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sylvyapaladino

Neuman Celano library study: Educational technology worsens achievement gaps. - 0 views

  • The two were especially interested in how the introduction of computers might “level the playing field” for the neighborhoods’ young people, children of “concentrated affluence” and “concentrated poverty.” They undertook their observations in a hopeful frame of mind: “Given the wizardry of these machines and their ability to support children’s self-teaching,” they wondered, “might we begin to see a closing of the opportunity gap?
  • Many hours of observation and analysis later, Neuman and Celanano were forced to acknowledge a radically different outcome: “The very tool designed to level the playing field is, in fact, un-leveling it,” they wrote in a 2012 book based on their Philadelphia library study. With the spread of educational technology, they predicted, “the not-so-small disparities in skills for children of affluence and children of poverty are about to get even larger.”
  • Neuman and Celano are not the only researchers to reach this surprising and distressing conclusion. While technology has often been hailed as the great equalizer of educational opportunity, a growing body of evidence indicates that in many cases, tech is actually having the opposite effect: It is increasing the gap between rich and poor, between whites and minorities, and between the school-ready and the less-prepared.
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  • The unleveling impact of technology also has to do with a phenomenon known as the “Matthew Effect”: the tendency for early advantages to multiply over time.
  • negative effect on academic achievement—and in these cases, poor students’ performance suffers more than that of their richer peers. In an article to be published next month in the journal Economic Inquiry, for example, Duke University economist Jacob Vigdor and co-authors Helen Ladd and Erika Martinez report their analysis of what happened when high-speed Internet service was rolled out across North Carolina: Math and reading test scores of the state’s public school students went down in each region as broadband was introduced, and this negative impact was greatest among economically disadvantaged students. Dousing the hope that spreading technology will engender growing equality, the authors write: “Reliable evidence points to the conclusion that broadening student access to home computers or home Internet service would widen, not narrow, achievement gaps.”
sylvyapaladino

Why Web Literacy Should Be Part of Every Education | Co.Exist | ideas + impact - 0 views

  • Like reading, writing, and arithmetic, web literacy is both content and activity. You don’t just learn “about” reading: you learn to read. You don’t just learn “about” arithmetic: you learn to count and calculate. You don’t just learn “about” the web: you learn to make your own website.
  • No one would have believed that peers could contribute knowledge and advice, helping one another to learn through YouTube videos, Wikipedia, or other sites. In fact, if you go back to 2000, before any of those things existed, you cannot find accepted theories of human nature, economics, or earning that could predict that those things could and would exist in less than a decade. No one guessed Wikipedia’s success, not even its founders. We simply didn’t know that, without a work plan, a lesson plan, or a taxonomy of what “counts” as knowledge, without leadership or payments or designated roles, people--non-experts--would build the largest encyclopedia the world has ever known, because we love to share what we know with others, and we’re even willing to spend endless hours creating our own community standards, editing, and making it right.
sylvyapaladino

Neuman Celano library study: Educational technology worsens achievement gaps. - 0 views

  • his story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University.
  • Annie Murphy Paul is a fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of the forthcoming book Brilliant: The Science of How We Get Smarter.
sylvyapaladino

US Literacy, Math, and Technology Skills below OECD Average - ProCon.org - 0 views

  • According to a Nov. 2013 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study, most Americans are not at college-level proficiency in literacy, math, or technology skills--not even the average US college graduate.
  • In 2011 and 2012, the OECD administered a standardized test, the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), to 166,000 adults aged 16-65 in the 24 OECD countries to compare the literacy, math, and technology skills of adults.
  • he OECD found that 41.77% of Americans hold a bachelor's degree, lower than the OECD average of 42.01%. The United States ranked 14th out of 23 (the UK and Northern Ireland were tested together) in percentage of 25-34 year olds with "tertiary education." Korea was first with 61.63%, followed by Canada (57.26%), and Japan (55.84%). Austria ranked last with 20.34%.
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  • On the literacy proficiency portion of the test, the United States ranked 16th of 23 with 11.51% of adults having an "A" level proficiency, or a college graduate level of reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. The average for all 24 countries was 11.79%. Japan ranked first with 22.56% of adults at an "A" level. Italy ranked the lowest with 3.32%.
  • On the "numeracy proficiency" (math) portion of the test, the United States ranked 21st of 23 with 8.48% of adults showing an "A" level proficiency. 12.42% was the average for OECD countries. Japan (18.85%) ranked first. Spain (4.06%) ranked last.
  • The third portion of the test was "proficiency in problem solving in technology-rich environments" and measured how adults used technology to get and use information, communicate with others, and perform tasks, or basic computer literacy skills. The United States ranked 14th of 19 with 5.1% displaying "A" level proficiency. Sweden ranked first with 8.8%. Poland ranked last with 3.8%.  Cyprus, Spain, Italy, and France did not participate in this portion of the test.
  • Japanese high school graduates... have higher literacy levels than university graduates... in England, Denmark, Poland, Italy, and Spain. Think about that. If you were a university rector in one of those countries, what do you think you'd be saying to your higher education minister right about now?" US college graduates scored an average of 8 points higher (297 out of 400 points) than Japanese high school graduates (289 out of 400 points) on the literacy portion.
  • The OECD noted that in all countries except Japan at least 10% of adults aged 16-65 fell below basic literacy skills, meaning they can only complete "simple tasks" such as finding information in a paragraph or completing one-step math problems but cannot perform more advanced literacy and math skills. 
kaholcom

Education World: Does Texting Harm Students' Writing Skills? - 1 views

  • The explosion of social media has completely changed the way we communicate with each other.
  • While this communications boom has been praised for its educational benefits, some argue that a negative side effect is beginning to take hold in our classrooms. Cyber slang is suspected of damaging students’ writing acumen.
  • Because so many digital media limit the number of characters an author can use at a time, students are becoming more creative to get the most out of their limited space.
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  • The Times Daily newspaper cites a recent report from Pew Internet and American Life Project, "Writing, Technology and Teens," which found that the cell phone text-based abbreviated communications teens use are showing up in more formal writing.
  • “I think it makes sense for these social conversations to be lightweight or light-hearted in terms of the syntax,” said President of Dictionary.com Shravan Goli. “But ultimately, in the world of business and in the world they will live in, in terms of their jobs and professional lives, students will need good, solid reading and writing skills. I’m a little worried about where we are in America with literacy levels dropping. Are these [electronic devices] helping us, or making it worse? I think they may be going the other way and making it worse.”
  • A public Facebook page entitled “If you think the rules at UnionCounty High School are ridiculous,” dealing with school policies in Union, S.C. offers these examples: “the new policy on dress code they handed out last week is our last chance 2 keep us out of uniforms. the new super intendant as u all know is from spartanburg is using the saturday school crap 2 take a note on how many offenses we have & will use it 2 make her decision. so we ned 2 stop breaking the dress code or we might have 2 really fight uniforms next year.” “dont worry abt us wearing uniforms nxt year. our parents wont buy them & the district cant even give us the first set cuz our parents pay the taxes & we cant afford them. so get ur parents opinion & make them disagress with uniforms!”
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    examples of how technology is hurting a student's literacy skills
sgbrudna

Television and Media Literacy in Young Children: Issues and Effects in Early Childhood ... - 2 views

  • Television and Media Literacy in Young Children: Issues and Effects in Early Childhood Kamaruzaman Jusoff, Nurul Nadiah Sahimi Abstract elevision viewing among young children has been an on going issue as it is found to effect their development in various areas. This problem is getting more worrisome as the percentage and amount of hours of television exposure among young children is increasing, especially with the growing production of children television programs.  Studies have found that television exposure to young children could effects their language and cognitive development, lead to behavior problems, attention disorder, aggression and obesity.
sgbrudna

The 4 Negative Side Effects Of Technology - Edudemic - 3 views

  • Let’s take a look at the top 4 ways that overuse of technology has influenced our children in an adverse manner:
  • 1. Elevated Exasperation These days, children indulge themselves in internet, games or texting. These activities have affected their psyche negatively, consequently leading to increased frustration. Now they get frustrated whenever they are asked to do anything while playing games or using internet. For instance, when their parents ask them to take the trash out, they get furious instantly. This behavior has shattered many parent-children relationships.
  • 2. Deteriorated Patience Patience is a very precious virtue and its scarcity could deteriorate a person’s Will. Determination is a necessity that comes with patience and without it no individual can survive the hardships of life. According to studies, tolerance in children is vanishing quite increasingly due to the improper use of technology. For example, children get frustrated quickly when they surf internet and the page they want to view takes time to load.
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  • 3. Declining Writing Skills Due to the excessive usage of online chatting and shortcuts, the writing skills of today’s young generation have declined quite tremendously. These days, children are relying more and more on digital communication that they have totally forgot about improving their writing skills. They don’t know the spelling of different words, how to use grammar properly or how to do cursive writing.
  • 4. Lack of Physical Interactivity No one can deny the fact that the advancement of technology has produced a completely unique method of interaction and communication. Now, more and more people are interacting with others through different platforms like apps, role-playing online games, social networks, etc. This advancement has hampered the physical interaction skills of many children. Due to that they don’t know how to interact with others when they meet them in-person or what gesture they should carry.
  • Alice Martin is a professional essay writer from UK, works on AssignmentValley’s education blog. She became a writer after completing her college and then established her career in the field of education and research.
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    "The rapid revolution in technology affected our lifestyle drastically and led us to believe that our lives have changed for the better. Now communication with our distant friends or relatives, buying branded products or goods on-the-go and conducting business meeting is possible with just a single click."
kaholcom

School of Education at Johns Hopkins University-Instant Messaging: Friend or Foe of Stu... - 1 views

  • There are those who see the use of so-called "Internet English" as a breakdown of the English language – according to a recent newspaper article, "Some teachers see the creeping abbreviations as part of a continuing assault of technology on formal written English" (Lee, 2002).
  • Several articles indicate that students who use messaging on a frequent basis often use bad grammar, poor punctuation, and improper abbreviations in academic writing. According to Lee (2002), "teachers say that papers are being written with shortened words, improper capitalization and punctuation, and characters like &, $ and @. " However, something that is not always considered is that these mistakes are often unintentional – when students use IM frequently, they reach a saturation point where they no longer notice the IM lingo because they are so used to seeing it. Montana Hodgen, a 16-year old high school student in Montclair, New Jersey, "was so accustomed to instant-messaging abbreviations that she often read right past them" (Lee, 2002). As she puts it, "I was so used to reading what my friends wrote to me on Instant Messenger that I didn't even realize that there was something wrong," she said. She said her ability to separate formal and informal English declined the more she used instant messages" (Lee, 2002).
  • This was also a problem for Carl Sharp, whose 15-year old son's summer job application read "i want 2 b a counselor because i love 2 work with kids" (Friess, 2003),
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  • English instructor Cindy Glover, who – while teaching undergraduate freshman composition in 2002 – "spent a lot of time unteaching Internet-speak. 'My students were trying to communicate fairly academic, scholarly thoughts, but some of them didn't seem to know it's "y-o-u," not "u"'" (Freiss, 2003.)
  • Students have trouble seeing the distinction between formal and informal writing, and consequently use informal IM abbreviations and lingo in more formal writing situations (Brown-Owens, Eason, & Lader, 2003, p.6.)
sylvyapaladino

What are literacy skills? | Thoughtful Learning: Curriculum for 21st Century Skills, In... - 0 views

  • Literacy skills help students gain knowledge through reading as well as using media and technology. These skills also help students create knowledge through writing as well as developing media and technology.
  • Information literacy involves traditional skills such as reading, researching, and writing; but new ways to read and write have also introduced new skills: Consuming information: The current excess of information requires students to gain new skills in handling it. When most information came through official publications like books, newspapers, magazines, and television shows, students encountered data that had been prepared by professionals. Now, much information is prepared by amateurs. Some of that work is reliable, but much is not. Students must take on the role of the editor, checking and cross-checking information, watching for signs of bias, datedness, and errors. Students need to look at all information as the product of a communication situation, with a sender, subject, purpose, medium, receiver, and context. Producing information: In the past, students were mostly consumers of information. When they produced information, it was largely for a single reader—the teacher—and was produced for a grade. It was therefore not an authentic communication situation, and students felt that writing was a purely academic activity. Now writing is one of the main ways students communicate. It has real-world applications and consequences. Students need to understand that what they write can do great good or great harm in the real world, and that how they write determines how powerful their words are. Students need to take on the role of professional writers, learning to be effective and ethical producers of information.
  • Media literacy involves understanding the many ways that information is produced and distributed. The forms of media have exploded in the last decade and new media arrive every day:
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  • Students' use of media has far outstripped educational use, and students will continue to adopt new media long before teachers can create curricula about it. It is no longer enough to teach students how books, periodicals, and TV shows work. Students need to learn how to critically analyze and evaluate messages coming to them through any medium
  • As with information literacy, the key is to recognize the elements of the communication situation—sender, message (subject and purpose), medium, receiver, and context. These elements are constant regardless of the medium used. By broadening the student's perspective to see all media as part of a larger communication situation, we can equip students to effectively receive and send information in any medium. Students must learn to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each medium and to analyze each message they receive and send.
  • We are living through a technological revolution, with huge changes taking place over brief spans of time. A decade ago, Facebook didn't exist, but now many people could not live without it. The average cellphone is now more powerful than computers from several years ago. We are surrounded by technology, and most of it performs multiple functions. In Growing Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World, Don Tapscott outlines the following eight expectations that students have of technology. Freedom to express their views, personalities, and identities Ability to customize and personalize technology to their own tastes Ability to dig deeper, finding whatever information they want Honesty in interactions with others and with organizations Fun to be part of learning, work, and socialization as well as entertainment Connecting to others and collaborating in everything Speed and responsiveness in communication and searching for answers Innovation and change, not settling for familiar technologies but seeking and using what is new and better
sylvyapaladino

Pros and Cons of Technology in the Classroom and Where I Stand | Rachel Lynne's Blog - 0 views

  • , I will share some of the findings of my group and explain how they impacted me and can impact all educators.
  • Negative Effects: Spell-check: Through our research we discovered that many students rely too heavily on spellcheck to correct their spelling, and as a result, have poor spelling skills.  In the following video, a high school girl describes her spelling problems from dependency on spellcheck.  It also addressed the problems that arise from text speak.
  • Other negative effects of technology on learning: -Technology makes it easier to cheat and plagarize -Decrease in critical thinking -Decrease in analysis skills -Decrease in imagination -Don’t process as much during class, easily distracted
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  • Are Digital Media Changing Language? http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Are_Digital_Media_Changing_Language¢.aspx Is Technology Producing a Decline in Critical Thinking and Analysis? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm
  • Sparknotes and other such sources: When I was in high school, most of my peers never read the novels assigned in our classes because they could easily and quickly read a plot summary, character analysis, and theme, symbol, and motif summary on Sparknotes.  With this site and others like it so easily available, we can’t be surprised when kids don’t read books!  
  • This technology definitely has the potential to have a negative impact on student’s reading, writing, and critical thinking.
  • One of the issues we discovered is the negative effect texting and instant-message language has on student’s writing capabilities.  Our research shows that acronyms and abbreviations are slipping into student’s writing.  Rather than using formal English when writing papers, many students use digital language, which includes things like: -lower case ‘i’ rather than uppercase ‘I’ -b/c for because -idk for i don’t know -recurrent grammar issues
bgfeltner

Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis? - 1 views

  • As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.
  • Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science.
  • Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said.
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  • "No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops."
  • However, most visual media are real-time media that do not allow time for reflection, analysis or imagination — those do not get developed by real-time media such as television or video games. Technology is not a panacea in education, because of the skills that are being lost.
  • Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary," Greenfield said. "Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. Students today have more visual literacy and less print literacy. Many students do not read for pleasure and have not for decades."
  • Among the studies Greenfield analyzed was a classroom study showing that students who were given access to the Internet during class and were encouraged to use it during lectures did not process what the speaker said as well as students who did not have Internet access. When students were tested after class lectures, those who did not have Internet access performed better than those who did.
  • college students who watched "CNN Headline News" with just the news anchor on screen and without the "news crawl" across the bottom of the screen remembered significantly more facts from the televised broadcast than those who watched it with the distraction of the crawling text and with additional stock market and weather information on the screen.
  • More than 85 percent of video games contain violence, one study found, and multiple studies of violent media games have shown that they can produce many negative effects, including aggressive behavior and desensitization to real-life violence, Greenfield said in summarizing the findings.
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    "As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles."
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