for Many

I recently spent 3-weeks traveling around the state talking with anyone who would listen about iQ Academy Wisconsin, the virtual charter school through the School District of Waukesha of which I am the Program Manager. One thing I always emphasize with prospective parents is that full-time virtual charter school does not work for every student, just like full-time face to face public school does not work for every student. The critical goal for every parent should be to find an educational program that fits their child's individual needs and abilities.

Now that I'm back in the office and catching up on my reading, I came across this article:
Full-Time E-Learning Not Seen as Viable Option for Many

The author seems to be thinking about virtual school all wrong. She implies that most children will not be successful in a full-time virtual school unless they have a parent at home to help them. While that is certainly true for elementary school students, the level of parental involvement needed for middle and high school students varies widely depending on each individual student. Some students at iQ Academy do just fine with minimal parental involvement.Others need a weekly check in while still others require daily parental supervision.

The author also seems to be caught in the traditional mindset that "school" only takes place during the time when working parents are not home. One of the hallmarks of virtual learning is that it is not bounded by school buildings or traditional school hours. Brick and mortar schools force students to conform to the school's schedule. To a large extent, virtual schools conform to the student's/family's schedule. If a child needs direct parental involvement, they can design their "school time" around the parent's work schedule.

My real issue with the article is that it seems to miss the larger point. Parental involvement in their child's education is important regardless of whether the child attends a virtual school or a traditional school. The level of involvement and the form it takes, whether it be reading to a young child, helping with homework, reviewing an online grade book, attending parent-teacher conferences or home-schooling, is a decision each family has to make for themselves based on each student's individual needs.

Can students be successful at a virtual school if they do not have a parent at home during the day? Of course they can. In my experience, there is no direct correlation between parental involvement and academic achievement. Some students do well with minimal parental involvement, others would benefit from more active parental participation. I suspect the same is true at any school.

The One Tech Tool They Aren’t Into …

Most kids love tech tools. Desktops, laptops, smart phones, smart boards, iPods, iPads, online games, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, texting, IM, SMS, MMS, RSS... you name it and they probably know more about it than I do. But there is one tool that is conspicuously absent from that list; email.

One of the teachers at my school shared this article that could have major implications for our virtual school:
The one tech tool they aren’t into …

Turns out Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg was right when he predicted that teenagers are just not that into email. Personally, I love email. It's just after 4pm and so far today, I have received or sent 66 emails at work (by contrast, I have received or made only about a dozen phone calls). I expect I will hit 100 emails by the end of the day once I check my personal and school accounts this evening. That's a pretty typical day for me. But what about the students at my school?

Being a virtual school, email is the primary vehicle for communication. Want to let the students know about an upcoming schedule change? Send them an email. Want to inform parents about re-enrollment for next year? Send an email. Want to ask your teacher a question? Email them. And so it goes. Now virtual school students may be atypical in their opinions about email, but if email use is truly on the decline among teenagers, as the article suggests, then perhaps we should reexamine our communication strategy.

I can see it now: "iQ Academy proposes equipping teachers with smartphones so they can text, video chat or Tweet answers to student questions."

I wonder what the school board would say...

You Can't Judge a Website By It's URL

During a recent visit to Wisconsin Dells, it occurred to me that a well-designed website can make any little flea-bag motel look like the Ritz. Creative writing and photography can make a tiny little inn with an algae-laden inflatable pool look like the waterpark capital of the world. Here's a tip - if the place advertises a poolside room for $39.99 per night, it ain't the Kalahari.
 
Some websites that appear to be totally legit can be completely phony. Others are much more subtle in their presentation but are nonetheless inaccurate or misleading. The amount of information available on the web is virtually limitless, making the ability to evaluate the legitimacy and usefulness of that information a critical skill. And before we can hope to help our students develop that critical skill, we must first understand and apply it ourselves.

That is why I paid particular attention to the exercise we undertook in this course to create and use a tool for evaluating Internet learning resources and the materials we studied regarding how to determine the validity of information you find on the web. I try to have a healthy degree of skepticism about everything I see on the web, but until now, I never really thought about how to determine with at least some degree of certainty which web-based information is actually true and useful.

The real challenge is that the Internet is so new, so vast and changes so rapidly that there is no precedent for processing this information. However, it is incumbent on educators who use technology resources with their students to make teaching proper information evaluation a priority.   

The Blog About Nothing...

With apologies to all the Seinfeld fans out there, I sometimes feel like I am writing a blog about nothing. I try to reflect on how what we are learning in class relates to my life, but it turns out that my life isn't all that interesting. Still, Seinfeld was a self-described "show about nothing" and they ended up making something like 180 episodes over nine years.

Anyway, if you are looking to make our weekly blog assignment something other than a reflection on how we can incorporate the course content in our lives outside of grad school, perhaps we could post one assignment per week as a blog entry instead of a wiki page. In Week 1, for example, that could have worked for our reaction to the web links.

On second thought, I am in favor of keeping the blog assignment the way it is. I thing we will all be thankful when it comes time to review everything we have done and how we felt about it at the time.

The Faster I Go The Behinder I Get

Sitting in the lobby of a movie theater recently, two thoughts occurred to me:
1. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie in a theater, and
2. The way we experience movies has changed dramatically in the past 5-10 years.

Think about it. Technology has completely changed the way we watch movies. It wasn't that long ago that the only place to see a movie was in a theater or on TV. Then came VCR's, Blockbuster and HBO and suddenly we could watch movies at home at the touch of a button. There were a few missteps along the way (i.e. Laser Disc), but a couple technological advances more and we have DVD's and Blu Ray. Now factor in Netflix and suddenly we can download movies instantly and watch them on anything from a 40-inch plasma screen to a computer screen to a mobile phone. The changes happen so fast it is hard to keep up.

Maybe that is why the American education system has been so slow to implement technology in the learning process. The potential for technology to transform education and better prepare students for the future is hard to ignore, yet the behemoth educational bureaucracies seem to have done just that. Education is not keeping up with the world in terms of technological implementation and unless we pick up the pace dramatically, the impact on the next generation will be staggering.

That thought has been haunting me throughout this class on Using Productivity Tools Effectively. There are so many tools out there now and plenty of examples of how they can be used to facilitate student learning and equip students with 21st century skills. Yet there are far too many other examples of schools and districts and teachers delivering public education the same way it has been done for the last 50-years. Imagine if we were still watching movies the same way we did 50-year ago...

By the way, the last movie I saw in the theater was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 so it really wasn't all that long ago, it just wasn't a very memorable experience I guess.