Effectiveness of Educational Technology

Michigan’s Freedom to Learn Initiative (FTL) had a study done by CREP out of the University of Memphis and found significant instances of FTL students outperforming non-FTL students in math and reading tests and FTL students had knowledge needed for 21^st century workforce.  The study also showed FTL had positive impact on student motivation, learning and achievement.

From Texas TIP, economically disadvantaged students became more technology proficient than their counterparts not in TIP.  The report from TIP also had no prove of student satisfaction whether immersion school or not.  They also have shown less discipline problems in schools with immersion.

From the Apple website, students in 1 to 1 environments show greater independence and self-directed learning.  The students are more engaged and motivated with improvements in attendence and have fewer discipline problems.

 Milken publication report showed computer based instruction students scored in the 64th percentile on achievement tests compared to those without who scored in the 50th percentile.  The report also said students learm more in less time when they receive computer based instruction, which is a great indicator of technology effectiveness.  The students also like their classes more and develop better attitudes in computer based instruction.

The thing that really rang a bell with me was an article by Karena O'Riordan on a link from the Metiri Group - Research Findings.  The article said a big part of the effectiveness of technology is the "how" it is incorporated into the learning environment.  If  a person just puts technology in to put it in, then the teacher will not have success with it unless they understand technology and use technology to take learning to a different or the next level.

As with any study, a person can show good and bad of each.  One report talked about how computers improved attendence while another said in the first three years of a four year study the attendence was actually worse.  I feel students learn different today.  I feel we need to find ways to motivate students and technology can do it.  I do feel a big way is "how" to incorporate technology into the classroom.  With technology there may be times the teacher learns from the students or a student which at times can be difficult for teachers.  I think all the information I read did not surprise me.  I don't think we will ever know if technology improves education or not because I feel if we were to go back we would be suppressing our students, kind of similar to what the governor of Maine said in some of their reports.

I think all sorts of reports like this are beneficial in justifying the use and expense of technology in our schools.  A lot of the reports talked about professional development for teachers.  With the 4-day school week, we have incoporated more professional development for our teachers in lines of technology, but we have made the majority of it optional.  Since we made it optional, we have had the majority of teachers at the professional development sessions with a positive attitude.  The extra time has allowed the teachers to use the technology, become comfortable with the technology, and use it more in their classroom.  If a teacher is not comfortable with technology, then more times than not the lesson will not be effective.  Every teacher can not incorporate all the same technology and all the same amounts of technology into the classroom.  All teachers are not the same, but we can find more ways to incorporate technology into every classroom effectively.  In our small school setting, it is nice to have research findings like the ones we read for class to justify the expense for technology, but in our school the parents know if technology is being used effectively in the classroom or not and that can justify the expense of technology more than anything.