Student experiences of technology integration in school subjects: A comparison across four middle schools

This research examined student perspectives on their in-school, subject specific, technology use in four U.S. public schools. Considering students’ perspectives may provide a significant reframing of adult-created rhetoric of the utopian power of digital technologies for changing teaching and learning. A survey and focus group interviews were administered to 6th and 7th students (n=1,544) in four public middle schools, with varying demographics, that rely on local funding. These four schools revealed moderate use of many well-established digital technologies, such as word processing, presentation software, and quiz games. Students voiced outright hatred for teacher-directed PowerPoint-supported lectures, the most prominent technology activity students experienced, yet reported enjoying creation activities. The students in the rural school with a Hispanic-majority and high economically disadvantaged population reported much lower technology use. Discussion frame the digital inequities in the four schools and emphasizes the need for awareness and inclusion of students’ digital experiences to form any trajectory toward establishing digital equity and learning in schools

Is Personalized Learning Meeting Its Productivity Promise? Early Lessons From Pioneering Schools

Blending computer-based and teacher-led instruction promises to help schools meet students' individual needs by organizing and prioritizing staff and technology in more productive ways. However, this fiscal analysis of eight new charter schools that implemented personalized learning this year finds that early difficulty in forecasting enrollment and revenue can undermine implementation of the model.As a result of missed enrollment and revenue projections:The schools spent less on technology and more on personnel than planned: instead of a combined $1.7 million on technology in the early stages, they spent just$650,000Student-to-computer ratios were higher and schools spent less than planned on instructional and performance reporting software.Projected budget deficits in five of the schools threaten their ability to sustain on public funding.Among the brief's recommendations for those hoping to implement personalized-learning models in the future:Invest in student recruitment efforts up front to ensure enrollment targets are met.Develop a 'worst-case scenario' budget where fundraising and enrollment estimates fall 20 -- 25 percent below target.Manage contracts proactively: be explicit about needs, establish performance requirements, and negotiate trial periods to make sure products meet the school's needs.The eight personalized-learning schools included in this analysis were chosen to receive Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) competitive start-up grants. CRPE is midway through a study of twenty personalized-learning schools that received NGLC grants. The study examines how the schools allocate their resources, how they manage the new costs of technology, and whether they can become financially sustainable on public revenues. CRPE will continue to track spending in all twenty schools this year and publish its findings next spring.This study is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Extending the Research on 1:1 Technology Integration in Middle Schools: A Call for Using Institutional Theory in Educational Technology Research

In this essay, we argue institutional lenses are a vital but largely missing part of understanding how 1:1 technology programs can effect change in teaching and learning in middle schools. Indeed, while current research highlights the positive effects technology integration efforts, and 1:1 programs in particular, have on student learning and engagement, much has focused on the knowledge, skills, and beliefs of individuals or groups of actors. There is less research considering how the institutional context may impact teacher and administrator behavior regarding these and other technology-focused efforts thus limiting our ability to fully support schools and teachers in these efforts. We conclude by calling on researchers to use institutional theory to further understand and support implementation efforts and enhance outcomes for schools, teachers, and students alike

Website Blocked: Filtering Technology in Schools and School Libraries

This paper investigates the impact of filtering software in K-12 schools and school libraries. The Children\u27s Internet Protection Act, or CIPA, requires that public schools and school libraries use filtering technology in order to receive discounted rates on technology. As a result, nearly all public elementary and secondary schools today use filtering technology. While the provisions of CIPA narrowly define the content to be blocked, filters are often set to block much more than is required. Filtering technology is often ineffective, and many unobjectionable sites end up being blocked, including Web 2.0 sites and tools needed to educate students in a 21st century learning environment. Filtering software raises other issues as well, such as First Amendment implications, a possible digital divide between students that have unfiltered access to online content at home and those that do not, and the loss of opportunity to educate students on how to be good digital citizens. These issues should be acknowledged and addressed. There are many options available to librarians, educators, administrators, and other stakeholders that can increase students\u27 access to online information and educational tools while still protecting children from inappropriate online content and complying with the requirements of CIPA

Communication technologies and education: Lessons in the potential of innovation

The evaluation of initiatives in using new forms of technology to enhance teaching and learning will raise awareness of the need for a structured and principled approach to the introduction of innovative methods. This paper addresses the pedagogical potential of communication technology for curricular development in schools, initial teacher education and continuing professional development. It establishes principles of practice based on activities undertaken within a national project involving schools and higher‐education institutions

Harnessing Technology School survey 2007: analysis and key findings

The report provides an analysis of the findings of the Harnessing Technology Schools Survey undertaken in 2006-07. The survey was a nationally representative survey of the use and implementation of ICT in schools in England

Harnessing Technology School survey 2008: report 3: executive summary

This document provides a summary of the key findings and implications of the 2008 HTSS in the context of the Harnessing Technology Policy, evaluating the current use and imlementation of technology in English schools

Meeting technological challenges? Design and technology in schools 2007–10

Using evidence from Her Majesty’s Inspectors’ focused surveys of primary and secondary schools, this report evaluates the provision of design and technology (D&T) in the curriculum. Most pupils in all of the schools visited enjoyed designing and making products, solving problems and seeing their ideas taking shape. Achievement and provision in D&T were good in about two thirds of the primary schools and just under half of the secondary schools, particularly where up-to-date technologies were used and explained accurately to pupils. However, a lack of subject-specific training for teachers undermined efforts to develop pupils’ knowledge and skills, particularly in using electronics, developing control systems and using computers to aid designing and making. The report also addresses the challenges presented to schools in modernising the D&T curriculum so that it keeps pace with global technological development

Harnessing Technology School survey 2008: report 1: analysis

This report summarises the main findings from the Harnessing Technology Schools Survey 2008, a national survey of ICT in primary, secondary and special schools. The research was carried out in 2007-08. This annual, representative survey was intended to assess the `state of the nation' in terms of the uptake and impact of educational technologies in maintained schools across England