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Steve Ransom

eSchool News » On ed tech, we're asking the wrong question » Print - 0 views

  • Does the use of textbooks lead to better student achievement [2]? 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.
  • That anyone would be OK with the notion that schools haven’t changed much since the days when factory jobs were prevalent speaks volumes about how our society values education and its children.
  • Still, the Times story is correct in noting the scarcity of scientifically valid evidence that proves technology’s pedagogical value without a doubt.
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  • But I would argue that’s the point: You can’t separate the technology from the rest of the learning process, because they are inextricably bound.
  • But technology doesn’t exist in a vacuum. For technology to have an impact on student achievement, schools also need sound teaching, strong leadership, fidelity of use, and a supportive culture, among other things.
  • In other words, technology can’t improve student outcomes by itself. Instead, it’s one of several elements that must work together in harmony, like a complex dance, to elicit results. Should it come as a surprise that test scores haven’t risen markedly in Kyrene, when the Times reported the district has had to cut several teaching positions in recent years? Who knows how much the district has invested in professional development, or tech support?
  • But the Times got it wrong with regard to the central question it invited readers to consider. Instead of examining whether technology is worth schools’ investment, the newspaper 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?
  • Funding constraints have been exacerbated by an ever-multiplying series of challenges, such as growing populations of ESL and special-needs students and the creeping effects of poverty on school district operations.
  • Problems such as poverty have always existed, but what hasn’t is the idea that schools should be responsible for educating every child, regardless of his or her circumstances. As a society, we’ve made this promise as part of No Child Left Behind, but we haven’t backed it up with the funding that is needed to make good on this promise—preferring instead what we think are quick solutions, such as merit pay for teachers … or technology in classrooms.
  • The real question isn’t how to improve public education, he says—it’s: Do we really want to? And that’s a question we’ve been avoiding as a society, because the answer might require a level of commitment we’re not prepared to make.
  • In the wealthiest country in the world, it would be nice to think that school districts like Kyrene shouldn’t have to choose between technology and teachers. It would be nice to think they could afford both.
Steve Ransom

What Makes a Question Essential? - 0 views

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    Notice how the diversity of learning tools at our disposal today enable students to more efficiently tackle these sorts of questions. Nice examples for most content areas
Steve Ransom

blubbr - Play & create video trivia games - 0 views

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    create interactive quizzes that are based on YouTube clips. Your quizzes can be about anything of your choosing. The structure of the quizzes has a viewer watch a short clip then answer a multiple choice question about the clip. Viewers know right away if they chose the correct answer or not.
Steve Ransom

What Teens Get About the Internet That Parents Don't - Mimi Ito - The Atlantic - 0 views

  • "We already have a guitar. I can learn on my own and with my friends." Me: "It seems like you should get lessons for the basics." Her: "Mom, that's what the Internet is for." It turns out she's already been practicing with the help of YouTube tutorials.
  • because of the abundance of knowledge and social connections
  • balancing the competitive pressures of college-readiness, the need for unstructured learning and socializing, and the role of the Internet in all of that
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  • Trends indicate that families with the means to do so are investing more and more in enrichment activities to give their kids a leg up
  • padding resumes for college
  • an arms race in achievement
  • the Internet has been a lifeline for self-directed learning and connection to peers.
  • parents more often than not have a negative view of the role of the Internet in learning, but young people almost always have a positive one
  • Young people are desperate for learning that is relevant and part of the fabric of their social lives, where they are making choices about how, when, and what to learn, without it all being mapped for them in advance
  • Learning on the Internet is about posting a burning question on a forum like Quora or Stack Exchange, searching for a how to video on YouTube or Vimeo, or browsing a site like Instructables, Skillshare, and Mentormob for a new project to pick up.
  • but I'm also delighted that she finds the time to cultivate interests in a self-directed way that is about contributing to her community of peers
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    This is a great piece that captures much of the essence of how many (teens are the focus, but not exclusive to the points made) are seeing learning today... really important to understand.
Steve Ransom

Clive Thompson on Why Kids Can't Search | Magazine - 0 views

  • Who’s to blame? Not the students. If they’re naive at Googling, it’s because the ability to judge information is almost never taught in school.
  • And by the time kids get to college, professors assume they already have this skill.
  • Students quickly gain the ability to detect if a top-ranked page about Martin Luther King Jr. was actually posted by white supremacists.
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  • “crap detection 101,” as digital guru Howard Rheingold dubs it, isn’t easy. One prerequisite is that you already know a lot about the world.
  • group of college students
  • Pan grimly concluded that students aren’t assessing information sources on their own merit—they’re putting too much trust in the machine.
  • High school and college students may be “digital natives,” but they’re wretched at searching.
  • In 1955, we wondered why Johnny can’t read. Today the question is, why can’t Johnny search?
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    "Google makes broad-based knowledge more important, not less. A good education is the true key to effective search. But until our kids have that, let's make sure they don't always take PageRank at its word."
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