Group items tagged

This paper presents the first experimental evidence on the effects of live versus internet media of instruction. Students in a large introductory microeconomics course at a major research university were randomly assigned to live lectures versus watching these same lectures in an internet setting, where all other factors (e.g., instruction, supplemental materials) were the same. Counter to the conclusions drawn by a recent U.S. Department of Education meta-analysis of non-experimental analyses of internet instruction in higher education, we find modest evidence that live-only instruction dominates internet instruction. These results are particularly strong for Hispanic students, male students, and lower-achieving students. We also provide suggestions for future experimentation in other settings.

The authors are very misleading in their claim that this study is the first on live versus internet. There is a huge literature on this topic stretching back decades. The claims about the generalizability of the study are also very suspect.

Chris, I think the authors are claiming it is the first experimental trial where participants were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition. They contrast their study with the DOE meta-analysis, which I don't think includes experimental studies--at least as experiments are defined within econometrics. My problem with the study is that they are aren't really comparing live vs. internet so much as live vs. recorded video. They are very careful to not take advantage of any of the potential affordances of internet mediated instruction, except broadcasting a lecture, to preserve the "purity" of their experiment. Of course, that's not a terribly interesting experiment. The more interesting experiments, which they deride as "not apples-to-apples," is to compare a traditional lecture format with an online course that takes full advantage of the affordances of the internet. These studies would confound the carefully balanced design of an apples-to-apples comparison, but no serious education technologist thinks we should just record all the lectures and post them...

Video Games, Violence, Ban Question: Is there a coin here? Do educational video games sit on the opposite side of violent video games? If video games are good for instruction then are violent video games also instructing violence? Perhaps existing violent games are not following good educational design and therefore are bad at instructing violence (which is good)?

What makes good instructional design in the real world? These are the 2011 winners of the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program. Anyone interested in entering the instructional design field would probably be interested in watching some of these videos.

Online college M State is offering 3D interactive instructional content

"School of One uses technology to develop a unique learning path for each student and to provide a significant portion of the instruction that is both individualized and differentiated." I liked the definitions of individualized (pacing), differentiated (learning preferences/methods), and personalized (pacing, preferences, and content/objectives).

$330 million given to 44 states to design new computer-based assessments that will "measure higher-order skills...including students' ability to read complex texts, synthesize information and do research projects."

artificial intelligence and the personalization of instruction

I wholeheartedly believe in the last sentence of the article - "By using technology in the service of education, we can change the world in our lifetime".

A great article -- mentions Khan in forefront again -- I think the more we speak to how to maintain high standards of design and pedagogy for blended classes, the better

IDEO serves as a design and innovation firm for businesses and start-ups... but what about helping schools with instructional design and development?

Descriptions and salaries for "new" jobs that involve social media, software/curriculum development, and web-based technologies

Another program using AI and gaming design for fundamental instruction in math.

If you start watching at the 30-minute mark, you can get a peek at how he uses technology in the design of his course and to shape participation during class. At the 34:00 minute mark he is describing a jigsaw reading activity, similar to the study groups we are often encouraged to form. You won't believe where he and his students go with this. I love his statement, "There are no natives here." So true. I can't find the other video where he shows his collaborative notetaking platform that he uses in a 200-student class, but it's very cool. That's where I got the idea for some kind of wiki or google doc that might allow us to manage lecture notes and the backchannel.

The author identifies areas for skepticism about ed. tech research: MONEY-DRIVEN RESEARCH. LACK OF CONSENSUS. PUBLICATION REPUTABILITY AUTHOR TIMIDITY AND PRAGMATISM.

Making ed tech decisions based on "best guesses," Richard Rhodes advocates, strikes me as a pretty weak recipe. I'm not saying that a healthy amount of skepticism isn't required, but Rhodes seems to have a bone to pick with experts of any kind.

If you are not familiar with connectedlearning.tv ... you should be. They tackle issues related to instructional design--and associated professional learning structures needed to transform education.

Interesting article about not just to believe everything you read about Ed Tech transforming the classroom. I think the report (and Richard Rose, the Program Director) does a pretty good job of basically warning educators not to believe all the results they see published about Ed Tech. And that this actually aligns with the vision in the NETP (try things in small zones before scaling up).

The author's top 5 keys to successful education technology... do you agree? Is it missing anything?

One of the more powerful messages I have learned in Stone's class is when you are designing an educational intervention you have to know WHEN to ask the question: what technology, if any, will improve our educational problem? Before you ask this question, the problem should be clearly identified, and the steps to assess if the problem is improving should be laid out. When you have this information, you can then tailor the technology to specifically meet the needs of your current problem. In this way, technology is sort of the means (not the ends!) towards improving education. So, in addition to the author's 5 key factors for educational technology, I would like to add: Is the technology a good fit for addressing our clearly defined educational problem?

Interesting.

Also, I can't imagine that education will make the fear of failure extinct. It may make failing a bit more tolerable with individualized instruction, but I can't image that the pressure on students to succeed will decrease; it seems more likely that it will increase.

I appreciated that they mentioned learning HTML. I wish I learned that in school -- I think basic web design should be a 21st century skill.