A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning With Technology on Student Outcomes
In reading this article, I was stuck by their assertion that education has previously been a "soft science". It never occurred to me that much of education practice is based in theories and techniques that are used just because they are familiar, rather than those that have been reviewed and proved by scientific methods. I think the practice of analyzing and summarizing various studies is a great way to collect some common themes and check education practices against against them. The most significant finding of the studies was that the application of technology was significant in improving the learning outcome of students. Many people might have an opinion of how effective computers are in learning; many people probably consider them more of a distraction. These studies verified that students will remain on task longer, and that the transition from a teacher centric to a student centric learning environment will improve their ability to retain information.
My other conclusion from this article is that I need more background in statistical analysis.
Principles for Teaching and Learning
This article was much more applicable than the first one. The 7 learning and 7 teaching principles listed in these articles are definitely items to keep in mind when designing technology based classes. For the 7 learning strategies, the one theme that seemed to exist in most for the strategies was that students must be involved in the learning for it to truly be successful. Student's prior knowledge, organizational skills, and motivations will all determine how well they can learn. Also their ability to set goals and monitor their own progress against those goals will provide additional motivation to learn.
The teaching strategies also had several elements that involve understanding the students, and especially their motivations. They also stress that teachers will need to change the role that they play in class, depending on the reactions of the students, and that teachers will need to keep refining their classes as they learn more from different groups of students.
I really felt connected to the point that you made about the fact that "teachers need to change the role that they play in class, depending on the reactions of the students, and that teachers will need to keep refining their classes as they learn more from different groups of students." This is a skill that many of us are not taught but often inherit through our interactions with our students. I believe that it is vital to student success. There is no one way of teacher and we need to adapt our roles and our methods. How does this apply to your line of work?
ReplyDeleteEven in my more limited teaching role, I still need to constantly pay attention to the class and adjust the material to suit their needs.
ReplyDelete