To iPad or not to iPad: Mobile Language Learning with Middle-School Children

This paper follows up on Rocca (2015a), providing additional new data from the experimental group in seventh grade. This is a small-scale study that comes under the purview of participant observation research. The continuation of the study for another year evened out the comparison between the two groups and dispelled concerns about vitiating variables affecting participant behavior, such as Hawthorne effect and novelty effect. The control group in sixth and seventh grade was compared to the experimental group in the same two grades. Both groups shared the same curriculum, the same teacher and the same amount of teaching periods. However, they differed in class size, with the experimental group being almost double the size of the control group, and most importantly, the equipment of iPads for the experimental group, which belonged to the school-sponsored 1:1 program. Results show that the iPadded group, generally using ‘Notability’, performed at a higher level for two consecutive years across the four language skills, especially in aural-oral skills where a ceiling effect was also observed. In general, the utilization of the mobile technology transformed classroom practices, enhancing the input the students were exposed to as well as the output they produced, empowering them with tools to control and monitor their work. The conclusion argues that technology plays a role in making both teaching and learning more mobile and therefore more sustainable

Using an interactive whiteboard and a computer-programming tool to support the development of the key competencies in the New Zealand curriculum

Does children’s use of the software Scratch provide potential for the enhancement of key competencies as they work in pairs at the interactive whiteboard (IWB)? This article looks at how children using Scratch collaborated and managed their projects as they set about designing, constructing, testing and evaluating a game for others to play, a task that provided a sustained challenge over six weeks and beyond. The findings showed that the key competencies of participating, contributing, and relating to others were enhanced by the collaborative use of Scratch at the IWB, and that creative and conceptual thinking processes were sustained. Children became increasingly adept at using Scratch, and some children, previously thought to have poor social skills, began to articulate their understandings to others. While a guiding and scaffolding role was evident in teachers’ actions, close monitoring of group progress and direct input from teachers is required to keep the challenge high but achievable, and to extend children’s knowledge and thinking as they use Scratch at the IWB

Technology-enhanced Personalised Learning: Untangling the Evidence

Technology-enhanced personalised learning is not yet common in Germany, which is why we have tasked scientists with summarising the current status of international research on the matter. This study demonstrates the great potential of technology in implementing effective personalised learning. Nevertheless, it has not been assessed yet whether the practical implementation actually works: Even in countries such as the U.S., which lead the way in using techology in classroom settings, hardly any evaluation studies have been done to prove the effectiveness of technology-enhanced personalised learning. In the light of the above, the authors make recommendations for actions to be taken in Germany to make best use of the potential of technology in providing individual support and guidance to students

Engaging the Digitally Engaged Student: Comparing Technology-Mediated Communication Use and Effects on Student Learning

The role of communication technologies in the learning process is both a dynamic and complex issue. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how the use of specific communication technologies may influence classroom performance, key learning outcomes, and other measures of course satisfaction. The research reported here attempts to add to our knowledge about the role of communication in the technology enhanced classroom (TEC) education and in technology-enhanced online (TEO) education through a direct comparison of two courses. Our findings indicate additional support for “The No Significant Difference Phenomenon.” Furthermore, we found that prior experiences lead students to gravitate towards their preferred learning environments, and that basic website elements are required in any learning environment to enhance student outcomes. Finally, we found that when used appropriately, the benefits of communication technology use in education outweigh many of the drawbacks

Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education: The Relationship Between Competency-Based Education Practices and Students' Learning Skills, Behaviors, and Dispositions

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (Nellie Mae), in partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), has recently released a comprehensive analysis of competency-based education (CBE), an instructional approach that emphasizes what students learn and master rather than time spent in a classroom. The study, titled "Looking Under the Hood of Competency-Based Education," examines the relationship between various competency-based practices and increased student learning capacity. Additionally, the study highlights the varying degrees of CBE practices in schools that have an existing reputation for implementation."Schools across the country are increasingly seeking ways to provide a competency-based education for students, yet many educators are not sure of where to begin or how they can implement this approach to learning," said Eve Goldberg, Director of Research at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. "The framework developed by AIR of learning skills, behaviors, and dispositions and the findings on specific practices can help educators strengthen their practices and gives them the tools to continuously improve their practice. We hope educators interested in making this shift will benefit from this analysis.""Looking Under the Hood" analyzes a variety of competency-based practices to examine how schools implement CBE and determine how it relates to students' learning capacities. Some notable findings include:Learning in contexts outside the classroom (for example, internships) positively relates to increasing students' learning capacitiesThe option for students to learn at a comfortable pace (for example, extra time to finish a topic or unit and the opportunity to retake an exam or re-do a final project) has a positive association with self-efficacy and increasing students' motivation to learnThe option for students to receive both instruction and assessment in a variety of formats, including collaborative group projects, helped students' intrinsic motivationEstablishing clear learning targets was positively related to increasing students' learning capacitiesOverall, the study finds that many students' experiences with CBE-aligned practices were positively associated with changes in learning capacities in several areas, most notably in students' intrinsic motivation for classroom work."Competency-based education varies tremendously from school to school and even across classrooms, so it can be hard to determine if it is working," said Erin Haynes, Senior Researcher at the American Institutes for Research. "This study examined specific CBE-aligned practices, giving us a more finely-honed view of how such practices are related to students' capacity to learn. We hope this research will help inform future efforts to implement competency-based methods across districts, schools and classrooms.

Teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum for emergent literacy

PictoPal is the name of a technology-rich curriculum with a focus on emergent literacy of Dutch kindergarteners. A case study design was used to examine teacher technology integration within PictoPal along with their perceptions about teaching/learning, technology and technology-based innovations. Observations were undertaken on pupils’ engagement and teachers’ technology integration within PictoPal. Interviews were used to examine teachers’ perceptions. Pupils’ emergent literacy learning was examined in a nonequivalent control quasi experimental design. Four kindergarten teachers and four classes (N = 95 pupils) participated in the use of PictoPal. The findings suggest that a high extent of technology integration is related to: a developmental approach to teaching/learning; positive attitudes and expectations towards technology-based innovations; and positive perceptions of support in stressful work conditions. Significant learning gains were found for the experimental group using PictoPal. High pupil learning gains were not related to a high extent of technology integration. Senior kindergarteners engaged to a higher extent with PictoPal than junior kindergartener

ICT and adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL

Mellar, H., Kambouri, M., Sanderson, M., and Pavlou, V. (2004) ICT and adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL. London: NRDC. Available at: http://www.nrdc.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_258.pdfResearch report for NRDCThis project set out to obtain a picture of present teaching practice in the use of ICT in adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL within formal provision. (http://www.nrdc.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_258.pdf

Technology and science education

The incorporation of technology into the school curriculum is part of a worldwide trend in education. The way in which technology is incorporated depends on which country the reform is initiated in. The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 1993a) includes science and technology as distinct learning areas. This chapter considers the view of technology expressed in both science in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1993b) and in Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1995). The chapter is divided into four sections. Firstly, the concept of technology in the science curriculum is identified and discussed; secondly, the use of some types of technological application to enhance the learning of science outcomes is considered; thirdly, the technology curriculum itself is discussed in order to highlight the concept of technology underpinning this statement so that comparisons can be made with the concept employed in the science curriculum, and finally the introduction of technology outcomes by science teachers in a science environment is explored