Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement (Week 10)

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te800.htm

This was a very informative article regarding the use of technology to improve student achievement. Among the topics of this article, it discussed the amount of money being filtered into the field of technology to come up with more up-to-date materials, and many ways to improve students’ achievement through the advances of technology.

Many different types of technology have been developed to support and enhance learning. Everything from video content and digital moviemaking to laptop computing and handheld technologies have been used in classrooms, and new uses of technology such as podcasting are constantly emerging. Different technologies deliver different kinds of content and serve different purposes in the classroom. For example, word processing and e-mail promote communication skills; database and spreadsheet programs promote organizational skills and graphing skills; and modeling software promotes the understanding of science and math concepts.

Some of the ways administration, technology planning teams, and teachers can improve student achievement through technology are as follows:

• Determine key aspects of national and state student learning standards for the school or district to focus on as educational goals.
• Identify specific curricula, practices, skills, attitudes, and policies that can be enhanced through the use of technology to foster significant improvement in the character and quality of student learning. (For example, if the district is interested in improving students' writing performance, word processing with an emphasis on revision and editing should become a salient part of the curriculum across disciplines.)
• Ensure that teachers are aware of the value of technology for all students, especially those considered at risk of educational failure.
• Ensure that all students have equitable access to effective uses of technology.
• Ensure that new, research-based approaches to professional development are consistent with the standards.
• Coordinate technology implementation efforts with core learning goals, such as improving students' writing skills, reading comprehension, mathematical reasoning, and problem-solving skills.
• Collaborate with colleagues to design curricula that involve students in meaningful learning activities in which technology is used for research, data analysis, synthesis, and communication.
• Encourage students to collaborate on projects and to use peer assessment to critique each other's work.
• Create opportunities for students to share their work publicly--through performances, public service, open houses, science fairs, and videos. Use these occasions to inform parents and community members of the kinds of learning outcomes the school is providing for students.
• Learn how various technologies are used today in the world of work, and help students see the value of technology application.
• Collaborate to create a technology plan for the school or district to include students at risk.
• Set one, three, and five-year goals for improving student learning through technology.
• Develop a technology budget to cover costs associated with hardware, software, maintenance, professional development, technical support, etc.
  

Reading Response for Week 8

http://caret.iste.org/index.cfm?StudyID=337&fuseaction=studySummary

The article titled “Does it Compute? The Relationship Between Educational Technology and Student Achievement in Mathematics” was a wonderful article. It has great insight as to how students are achieving much higher Math Standards since the use of technology has been introduced into the classroom. The results showed that higher mathematics scores were related to adequate access to up-to-date computer technology, allowing for high-order concepts such as learning games and real-world computer simulations and applications, and a teacher that has been properly trained in technology. Whether you were rich, poor, white, black, rural or urban, all students have the same chance to learn when given the same opportunity. The article posed four questions that helped sum up the findings in this research study.

1. How can technology influence student academic performance?
2. How can technology improve student motivation, attitude, and interest in learning?
3. How can technology help to prepare students for the workforce?
4. What strategies result in effective instructional application of technology?

Each question gave many researched answers backed up by evidence that I can summarize like this. Technology can improve student performance when it has been directly linked to the curriculum objectives, allows for student collaboration, can adjust for students’ needs and prior knowledge, understanding, should be integrated into daily class routines, and provides opportunities for students to design and implement hands-on projects that extend the curriculum content.

Student motivation, attitude, and interest in learning can be improved by students using computer applications that: adjust problems and tasks to maximize students’ experience of success, produce, demonstrate, and share their work with peers, teachers, and parents; and use challenging, game-like programs, and technology applications designed to develop basic skills and knowledge.

Technology helps prepare students for the workforce when they learn to use and apply applications used in the world of work, such as word processors, spreadsheets, computer-aided drawing, website development programs, and the Internet. If they learn to use these types of programs, they will have an easier time finding a job because of their skills, not what grade they completed in school.

I had some difficultly with the last question because, while reading this article, my personal question in mind was, “How can you use technology in your classroom if you do not have the support of available hardware, networks, and a working server?” That is exactly how they answered question 4. They say that to have effective technology applications involves a process for continuously incorporating research findings into instructional strategies and curriculum planned, but to incorporate new research, you need to have a system that can handle the updated materials.

My next question would be….."How do you get around the lack of resources for the use of technology and still incorporate the new research findings into your classroom?"

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/math/ma200.htm

I found this article to be fairly informative and enlightening The issue poised in this article was the fact that there is so much valuable and motivating mathematic resources for K-12 educators and students, but how difficult it was to locate, access, and meaningfully integrate these materials into the classroom instruction. What the author did was to research and provide a critical and informative summary of Internet sites and descriptive contents; presented some educator insights on providing Internet resources for students; commented on the quality of Internet sites and lesson plans; and discussed how many educators were not buying into the use of Internet-based mathematics materials.

It has been about 11 years since this article was written, and much has developed and been improved upon regarding teacher education, and the location, accessibility, knowledge and the integration of Internet-Based Mathematics into classroom instruction. A good current example is the ASU West Graduate Technology Program where many students, including myself, are learning and being trained in the use of technology, and accessing current Internet-sites, for application in the classroom. I can now envision how much easier it is today, then it was in 1995, but at the same time it is still challenging to integrate Internet-based mathematics into lesson plans since the knowledge and number of Internet-sites has increased dramatically. As I just completed the assignment for “25 Internet Resources for Mathematics and Science”, I realized how demanding and challenging it was to prepare it; but, at the same time I now have a valuable source of resources that I can quickly access, update, and use in my classroom. Technology can play a critical role in the classroom if used effectively, and over the years more support has developed from both educators and students.

Week 6 Readings

http://news.com.com/Mapping+a+path+for+the+3D+Web/2100-1025_3-6069459.html?tag=cd.top

http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1451&issue=feb_06

“With the spread of online games, virtual worlds and services like Google Earth and MySpace.com, people may soon be spending more time, communicating more and shopping more in complex 3D Web environments.” This quote is about the only thing I really understood. I will be perfectly honest; I really had to read this first article serveral times because it was difficult to understand. I understand that the chat type rooms of today and web based games or virtual games are all part of this growing computer form called 3D online or metaverse. I also understand that part of this new “lingo” of 3D online would come from what we have learned about Google Earth. If someone could please give me a simpler definition of what this 3D online (metaverse) means I would appreciate it.

The second article was a great article and put a lot of things into perspective for me. Instead of always taking the traditional way of teaching, introduce smart boards, computers, group work, hands-on activities, and “student-lead” instruction. The teacher at the beginning of the article used her computerized whiteboard to model the graph for the class, and allow the students to demonstrate the learning in a new way other than pencil and paper. I need to use the models presented in this article in my classroom. I feel like I use them to a point but not frequently.