Final Reflection
My action plan started with a written discussion of the concept of Connected Learning. My idea was to find a way to reframe the discussion of technology with our teaching faculty so that we were discussing the learning that we wanted to foster in the classroom, and were asking ourselves how technology could be used to facilitate this learning. I wanted to shift the conversation away from the tool to focus on pedagogy. The purpose was two-fold: firstly, to address concerns by teachers about replacing methods they know to promote learning with those that appear to be unproven, and secondly, to facilitate change as it is difficult to deny any tool (technology driven or otherwise) that can be linked to increased levels of student achievement.
So how did it work out? Well, our committee of teachers is a delightful group with which to work and I have a renewed appreciation for the professionalism of my colleagues. We enjoyed trying new tools and discussing our experiences. We evaluated each tool in light of how well we thought it supported learning. Most of the tools we explored were deemed to provide an advantage to promoting student engagement and results. Several colleagues have gone on to run PD sessions for others and the capacity of our faculty continues to grow. In this way, we have facilitated change toward becoming a school for the the 21st Century learner. The initiative has been successful in terms of promoting our professional growth and facilitating change.
However, finding academic publications which link technology tools to learning has
proven to be much more difficult.
My idea of linking new initiatives and best practices is difficult to uphold. There is not enough information on the pedagogical advantages of specific technology and tools to support this idea. In fact, research into broader topics such as one-to-one computing and laptop enabled evaluations returned results that demonstrated that technology was not helpful to learning and was in some cases detrimental! The initiative has not been very successful in terms of linking the tools we are using to a proven body of research that supports the use of the tools to facilitate learning.
In conclusion,
I have come to understand that we are unlikely to find a large pool of research that clearly demonstrates how specific technology tools can enhance learning. It does not yet exist. There is some research on laptop versus non-laptop enabled environments but even that pool seems a bit thin for our purposes (for example, I can’t find a study on tablet versus laptop or laptops used in mathematics classes etc). So we need to reframe the conversation. My aim for next year is to have the committee conduct action research to fill this gap. If the research does not exist we need to create it. It seems wise to continue to focus on evaluating each tool in light of how it supports learning and to continue to derive our own conclusions of the effectiveness of the tool. Our committee will still be able to address the focus on pedagogy but our knowledge will have to come from our own research rather than that of others. The question now becomes: What can we, as 21st Century educators, contribute to the global pool of knowledge on the effectiveness of the use of technology tools? I think this approach will be even more popular.
Presentation (Prezi link): http://prezi.com/elbasbtls9eb/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
Jennifer,
I am so glad you posted this and have come to this realization. What your journey has revealed is that we are all asking the wrong question. Rather than ask “How can technology impact learning” we should be asking “What teaching strategies influence learning the most”. It turn out that there is a raft of research in this area.
Here is a famous one – http://www.palmbeachschools.org/qa/documents/Handout5-MarzanoHighYieldStrategies.pdf
When I read this I see all kinds of ways that technology can play a role in helping facilitate, enrich , augment or redefine these strategies. Rather than look for a tech “cause and effect” on learning lets leverage what we already know about learning and bring in tech when it can have a meaningful influence.
More to come Friday 🙂
Justin
Jenny,
I’m so interested in your journey and findings; I’m really looking forward to connecting to you about this on Friday (tomorrow)!
Unlike Justin, I don’t have the years of experience researching Edtech and the applications to the classroom (although, I certainly agree with everything he is saying), I do have some really savvy tech gurus down the hall from me at BSS that might be a great resource to tap. I’ve shared your last blog post with them in the hopes that they might have some good leads on useful research for you and your team.
Even though the action plan posts are up, the learning continues!
Hi Jenny,
Celeste Kirsh here at BSS pointed me toward your post. The action research work you conducted sounds like it was a very worthwhile use of time, even it it feels like you are going back to square one (though I don’t think that’s the case). I, as well, have not found any research that demonstrates a causal link between the use of any specific technology and improved learning outcomes for students. (I should also note that I have not looked that hard.)
My personal, unscientific belief: tech alone rarely if ever increases learning outcomes. You need a good teacher and a good school and a plan for how to properly make use of tech to have its introduction make any appreciable improvement in outcomes. Most schools don’t have a real plan for tech use in place. A real plan includes, but is not limited to, time and money for ongoing, regular teacher PD related to the tech being used and how use of that tech is intended to impact pedagogy.
These are all my own impressions – some stakeholders in education might see such a view as heresy. Namely, that you can get more gains from focusing on getting all teachers up to the “good or great” level on pedagogy than you can by dumping a lot of tech into the classroom. Also, that putting tech in the classroom without the two pre-requisites – a good school with good/great teachers – can cause more harm than good.
The story of technology use in education is just starting to unfold – who knows where it goes from here.
Russ
Jen – that was a brilliant explanation of your thoughtful journey!
It’s true that, despite our best professional intuition and all the common sense edtech articles we read, conclusive research on the benefits for students on learning through the integration of technology is scarce. By reframing the question as you have, you are allowing for the application of technology to instructional purposes and there is a lot written about high-yield instructional strategies.
See you tomorrow!