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Waymaker offers four primary interventions that are well-grounded in research and represent a significant shift compared to what students experience in a typical college course. First, by using OER-based content, Waymaker gives every student automatic day one access to the course materials they need to succeed. Textbook affordability becomes a non-issue. Second, Waymaker applies a Mastery Learning-inspired approach, using quizzes and other assessments as learning activities, and not just measurement activities. Students get more than one chance to complete each assessment, along with feedback about where to focus to improve performance. Third, Waymaker uses learning data to provide students with personalized recommendations about where to focus their attention to improve learning. Fourth, Waymaker helps faculty identify and connect with students individually when and where they need help and encouragement. Research suggests these personal relationships can significantly impact student learning.

We can’t answer the question “Is tech useful in schools?” until we’ve grappled with a deeper question: “What kinds of learning should be taking place in those schools?” If we favor an approach by which students actively construct meaning, an interactive process that involves a deep understanding of ideas and emerges from the interests and questions of the learners themselves, well, then we’d be open to the kinds of technology that truly support this kind of inquiry. Show me something that helps kids create, design, produce, construct—and I’m on board. Show me something that helps them make things collaboratively (rather than just on their own), and I’m even more interested—although it’s important to keep in mind that meaningful learning never requires technology, so even here we should object whenever we’re told that software (or a device with a screen) is essential.

If you haven’t given much thought to the kind of intellectual life we might want schools to foster, then it might sound exciting to “personalize” or “customize” learning. But as I argued not long ago, we shouldn’t confuse personalized learning with personal learning. The first involves adjusting the difficulty level of prefabricated skills-based exercises based on students’ test scores, and it requires the purchase of software. The second involves working with each student to create projects of intellectual discovery that reflect his or her unique needs and interests, and it requires the presence of a caring teacher who knows each child well.