Does technology in the classroom improve pupils’ results?

A recent global study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has suggested that schools’ investment in classroom technology may not have the positive effect on results that many institutions had hoped for. The report concluded that education systems which had invested in technology in the classroom on a large scale had not seen noticeable improvements in key markers such as Pisa test scores. (Read the BBC News article here).

A closer look at the findings, however, reveals that the answer is not as simple as reducing investment. Indeed, the report’s author, Andreas Schleicher says the findings of the report should not provide an excuse not to use technology, but prompt schools to use technology more effectively.

At Titus Learning, this is a topic which comes up frequently when discussing e-learning with schools. If a school invests heavily in classroom technology, whether hardware or software, without carefully considering how this new technology will be implemented and used, it’s easy to see how funds could be wasted.

There are several key areas which we think need to be considered when assessing whether to invest in educational technology.

Training

It’s imperative that any budget for a new investment in technology includes provision for extensive and effective training for users. Technology can only support learning where teachers and students are both confident and competent in their use of the relevant tools. Too often training is seen as an afterthought, which leads to expensive technology lying unused.

Implementation

As well as ensuring the users are able to take advantage of the technology, another vital consideration is how the new tools will be integrated into teaching and learning within the school. Without a solid and well considered implementation plan for any new investment, it’s difficult to gain widespread adoption among the staff and student body.

Balancing hardware, software and infrastructure

Investing heavily in laptops for students, if your school has no learning platform in place, or purchasing a new VLE if most of your students have no Internet access from home are clear examples of how an unbalanced approach to new technology in the classroom can be wasteful. With each new spending decision, careful consideration needs to be given to how the new tools will fit into and support your existing technological provision.

Guidance in e-learning approaches

One criticism of increased Internet access in schools is that it encourages a “copy and paste” approach to learning. Giving students access to the vast collection of information and resources that the web provides, without proper guidance on how to utilise it critically and effectively can clearly lead to such problems. With proper instruction however, informed use of the web is an incredibly powerful tool for research and independent learning.

Managing expectations

It’s important to remember that investment in technology, whether in computers, or tablets, or learning platforms, is an investment in tools. New technology alone won’t change the face of teaching and learning any more than a set of new textbooks, or a new science lab. What it will do is facilitate new, exciting and engaging ways of learning which, approached in the right way certainly have the potential to increase achievement.
If there is a lesson to be taken from the OECD study, it is that investing in technology in the classroom is vital, given the increasing need for a web literate workforce, but that it must be guided by careful analysis of educational needs, and must fit into an overall implementation plan. In the right context, where technology supports teaching and learning, rather than being expected to replace it, such tools are an integral part of the future of education.

GUEST BLOG: The Death of Digital

We’re very fortunate to have our third guest blog contributed by John Mikton. With 20 years’ experience working in Education Technology and 10 years as a Senior Leadership Team member in International Schools, John is perfectly placed to comment on all things EdTech. John is currently the Director of eLearning at the Inter Community School Zurich and was previously the Director of ICT at the International School of Prague. John is an Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Education Trainer, Common Sense Digital Citizenship: Certified Educator and trainer at the Principal Training Center and AppsEvents. 

Words are a powerful vehicle for meaning and understanding,  connected to individual or group perspectives, interpretations,  and connections. The word “Digital” has been part of our vocabulary landscape for a long time.  It was only after reading Nicholas Negroponte’s  book, “Being Digital” in 1995, that I began to be aware of the term and its impact on the world to come, but in 2014, the word “digital”  has now blended itself into the daily fabric of our lives. When we think of the word “digital”, it creates a sense of disconnect from our world and implies that the digital world is a separate part of our reality. However, this is no longer true. Our lives are so embedded within this digital realm that the two have become inseparable. So, I refer to the death of Digital, and invite us to use a new set of vocabularies to frame this paradigm:  Appliances, Utilities, Information Flows, Ethics and Algorithms.

Appliances are the consumables that we connect and interact with (laptops, phones, tablets, GPS, and other hardware). These tools have become the default to our connectedness; disposable and with each new version more seamless, simple and integrated.

Utilities frame our day to day interactions. These social medias, networks, email, RSS, professional learning networks and Web 2.0/ 3.0 tools have become the architectural  framework of communication and information for our connected world.

Information flows are the 150,000,000 Blogs posted a year, 5 million tweets per day, 200,000 videos uploaded on YouTube daily, and the petabytes of information created, aggregated, shared, and circulated daily around the earth.

Ethics is the why, how, when, where and who of our digital footprint in today’s world. It is the wide ranging issues from Killer Robots to the impact of a “Filter Bubble” (where search, news, and information algorithms choreograph what information types we get based on our personal browsing habits). The curation of our online and offline privacy as governments, corporations, and organizations juggle a treasure trove of information created by our respective digital footprints, is the new ethical dilemma we all deal with, as individuals, groups and as societies at large.

Algorithms are the backbone to the intelligent softwares that inhabit the engine of the internet. These are predictive, anticipatory, intelligent and analytical. The are the lifeblood of the internet ecosystems for individuals, governments, corporations, and organizations which then create, develop, build, facilitate, monitor, analyze, synthesize and evaluate our day to day interactions. The algorithms have become the life line to the information flows, ethics, utilities and appliances.

These words are not the definitive list, but reflect a vocabulary we use both from our past and present. They highlight how the “digital” world is ingrained in our daily lives, to the point we often are not even conscious of its presence. This connectedness fueled by our devices and ecosystems now are part of the fabric of our lives, often out of our control, and a non negotiable aspect of our own participation with the day.

A critical understanding of these words and their respective dynamics should be an essential ingredient in School and Organizational curricula. We can no longer think of them as separate entities. We have inherited this reality which now has us connected in ways where opting out becomes the abnormality . These Appliances, Utilities, Information Flows, Ethics and Algorithms are part of the fabric of our world and impact us as humans both consciously and unconsciously.

This discourse needs be given equal time in all educational settings; imbedded as seamlessly in the curriculum as they are in our lives. A responsibility to highlight the power, richness and cautions that come with tying ourselves to a set of appliances, utilities, information flows, ethics and algorithms that have and will continue to change the fabric of our interactions as humans and organizations.

So how do we do this? The key is that these terms and their meanings are introduced as part of the learning landscape in all units of study. Creating authentic connections between these words and the learning environment will then scaffold a clearer understanding of their real world applications. In our school ecosystems most subjects and curricular areas are using technology, often as a separate tool, or as a side show, but, if it is so seamless and embedded in our day to day lives, then we need to translate this into our learning. One of the first steps is to give ourselves permission to change the way we work with this vocabulary. As we change the vocabulary, and with it the meaning and role of these words, we are engaging in an active learning process connected to the changing world.

To ignore this vocabulary is to short change future generations of their awareness of a world that has become more invisible, seamless and blended both in our conscious and unconscious day.  The death of digital is here.