Unit 7

This was an interesting collection of research and, for me, important because it provided a volume of evidence supporting the educational investment into technology.  While trying to condense the research into a short review is a challenge, what I found striking was how the different articles seemed to suggest technology’s powerful impact on such a wide variety of academic settings including students with special needs, high school achievement scores, and probably most significantly, the long-term effects that technology has due to such a stark increase in motivation and interest.   I would say that the recommendations given in the report on the US DOE website was probably as concise as any could be in regards to summarizing the direction and commitment we must continue to make in order to continue the successful impact that technology has in our educational system.  The recommendations from the website suggested the following:

1. Improve access, connectivity, and requisite infrastructure;

2. Create more, high-quality content and software;

3. Provide more, sustained, high-quality professional development and overall support for

teachers seeking to innovate and grow in this domain;

4. Increase funding from multiple sources for a range of relevant activities;

5. Define and promote the roles of multiple stakeholders, including the public and private

sectors;

6. Increase and diversify research, evaluation, and assessment; and

7. Review, revise and update regulations and policy that affect in-school use of technology,

particularly regarding privacy, and security.

Some of the results mentioned above may be even tougher sells than say the purchase of laptops for high school students because things such as improved connectivity and additional professional development are truly necessary, but lack the tangible tool that a purchase of hardware provides.

As mentioned above, my reactions to this research is very positive for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it shows a wide variety of research that gives solid evidence of technology’s ability to impact achievement.  Often times detractors of technology, and I think specifically of the debate that often raged surrounding the 1-to-1 initiative, would point out that this investment would not increase test scores.  While virtually all of the research would suggest that the improvement is always going to be felt in a long-term way, there were several studies (most powerfully for me, the 3 year study in Michigan) that demonstrated more immediate results as well.

There is no question that having these studies is certainly one more powerful tool that educators and technology advocates can use to promote the continued investment in 21^st Century tools.  Instead of relying so heavily on anecdotal evidence such as positive comments from teachers and students as the main crux of the debate, we can point to specific cases of research where technology impacted the achievement of students from across the spectrum of grades, abilities, and interests.