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baby2cents

There Are No Technology Shortcuts to Good Education « Educational Technology ... - 0 views

edutechdebate.org/...gy-shortcuts-to-good-education

education negative

shared by baby2cents on 12 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Caring supervision from human teachers, parents, and mentors is the only known way of generating motivation for the hours of a school day, to say nothing of eight to twelve school years.
  • All of the evidence stands on its own, but I will tie them together with a single theory that explains why technology is unable to substitute for good teaching
  • One point that both authors make is that there is a repetitive cycle of technology in education that goes through hype, investment, poor integration, and lack of educational outcomes. The cycle keeps spinning only because each new technology reinitiates the cycle. In 1922, Thomas Edison claimed that movies would “revolutionize our educational system.” In 1945, William Levenson, a Cleveland radio station director, suggested that portable radios in classrooms should be “integrated into school life” alongside blackboards. In the 1960s, governments under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson invested in classroom TV. In an irrational leap of reasoning that is symptomatic of technology in education, Johnson went from a valid lament, “Unhappily, the world has only a fraction of the teachers it needs,” to a non-solution… to meet the challenge “through educational television.”
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  • There are no technology shortcuts to good education. For primary and secondary schools that are underperforming or limited in resources, efforts to improve education should focus almost exclusively on better teachers and stronger administrations. Information technology, if used at all, should be targeted for certain, specific uses or limited to well-funded schools whose fundamentals are not in question.
  • The history of electronic technologies in schools is fraught with failures. Computers are no exception, and rigorous studies show that it is incredibly difficult to have positive educational impact with computers. Technology at best only amplifies the pedagogical capacity of educational systems; it can make good schools better, but it makes bad schools worse. Technology has a huge opportunity cost in the form of more effective non-technology interventions. Many good school systems excel without much technology.
  • The inescapable conclusion is that significant investments in computers, mobile phones, and other electronic gadgets in education are neither necessary nor warranted for most school systems. In particular, the atte
  • warranted
  • mpt to use technology to fix underperforming classrooms (or to replace non-existent ones) is futile. And, for all but wealthy, well-run schools, one-to-one computer programs cannot be recommended in good conscience.
  • Computers can help good schools do some things better, but they do nothing positive for underperforming schools. This means, very specifically, that efforts to fix broken schools with technology or to substitute for missing teachers with technology invariably fail.
  • Computers can help good schools do some things better, but they do nothing pos
  • Educational Technology Debate: published via Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.
  • Patrick Suppes, a pioneer in computer-aided learning suggested in 1966 that computers can “adapt mechanical teaching routines to the needs and the past performance of the individual student.” But, neither interactivity nor adaptive capacity are sufficient – the key challenge in education remains the long-term, directed motivation of the student – something which no technology today can deliver on its own, but which good teachers deliver regularly.
  • Bad schools are unable to direct student motivation towards educational goals. Since technology itself requires proper motivation for its benefits to accrue, any school that can’t direct student motivation capably will fail to do so with technology, as well (or worse, allow technology to distract students).
  • that technology doesn’t cure all educational ills or t
  • hat technology alone is insufficient as a solution.
  • The first interpretation suggests that technology cures some maladies in education. But, this is exactly what doesn’t happen – the prevailing evidence shows that technology does not cure unhealthy educational systems; at best, it only augments healthy ones. The second belief is more dangerous because it is factually correct bu
  • misleading for policy
  • can be justified, although with the ever-applicable caution that while technology can augment good schools, it hurts poor schools.
  • In order to avoid misunderstanding, I should clarify that some uses of computers in education
  • First, in those cases where directed student motivation is assured, technology may lessen the burden of teaching. Some cases of tertiary or adult education may fall into this category.
  • literacy, computer programming, or video editing, etc., are important as long as those uses are incorporated only as a small part of a well-rounded curriculum.
  • Third, technology can help with the administration of schools – record keeping, monitoring, evaluation, etc. – as long as the school system is able to fully support the technology.
  • use of well-designed
  • Fifth, again in rich environments, where the basics of education are assured, where teachers are facile with technology, and where budgets are unconstrained, widespread use of technology, even in a one-to-one format, might benefit students. Warschauer does find that certain uses of computers enhance computer literacy and writing skills, but these outcomes are limited to well-run, well-funded schools; they are notably absent in underperforming schools, even in the United States.
  • There are no technology shortcuts to good education. For primary and secondary schools that are underperforming or limited in resources, efforts to improve education should focus almost exclusively on better teachers and stronger administrations. Information technology, if used at all, should be targeted for certain, specific uses or limited to well-funded schools whose fundamentals are not in question.
  • The history of electronic technologies in schools is fraught with failures. Computers are no exception, and rigorous studies show that it is incredibly difficult to have positive educational impact with computers. Technology at best only amplifies the pedagogical capacity of educational systems; it can make good schools better, but it makes bad schools worse. Technology has a huge opportunity cost in the form of more effective non-technology interventions. Many good school systems excel without much technology.
  • The inescapable conclusion is that significant investments in computers, mobile phones, and other electronic gadgets in education are neither necessary nor warranted for most school systems. In particular, the attempt to use technology to fix underperforming classrooms (or to replace non-existent ones) is futile. And, for all but wealthy, well-run schools, one-to-one computer programs cannot be recommended in good conscience.
  • baby2cents on 12 Aug 14
     
    research
jmasonii

What is the Impact of Technology on Learning? | Education.com - 0 views

www.education.com/...hat-impact-technology-learning

technology debate skills Literacy learning

shared by jmasonii on 14 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Research literature throughout the past decade has shown that technology can enhance literacy development, impact language acquisition, provide greater access to information, support learning, motivate students, and enhance their self-esteem
  • Research literature throughout the past decade has shown that technology can enhance literacy development, impact language acquisition, provide greater access to information, support learning, motivate students, and enhance their self-esteem
jmasonii

David Honig: Digital Literacy Beyond Social Networking - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...teracy-beyond-s_b_1662456.html

technology debate Literacy skills social networking

shared by jmasonii on 14 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • At its core, digital literacy refers to the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and analyze information using new information and communications technology. Possessing digital literacy skills entails a working knowledge of current advanced technologies and, more importantly, a substantive understanding of how broadband-enabled tools can be used to enhance one's life.
  • Children raised in unconnected homes lack easy access to a computer and high-speed Internet connection during their formative years, thus perpetuating the existence of a digital divide that has left more than half of all black and Hispanic households unconnected to broadband. The result of this cycle is a minority workforce lacking in the digital literacy skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century.
  • Building digital literacy training into K-12 education is certainly an important first step since it provides new users with a tangible value proposition for going online. But we need to do more to ensure that these gains - in schools and on social networks - are sustained in the near term and maximized over the long term. Doing so will level the playing field for minorities and usher them into a new world of equal economic opportunity.
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