Jack West's List: EdTech Research

• • This is big business. Sales of computer software to schools for classroom use were $1.89 billion in 2010. Spending on hardware is more difficult to measure, researchers say, but some put the figure at five times that amount.

• • CoSN just joined with AASA and Gartner Consulting to create a database of what edtech works. Source: eSchoolNews 10/11

• • " schools – and nations – that excel in the digital age will be those that use digital tools both to make teaching more manageable for the average teacher, and to give massively more students access to excellent teachers."
• • "And not just in the obvious ways. Yes, directly through digital instruction. But also by freeing excellent teachers to reach more students in-person."
• • "Another 25 percent have lagging teachers whose students end up further behind."
• • "Overall, U.S. students end up pretty much where they started out in life, the antithesis of the American dream."
• • " As Michael notes, digital tools can free these teachers’ time to give students more personal attention and develop higher-order capabilities. "
• • "Digital technology can also help diagnose students’ learning needs and suggest responsive instruction, thereby mimicking the differentiation that only excellent teachers deliver today."
• schools – and nations – that excel in the digital age will be those that use digital tools both to make teaching more manageable for the average teacher, and to give massively more students access to excellent teachers.
• And not just in the obvious ways. Yes, directly through digital instruction. But also by freeing excellent teachers to reach more students in-person.
• Another 25 percent have lagging teachers whose students end up further behind.
• Overall, U.S. students end up pretty much where they started out in life, the antithesis of the American dream.
• As Michael notes, digital tools can free these teachers’ time to give students more personal attention and develop higher-order capabilities.
• Digital technology can also help diagnose students’ learning needs and suggest responsive instruction, thereby mimicking the differentiation that only excellent teachers deliver today.
• • "Remote instruction: For schools with severely limited numbers of excellent teachers, like many rural and urban areas, bringing in great, live (though not in-person) teachers through videoconferencing, holographic technology, or other means could give students access to great interactive instruction they’d otherwise miss."
    
    Perhaps. Videoconferencing and holographic technology (what is this Star Trek in the 1980's?) might work to bring qualified teachers to some students, but the last point about bringing in video from great teachers is not likely to be successful. Learning for most students is not watching video.
• • "Combining these with time-technology swaps could enable far more students to have the best of both worlds – great basic content and motivating, live teachers who take learning to the next level."
    
    Agreed. The combination of good video with great local instructional coaching technique could be a winner.
• Remote instruction: For schools with severely limited numbers of excellent teachers, like many rural and urban areas, bringing in great, live (though not in-person) teachers through videoconferencing, holographic technology, or other means could give students access to great interactive instruction they’d otherwise miss.
• Combining these with time-technology swaps could enable far more students to have the best of both worlds – great basic content and motivating, live teachers who take learning to the next level.
• • This has proven to have no effect on the quality of teaching or student outcomes.
    
    " Schools should be able to pay top-tier teachers more out of regular per-pupil funds for the additional children they teach, which should make it easier to attract and retain excellent teachers"
• • The unhighlighted part of the second point is the most significant and the least discussed. Until the 26% of children that live in poverty in the US are taken care of, improvements in educational outcomes from education technology will fall short of bridging the achievement gap.
• Schools should be able to pay top-tier teachers more out of regular per-pupil funds for the additional children they teach, which should make it easier to attract and retain excellent teachers
• • And this is the real tension. Public schools now, largely spend resources on attending to the bottom 25%. This statement is congruent with a growing chorus of school change advocates that want to wave a magic wand at this population in order to re-allocate resources to the top 25% (as Hassel and Hassel describe them).
    
    "Teachers who nurture motivated, tenacious problem solvers while using new technologies to reach more children can become the fuel of local, state, and national economies."
• Teachers who nurture motivated, tenacious problem solvers while using new technologies to reach more children can become the fuel of local, state, and national economies.

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