larry Blodgett's List: for global learning community

• To support learning, a multimedia learning environment needs to provide  multiple, flexible methods of presentation (Meyer & Rose,  2002). Ways of addressing this principle include presenting material in a  variety of formats and highlighting the critical information
• Choice also increases student engagement. The Yeh and Lehman  (2001) study described in the History Research in Brief article illustrates  how students’ control over the navigation of a computer program (e.g., selecting  hyperlinks to additional background information and/or a multimedia glossary)  had a positive effect on their learning, especially when compared to their peers  who did not have these navigation options.

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  In  summary, I’m not convinced that deep reflection can be represented in 140-160  characters of a tweet or SMS message. But this format can be an effective way to  document process over time
• to  the ePortfolio environment: autonomy, mastery and purpose (thanks to Dan Pink's  book, Drive).  We are looking at a future that is well integrated with mobile devices.  
  
  
• "Start with SMS [on mobile phones] - it’s the morse code of the present  generation...
• Although  smart phone ownership (Android, iOS, Microsoft) is growing, these tools are not  widely owned by teenagers. Where does a student store SMS messages  online?
• If students are using "world ware" (tools in use it the world) then they are  developing skills that can be applied in the "real world" outside of formal  education.
• miniature computers in our pockets

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• IBM Type 805 Test Scoring Machine first hit the market in 1938,  fill-in-the-bubble test
• . And underlying these pre-World War II technologies are approaches to testing  from the same era. They rely heavily on multiple-choice question types and  measure only a portion of the skills and knowledge outlined in state educational  standards
• , these investments have simply made old approaches to assessment more  efficient.
• we can present complex, multi-step problems for students to solve, and we can  collect detailed information about an individual student's approach to problem  solving.
• Other fields, such as military training and medical education, are already  using

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• Intro • Fluency • Flexibility  • Originality • Elaboration • Sharing Ideas • Rubrics • Resources
• Guilford's model of Divergent Thinking from the 1950s
• fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration

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• One dangerous trend is a requirement by an increasing number of governments for  companies to locate data centers within a country's borders in order to provide  services
• , businesses can suffer when those rules are unclear, arbitrary, unevenly  applied or more trade restrictive than they need to be to achieve their  objectives
• Internet restrictions are simply "digital protectionism" to shield domestic  companies from foreign competition

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•  eSchool    News  —Does the use of textbooks lead to better  student achievement?   Somebody should do the research. Schools  nationwide are spending billions of   dollars each year on textbooks, with no clear  evidence they improve test   scores—and stakeholders
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    More  states look to online learning for students
   
   
   

   

   September 21st, 2011

   

  

   

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  On ed tech, we’re asking the wrong question

   

  The focus should not be on whether it can help raise achievement, but  how

   

  

  By Dennis Pierce, Editor
   Read more by Dennis Pierce

   

   

  Instead of examining whether technology is worth  schools’ investment, the Times should have focused on two other, more relevant  questions: Why are so many districts that invest in technology still failing to  see success? And, what are the conditions that best lead to ed-tech  success?

   

  Default Lines column, Oct. 2011 edition of eSchool  News—Does the use of textbooks lead to better student achievement?  Somebody should do the research. Schools nationwide are spending billions of  dollars each year on textbooks, with no clear evidence they improve test  scores—and stakeholders deserve some answers.

   

  I’m being facetious, of course. Textbooks are simply tools that educators use  in their instruction, and few people would suggest that textbooks—by  themselves—hold some larger power over whether students learn.

   

  But if we wouldn’t expect this of textbooks, then why should we expect it of  educational technology?

   

  In the end, that’s all technology is, too—a resource. In the hands of  talented and well-trained teachers, it can facilitate high-quality teaching and  learning; when used by average teachers, it most likely will lead to average  results. And in either case, it’s not entirely clear whether test scores would  rise, anyway—for reasons I’ll discuss later.

   

  Whether technology can lead to better achievement is a question stakeholders  have asked now for decades. This question surfaced yet again in a Sept. 3 front-page story in the New York Times,  which examined whether—in light of “stagnant” test scores in reading and  math—the Kyrene School District’s $33 million investment in educational  technology over the last five years has been worth it.

   

  In an issue of eSchool News in which two of the most significant  news items relate to jobs creation and Jobs loss, it’s this story from the Gray Lady that I’d like  to address instead. Honestly, I’m surprised that, more than a decade into the  21^st century—and seven years since the launch of Facebook sparked the  biggest communications revolution since the invention of the telephone—we’re  still having this debate.

   

  Outside of school, students are plugging in and taking charge of their own  learning, as the results from Project Tomorrow’s annual Speak Up survey have shown.   

  But when  students arrive at school for their formal education, many have to    power  down  and revert to a style of learning that arose when the goal of  public education was to prepare them for industrial-era jobs.

   

  Statistics
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   September  21st, 2011 

   

  

   

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   On  ed tech, we’re asking the wrong question 

   

   The  focus should  
• the results from Project Tomorrow’s annual Speak Up survey have shown. But
• But when students arrive at school for their formal education, many have to  power down
• when students arrive at school for their formal education, many have to power  down
• Department rank education dead last in technology use among 55 sectors of the  economy
• from the U.S. Commerce Department rank education dead last in technology use  among 55 sectors of the economy

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