How Education Fails Technology (And What to Do About It)

How Education Fails Technology (And What to Do About It)

Dr. Mark Weston, national education strategist for Dell, Inc., wrote this article to show how education has not used technology effectively to “get all children learning at levels beyond their respective aptitudes” and what can be done to make progress with our current circumstances. 

He begins the article with a reference to Benjamin Bloom’s research 30 years ago which identified certain classroom practices such as feedback, cues, explanations, and classroom participation that each have a positive effect on student achievement.  He also cites the research of Marzano and Hattie, which reinforce Bloom’s studies.  Despite the work in this field, we have not been able to impact all students. 

Weston blames “teacher work-load conundrum” for this failure and believes that the only way to maximize results is through the effective use of technology.  Unfortunately, the “technology has exerted little overall effect in educational settings and the teaching and learning in them,” he feels.  The author continues by suggesting what we as educators can do to impact the way that technologies are used.

http://edtechdigest.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/how-education-fails-technology-and-what-to-do-about-it/

We Are Natural Born Multi-Taskers

The debate continues about today's students.  Are they "multi-taskers" or just great "task switchers"?  Most researchers say the brain isn't capable of multi-tasking, but new research is making a different claim.

 ". . . . These are the questions Julio Martinez-Trujillo, a cognitive neurophysiology specialist from McGill University, and his team set out to answer in a new study on multifocal attention. They found that, for the first time, there's evidence that we can pay attention to more than one thing at a time."

This is interesting research, and we can be sure the debate will continue . . . .

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111221140459.htm#.TzGY9E8kSsN.email

What Did You Learn Today?

The Global Search for Education: What Did You Learn Today?

"Children do not always learn what we teach. That is why the most important assessment does not happen at the end of the learning, it happens during the learning."

-- Dylan Wiliam

This piece has some pretty interesting comments from Dylan Wiliam -- comments that serve as important reminders of what feedback and assessment need to look like in the classroom.  Feedback always includes a recipe for future action; assessment is ongoing and informs instruction to ensure learning and prevent failure.  Is this what feedback and assessment look like in the classrooms you're visiting?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/c-m-rubin/the-global-search-for-edu_12_b_968786.html

 

 

What You (Really) Need to Know

 

Colleges and universities define what secondary schools teach and establish a framework for what it means to be an educated citizen.  We have been particularly conscious of this with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards and the emphasis placed on our graduates being "college and career ready".  While public schooling has been focused on preparing students for future demands, undergraduate education at the college level has changed remarkably little over time.  The lecture is "alive and well" with the professor standing in front of the class, and blue books still being used to assess student understanding.

Lawrence H. Summers, former President of Harvard University, wrote this interesting essay about how our colleges/universities will have to reform so that they can reflect the needs of 21st century learners. 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/the-21st-century-education.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

THE LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF TEACHERS

THE LONG-TERM IMPACTS OF TEACHERS:

TEACHER VALUE-ADDED AND STUDENT OUTCOMES IN ADULTHOOD

A recent New York Times article reports on a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research in which the data of one million students were analyzed to determine the impact that teachers have on students’ futures.  Specifically, the study looked at value added data and how effective this data was at evaluating teacher effectiveness and predicting the impact on student success.

The major findings of the study were: (1) some teachers consistently got value-added gains in their students’ test scores; (2) effective teachers had a lasting impact on their students’ futures, including achievement in school, a reduced chance of teen pregnancy, higher college matriculation, living in better neighborhoods, saving more for retirement, and higher lifetime income.

It’s a pretty interesting study – and provides another important insight on just how impactful effective teaching practices are on the lives of students.  Click the link below to get to the study; be sure to read the “executive summary” once you get to the study by clicking the link on the left side of the main page.

http://obs.rc.fas.harvard.edu/chetty/value_added.html