tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/education-technology-12549/articlesEducation technology – The Conversation2023-06-06T12:29:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050002023-06-06T12:29:11Z2023-06-06T12:29:11Z3 ways to use ChatGPT to help students learn – and not cheat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529814/original/file-20230602-19-xaqe7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students can use AI chatbots to break down a complex assignment into smaller steps.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smiling-teacher-teaching-girl-studying-on-digital-royalty-free-image/1345022832">Maskot/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since ChatGPT can engage in conversation and generate essays, computer codes, charts and graphs that closely resemble those created by humans, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-chatgpt-robs-students-of-motivation-to-write-and-think-for-themselves-197875">educators worry students may use it to cheat</a>. A <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/01/18/chatgpt-in-schools-heres-where-its-banned-and-how-it-could-potentially-help-students/?sh=3665bcf16e2c">growing number of school districts</a> across the country have decided to block access to ChatGPT on computers and networks.</p>
<p>As professors of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Awl0ddQAAAAJ">educational psychology</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=cBsh7i4AAAAJ">educational technology</a>, we’ve found that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2017.1308172">main reason students cheat</a> is their academic motivation. For example, sometimes students are just motivated to get a high grade, whereas other times they are motivated to learn all that they can about a topic.</p>
<p>The decision to cheat or not, therefore, often relates to how academic assignments and tests are constructed and assessed, not on the availability of technological shortcuts. When they have the opportunity to rewrite an essay or retake a test if they don’t do well initially, students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2017.1308172">less likely to cheat</a>.</p>
<p>We believe teachers can use ChatGPT to increase their students’ motivation for learning and actually prevent cheating. Here are three strategies for doing that.</p>
<h2>1. Treat ChatGPT as a learning partner</h2>
<p>Our research demonstrates that students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4103_1">more likely to cheat</a> when assignments are designed in ways that encourage them to outperform their classmates. In contrast, students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.02.002">less likely to cheat</a> when teachers assign academic tasks that prompt them to work collaboratively and to focus on mastering content instead of getting a good grade.</p>
<p>Treating ChatGPT as a learning partner can help teachers shift the focus among their students from competition and performance to collaboration and mastery. </p>
<p>For example, a science teacher can assign students to work with ChatGPT to design a hydroponic vegetable garden. In this scenario, students could engage with ChatGPT to discuss the growing requirements for vegetables, brainstorm design ideas for a hydroponic system and analyze pros and cons of the design.</p>
<p>These activities are designed to promote mastery of content as they focus on the processes of learning rather than just the final grade.</p>
<h2>2. Use ChatGPT to boost confidence</h2>
<p>Research shows that when students feel confident that they can successfully do the work assigned to them, they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4103_1">less likely to cheat</a>. And an important way to boost students’ confidence is to provide them with <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1891/0889-8391.13.2.158">opportunities to experience success</a>. </p>
<p>ChatGPT can facilitate such experiences by offering students individualized support and breaking down complex problems into smaller challenges or tasks. </p>
<p>For example, suppose students are asked to attempt to design a hypothetical vehicle that can use gasoline more efficiently than a traditional car. Students who struggle with the project – and might be inclined to cheat – can use ChatGPT to break down the larger problem into smaller tasks. ChatGPT might suggest they first develop an overall concept for the vehicle before determining the size and weight of the vehicle and deciding what type of fuel will be used. Teachers could also ask students to compare the steps suggested by ChatGPT with steps that are recommended by other sources. </p>
<h2>3. Prompt ChatGPT to give supportive feedback</h2>
<p>It is well documented that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2019.1674768">personalized feedback</a> supports students’ positive emotions, including self-confidence.</p>
<p>ChatGPT can be directed to deliver feedback using positive, empathetic and encouraging language. For example, if a student completes a math problem incorrectly, instead of merely telling the student “You are wrong and the correct answer is …,” ChatGPT may initiate a conversation with the student. Here’s a real response generated by ChatGPT: “Your answer is not correct, but it’s completely normal to encounter occasional errors or misconceptions along the way. Don’t be discouraged by this small setback; you’re on the right track! I’m here to support you and answer any questions you may have. You’re doing great!” </p>
<p>This will help students feel supported and understood while receiving feedback for improvement. Teachers can easily show students how to direct ChatGPT to provide them such feedback.</p>
<p>We believe that when teachers use ChatGPT and other AI chatbots thoughtfully – and also encourage students to use these tools responsibly in their schoolwork – students have an incentive to learn more and cheat less.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Schools are blocking access to ChatGPT on their computers to try to prevent students from cheating. Two experts on academic cheating offer a very different strategy.Kui Xie, Professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Technologies, The Ohio State UniversityEric M. Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1715902021-11-21T18:56:06Z2021-11-21T18:56:06ZAlgorithms can decide your marks, your work prospects and your financial security. How do you know they’re fair?<p>Algorithms are becoming commonplace. They can determine employment prospects, <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/banks-warned-using-ai-in-loan-assessments-could-awaken-a-zombie-20210615-p5814i">financial security</a> and more. The use of algorithms can be controversial – for example, <a href="https://www.innovationaus.com/robodebt-was-technology-beta-testing-on-most-vulnerable-citizens/">robodebt</a>, as the Australian government’s flawed online welfare compliance system came to be known. </p>
<p>Algorithms are increasingly being used to make decisions that have a lasting impact on our current and future lives. </p>
<p>Some of the greatest impacts of algorithmic decision-making are in education. If you have anything to do with an Australian school or a university, at some stage an algorithm will make a decision that matters for you. </p>
<p>So what sort of decisions might involve algorithms? Some decisions will involve the next question for school students to answer on a test, such as the <a href="https://nap.edu.au/online-assessment/research-and-development/tailored-tests">online provision of NAPLAN</a>. Some algorithms support <a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-holds-great-potential-for-both-students-and-teachers-but-only-if-used-wisely-81024">human decision-making in universities</a>, such as identifying students at risk of failing a subject. Others take the human out of the loop, like some forms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/online-exam-monitoring-is-now-common-in-australian-universities-but-is-it-here-to-stay-159074">online exam supervision</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unis-are-using-artificial-intelligence-to-keep-students-sitting-exams-honest-but-this-creates-its-own-problems-170708">Unis are using artificial intelligence to keep students sitting exams honest. But this creates its own problems</a>
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<h2>How do algorithms work?</h2>
<p>Despite their pervasive impacts on our lives, it is often difficult to understand how algorithms work, why they have been designed, and why they are used. As algorithms become a key part of decision-making in education – and many other aspects of our lives – people need to know two things:</p>
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<li><p>how algorithms work</p></li>
<li><p>the kinds of trade-offs that are made in decision-making using algorithms.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In research to explore these two issues, we developed <a href="https://www.edufuturesstudio.com/uk-exam-algorithm-game">an algorithm game</a> using participatory methodologies to involve diverse stakeholders in the research. The process becomes a form of collective experimentation to encourage new perspectives and insights into an issue. </p>
<p>Our algorithm game is based on the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/17/21372045/uk-a-level-results-algorithm-biased-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-university-applications">UK exam controversy</a> in 2020. During COVID-19 lockdowns, an <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/08/26/fk-the-algorithm-what-the-world-can-learn-from-the-uks-a-level-grading-fiasco/">algorithm was used to determine grades</a> for students wishing to attend university. The algorithm predicted grades for some students that were far lower than expected. In the face of protests, the algorithm was eventually scrapped. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scotlands-exam-result-crisis-assessment-and-social-justice-in-a-time-of-covid-19-144248">Scotland's exam result crisis: assessment and social justice in a time of COVID-19</a>
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<p><a href="https://education-futures-studio.sydney.edu.au/education-futures-studio/workbench/">Our interdisciplinary team</a> co-designed the UK exam algorithm game over a series of two workshops and multiple meetings this year. Our workshops included students, data scientists, ethicists and social scientists. Such interdisciplinary perspectives are vital to understand the range of social, ethical and technical implications of algorithms in education. </p>
<h2>Algorithms make trade-offs, so transparency is needed</h2>
<p>The UK example highlights key issues with using algorithms in society, including issues of transparency and bias in data. These issues matter everywhere, including <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/scott-morrison-warns-high-tech-race-must-consider-ethical-implications-for-human-rights/09268bbc-d7a9-4dd6-81f9-f531a59c887c">Australia</a>.</p>
<p>We designed the algorithm game to help people develop the tools to have more of a say in shaping the world algorithms are creating. Algorithm “games” invite people to play with and learn about the parameters of how an algorithm operates. Examples include games that show people how algorithms are used in <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/10/17/75285/ai-fairer-than-judge-criminal-risk-assessment-algorithm/">criminal sentencing</a>, or can help to <a href="https://automating.nyc/#toyAlgo">predict fire risk in buildings</a> </p>
<p>There is a growing public awareness that algorithms, especially those used in forms of artificial intelligence, need to be understood as raising <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05469-3">issues of fairness</a>. But while everyone may have a vernacular understanding of what is fair or unfair, when algorithms are used numerous trade-offs are involved. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-robodebt-to-racism-what-can-go-wrong-when-governments-let-algorithms-make-the-decisions-132594">From robodebt to racism: what can go wrong when governments let algorithms make the decisions</a>
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<p>In our algorithm game, we take people through a series of problems where the solution to a fairness problem simply introduces a new one. For example, the UK algorithm did not work very well for predicting the grades of students in schools where smaller numbers of students took certain subjects. This was unfair for these students. </p>
<p>The solution meant the algorithm was not used for these often <a href="https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2020/08/a-level-results-2020-why-independent-schools-have-done-well-out-of-this-years-awarding-process/">very privileged schools</a>. These students then received grades predicted by their teachers. But these grades were mostly higher than the algorithm-generated grades received by students in larger schools, which were more often government comprehensive schools. So this meant the decision was fair for students in small schools, unfair for those in larger schools who had grades allocated by the algorithm. </p>
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<p>What we try to show in our game that it is not possible to have a perfect outcome. And that neither humans or algorithms will make a set of choices that are fair for everyone. This means we have to make decisions about which values matter when we use algorithms. </p>
<h2>Public must have a say to balance the power of EdTech</h2>
<p>While our algorithm game focuses on the use of an algorithm developed by a government, algorithms in education are commonly introduced as part of educational technology. The EdTech industry is <a href="https://www.pwc.com.au/government/government-matters/education-tech-edtech-revolutionise-education-institutions.html">expanding rapidly in Australia</a>. Companies are seeking to dominate all stages of education: enrolment, learning design, learning experience and lifelong learning. </p>
<p>Alongside these developments, COVID-19 has accelerated the use of algorithmic decision-making in education and beyond. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-holds-great-potential-for-both-students-and-teachers-but-only-if-used-wisely-81024">Artificial intelligence holds great potential for both students and teachers – but only if used wisely</a>
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<p>While these innovations open up amazing possibilities, algorithms also bring with them a set of challenges we must face as a society. Examples like the UK exam algorithm expose us to how such algorithms work and the kinds of decisions that have to be made when designing them. We are then forced to answer deep questions of which values we will choose to prioritise and what <a href="https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Ethical-and-Societal-Implications-of-Data-and-AI-report-Nuffield-Foundat.pdf">roadmap for research</a> we take forward. </p>
<p>Our choices will shape our future and the future of generations to come. </p>
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<p><em>The following people were also involved in the research underpinning the algorithm game. From the <a href="https://gradientinstitute.org">Gradient Institute</a> for responsible AI, Simon O'Callaghan, Alistair Reid and Tiberio Caetano. And from the <a href="https://www.techforsocialgood.org">Tech for Social Good</a> group, Vincent Zhang.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171590/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kalervo Gulson receives funding from the Australian Research Council that supported this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Benn, Kirsty Kitto, Simon Knight, and Teresa Swist do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A UK controversy about school leavers’ marks shows algorithms can get things wrong. To ensure algorithms are as fair as possible, how they work and the trade-offs involved must be made clear.Kalervo Gulson, Professor and ARC Future Fellow, Education & Social Work, Education Futures Studio, University of SydneyClaire Benn, Research Fellow, Humanising Machine Intelligence Grand Challenge, Australian National UniversityKirsty Kitto, Associate Professor in Data Science, University of Technology SydneySimon Knight, Senior Lecturer and Director, Centre for Research on Education in a Digital Society, University of Technology SydneyTeresa Swist, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Education Futures Studio, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1706852021-11-17T13:16:44Z2021-11-17T13:16:44ZWant to take an online course? Here are 4 tips to make sure you get the most out of it for your career<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431550/original/file-20211111-6892-7r71ep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2117%2C1412&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hiring managers often prefer nondegree credentials from top universities over credit-bearing certificates from for-profit institutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-of-unrecognisable-international-students-royalty-free-image/1300822108"> Drazen_/E+ Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “<a href="https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation">great resignation</a>” has left a lot of people with time on their hands. And while this time may be a welcome respite from the daily grind, most folks will need to get back to work eventually. For many, this period is a time of reflection and a chance to pursue a new career. </p>
<p>But how do you make the switch? And even if you plan to return to the same field, how do you show that you have kept current with the <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-19">changes and trends</a> that affected most industries during the pandemic?</p>
<p>Traditionally, the answer to these questions has been to go back to school. But <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/02/the-gap-in-college-costs-and-earnings-for-young-workers-since-1980.html">rising tuition costs</a> over the past few decades, and the time commitment of traditional degree programs, makes this route prohibitively expensive for a lot of people. </p>
<p>That’s where short online courses in business, technology and other fields come in. Over the past 10 years, these courses from providers such as <a href="https://www.udemy.com/">Udemy</a>, <a href="https://www.coursera.org/">Coursera</a> and <a href="https://www.edx.org/">edX</a> have become more popular, and <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781503628076-016/html">approximately 75% of learners who take them</a> report gaining <a href="https://er.educause.edu/articles/2019/6/mooc-based-alternative-credentials-whats-the-value-for-the-learner">career benefits</a> from completing them. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yRJ7ARQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher and practitioner</a> who develops these education technologies, I also study the <a href="https://repository.isls.org//handle/1/7629">behaviors that make online learners successful</a>. Here are four key actions that studies have shown will help online learners make the most of a short online course to reap the career benefits they desire. </p>
<h2>1. Identify the goal</h2>
<p>Learners who begin a course with a clear idea of what they want to get out of it are <a href="http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3393">more likely to complete their course</a> and earn a certificate. A goal may be, for example, to learn a new skill, gain more knowledge about a topic, improve job performance, get a new job or advance in a current one. </p>
<p>In my study of over 4,000 learners who completed an online course in business topics, I found that learners who enrolled in their course with the intention of improving their job performance, starting their own business or getting a new role were <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/342971212e6faa77bf99cb0faa606555/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y">more likely to experience career benefits</a> than those who enrolled only because they wanted to learn something new about the topic. </p>
<h2>2. Rewatch videos and retake tests</h2>
<p>Among the same sample of over 4,000 people taking online courses, I also found that <a href="https://repository.isls.org/handle/1/7629">learning behaviors associated with persistence</a> – such as watching more videos or retaking tests – were shown to be more strongly associated with perceived career benefits than social behaviors like forum posts, comments and views – or even grades.</p>
<p>In fact, the same study showed that grades don’t have any correlation to whether or not a person gains career benefits as long as they eventually pass the course. The lesson here is to try and try again. Taking a course that is challenging may prove to be more useful than one a learner can breeze through. </p>
<h2>3. Finish the course</h2>
<p>Many short courses are now only four or five weeks long, with fewer than three hours of time required per week. Learners who complete their online courses are <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/342971212e6faa77bf99cb0faa606555/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y">more likely</a> to learn something new, improve performance, get a raise or new job or start a new business. They can also <a href="https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/publication/downloads/CFUE_Alternative-Pathways.pdf">receive a digital certificate or badge</a> they can post on social media channels to inform potential employers that they have successfully passed the course. </p>
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<h2>4. Choose the brand wisely</h2>
<p>Currently, I am working on a broader study to confirm that hiring managers feel that “nondegree credentials” like certificates from online courses improve a candidate’s resume, particularly if the potential employee does not have work experience in the field. </p>
<p>These same hiring managers value the reputation of the institution that offers the course over the specific credential that is earned from it – a badge vs. a certificate, for example. In my survey to hiring managers, the results of which have not yet been published, a majority responded that they prefer nondegree credentials from academically distinguished universities over credit-bearing certificates from for-profit institutions.</p>
<p>[<em>Too busy to read another daily email?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-toobusy">Get one of The Conversation’s curated weekly newsletters</a>.]</p>
<p>Fortunately, many highly recognizable, academically selective universities and companies now offer these short courses for low or no cost. It’s easy to learn <a href="https://www.edx.org/course/data-analytics-for-everyone">data analytics from IBM</a>, <a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-foundations-business-strategy">business strategy from Darden</a>, <a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning">machine learning from Stanford</a> and many more topics from top schools, such as Python, computer science, robotics, economics of health care and even the science of happiness from University of Michigan, Harvard, Penn and Yale. If a learner recognizes the name of the institution offering the course, chances are hiring managers will too.</p>
<p>While short online courses have not lived up to the hype 10 years ago that they would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/massive-open-online-courses-are-multiplying-at-a-rapid-pace.html">disrupt higher education</a>, they are helping <a href="https://hbr.org/2015/09/whos-benefiting-from-moocs-and-why?autocomplete=true">millions of learners</a> around the globe try new fields and learn skills to advance their careers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Was an early stage employee at Coursera in 2012-2013 and has no current financial interest in this or any other company mentioned in this article.</span></em></p>Enrollment in online courses surged during the pandemic. An expert on online learning behaviors shares what to do before, during and after taking a course in order to reap the most benefits.Anne Trumbore, Executive Director of Digital and Open Enrollment at the Darden School of Business, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1156872019-05-28T10:47:37Z2019-05-28T10:47:37ZHow to teach and parent better in the age of big data<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272666/original/file-20190505-103085-1gfni0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Summing up a student in numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kids-finger-pressing-toy-calculator-abstract-127342397?src=-SVj6oeR_6UD-_XE4cfwrw-1-45">Chatchai Kritsetsakul/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the parent-teacher conference, I sat across the table from my first grader’s teacher in a chair made for a 6-year-old. The teacher pointed to percentages scrawled in red ink. I looked and listened. </p>
<p>“This number,” she said, “is his Lexile score.” She went on, moving her index finger across a table created by <a href="https://metametricsinc.com/">MetaMetrics</a>. “Here’s the range of normal for his age. So, you want to have him reading books at this level.” </p>
<p>Her report of his math performance proceeded in much the same way: more percentages, ranges and “levels,” sometimes calculated from different copyrighted measures. </p>
<p>By this point, I was having difficulty following. I silently wondered: <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JCHc9SYAAAAJ&hl=en">I have a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning</a>, and I don’t understand what these data say about my kid. What are other parents getting out of these meetings?</p>
<p>When the teacher paused for a breath, I leaned as far back as the tiny chair would allow. She looked up from the cascade of worksheets, catching my gaze. I seized the moment. “Do you ever get to talk to Mac?” I asked. “I mean, do you know what he likes, what he’s interested in? That’s a good way to select books for him, based on his interests.” MetaMetrics doesn’t know what gets Mac (not his real name) excited about learning. She smiled and relaxed back into her chair, too. </p>
<p>It is not enough to collect data about a student. I believe that data are no substitute for building rapport with young people. And yet, elementary to high school teachers who work well with data, the ones who know how to measure and speak from percentages, are doing the job right. This is teaching in the age of “big data.” </p>
<h2>Data-rich schools</h2>
<p>Recent accountability pressures on schools, due to No Child Left Behind, mean teachers increasingly use student data to inform <a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/663272">both classroom instruction and schoolwide improvement</a>.</p>
<p>Just read the first paragraph of a <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511656.pdf">2009 Executive Summary</a> from the Department of Education for a sense of the importance of data in schools: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The collection, analysis, and use of educational data are central to the improvement of student outcomes envisioned by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The use of data in educational decision making is expected to span all layers of the education system —- from the federal to the state, district, school and classroom levels.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511656.pdf">In a 2007 survey</a> of 1,039 school districts across the country, the Department of Education found that 100% maintained a student information system with data points like test scores on statewide assessments, demographics, attendance and behavior. </p>
<p>With programs like <a href="https://www.powerschool.com/">PowerSchool</a>, <a href="https://www.infinitecampus.com/">Infinite Campus</a> and <a href="https://www.skyward.com/">Skyward</a> – each charging more than US$5 per child per month -— these student information systems promise a one-stop shop for tracking all aspects of a district’s student and school data. </p>
<p>Ideally, these systems help teachers to look at student data in teams, with other teachers and school leaders. But how teachers across various districts typically interpret, use or ignore data is still an open question. </p>
<p>In some districts, teachers have required <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1056710">data literacy trainings</a> that show them how to interpret student data and adjust their instruction accordingly. In other districts without trainings, teachers have no cohesive plan for what to do with all this data, making the big data endeavor seem pointless.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273628/original/file-20190509-183109-kxgxm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some districts train teachers to assess student data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-laptop-grading-papers-school-classroom-18551755?src=_50BILlWYUlF93fxw1ZHpA-1-8">AVAVA/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Capturing a student’s needs</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/03/06/the-source-of-self-regard-toni-morrison-wisdom-information/">As Toni Morrison once said</a>, “Wisdom without data is just a hunch.” Just having data about children is not equivalent to them living well, or having hopeful futures.</p>
<p>Often, the very opposite is true. Students get excluded from opportunities because they are perceived as “low-performing” based on limited data points. The burden is on the student to improve rather than <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-homework-myth/201803/when-big-data-goes-school">asking how the system is failing the child</a>. </p>
<p>I believe that schools should focus on developing more data wisdom – considering the power of data for building pathways to better futures. Doing so means all educators, be they parents or teachers, use data wisely: considering what it does and does not show, considering that data in the larger social context, and looking at past experiences and trends in a child’s life to thoughtfully plan for the future.</p>
<p>Increasingly, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20047">education research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-8845.2005.tb00615.x">encourages</a> teachers to expand their definitions of data to include sources beyond mandated assessments: classroom observation data, recorded one-on-one <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2006.9652991">conversations with a student</a>, and videos of how students talk and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-008-9124-6">gesture while working through a math problem</a>. </p>
<p>Used together, these forms of data paint a more nuanced picture of a child, capturing aspects that aren’t measured by a state-mandated test. </p>
<p>Parents and teachers could think of even more data points that start pointing at larger social, cultural and economic dynamics at play in a child’s day. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273630/original/file-20190509-183086-17n36t5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is the student physically and emotionally ready to succeed in class?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-schoolboy-eating-outdoors-school-plastick-691889026?src=bcF3T0wb7YQXzjGlHJkAyg-1-0">Sharomka/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mac’s Lexile score doesn’t account for his disinterest in reading about dogs in the Arctic for two weeks. But data on what Mac likes to do at home would provide complementary information on potential book topics. MetaMetrics didn’t know that Mom forgot to send his lunch to school and he refuses to eat in the cafeteria; Mac was famished when he did those math worksheets. A quick assessment on Mac’s <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED571840">socioemotional state</a> before tackling math work could explain his running out of steam halfway through the test. </p>
<p>And Mac is a privileged white male not shouldering any stressors of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2013.876224">racism</a>, sexism or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/majority-of-us-public-school-students-are-in-poverty/2015/01/15/df7171d0-9ce9-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html">economic instability</a>, daily realities for many students that are completely erased by a single metric. Quick assessments on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2010.507142">bullying</a> and anxiety, for instance, could meaningfully elaborate a MetaMetrics table for teachers and parents. </p>
<p>From there, adults, hopefully with students, could think through these complementary data points to create a plan, addressing the various reasons why reading and math aren’t going as well as everyone hopes. </p>
<p>Using data wisdom as a guiding principle is what serious education is about.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Headrick Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US schools now collect detailed data on their students. But teachers and parents need to think carefully about how that data is used – and what it shows, or doesn’t show, about a student.Katie Headrick Taylor, Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/905522018-02-02T10:34:57Z2018-02-02T10:34:57ZWhy putting the words ‘learning’ and ‘Facebook’ together isn’t an oxymoron<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204425/original/file-20180201-123849-17g7b8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has often spoken of the value of education and learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Brian Snyder</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a rather impressive, if controversial, resume for a teenager: blamed for the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-blamed-trump-election-mark-zuckerberg-response-tone-deaf-2016-11">election of Donald Trump</a>, <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-blamed-for-1-in-5-divorces-in-the-us/">increased divorce rates</a>, <a href="https://www.nursingtimes.net/facebook-blamed-for-rise-in-syphilis/5012966.article">rising syphilis cases</a>, and <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article175970831.html">the advent of fake news</a>.</p>
<p>Facebook turns 14 on February 4. And the controversies continue unabated. But there’s one aspect of Facebook that should not be lost in all the noise: the extraordinary change it has brought about in how we connect, communicate, consume and share content – in the classroom, as well as in other spaces. </p>
<p>Putting the words “Facebook” and “learning” together may seem like an oxymoron. But my research has delved into the role Facebook has played in shaping how the new generation consumes and shares content. Understanding this is pivotal to understanding how we should be using technology to teach in the digital age. Quite simply, Facebook has changed the way that children learn.</p>
<h2>How students learn</h2>
<p>That’s what I’ve discovered through my research, which used a <a href="http://www.iiis.org/CDs2011/CD2011IMC/ICETI_2011/PapersPdf/EB962QE.pdf">cyber-ethnography</a> approach to try and determine how students are learning in our modern digital age. This involved essentially “living” with students while they connected, communicated, and learned in a Facebook space.</p>
<p>I spent an entire semester watching and interacting with students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as they used a Facebook page as their primary learning portal. The students were given admin access to the space. This meant they could determine how the space was used: who had access to it, how it was designed, what was posted on the page, and even the level of anonymity of their posts. </p>
<p>This provided me with an opportunity to watch the students learn, unfettered from traditional learning constraints. However, it would take a while for the students to fully explore their learning within this new space. Initially the students would often attempt to defer to me and my guidance. Only after I repeatedly refused to control their learning experience did they begin to behave in a <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud">self-oraganising way</a> and allow me to observe their “natural” learning patterns.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6300-896-9_16">research</a> revealed that Facebook provided students with a series of learning affordances. Affordances are “can do” oppportunies, some intentional and others unintentional, that technology spaces provide. In this instance the research revealed that the affordances at play were accessibility, connection, communication, control and construction. These affordances provide valuable insights into how students learn in digital spaces.</p>
<p>Once I understood this, I could turn my attention to the key need: developing ways of teaching, called pedagogies, that are appropriate for the digital age. Currently the focus on technology – the <em>what</em>, has distracted us from pedagogy: the <em>how</em>. Without understanding how best to apply these new technologies’ affordances, educators will not be able to effectively impact teaching in the modern classroom.</p>
<p>However, providing educators with a list of “how tos” isn’t much use without a system that makes the list easy to implement. As Dan Schwartz, dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/04/14/465729968/a-nobel-laureates-education-plea-revolutionize-teaching">says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I can tell people they need to teach better. But if I don’t give them things that are easy for them to implement, they won’t do it.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Activating the classroom</h2>
<p>That’s where the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Class-Activating-Digital-Age-Revolutionize/dp/1520885016">Activated Classroom Teaching (ACT) model</a> comes in. I developed this model in a bid to create a taxonomy of teaching and learning for 21st century classrooms. A taxonomy is an ordered arrangement of items. One of the most famous of these is <a href="https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/">Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking</a>. The ACT model attempts to provide a taxonomy of digital-age teaching approaches.</p>
<p>The ACT model consists of five digital-age pedagogies that seek to maximise the affordances of technology, modern students’ approaches to learning and the development of key 21st century skills such as creativity, problem solving, curiosity, critical thinking, etc.</p>
<p>The focus is a shift from passive ways of teaching (consumption) to active approaches (curation, conversation, correction, creation and chaos). This aligns with <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens">research</a> that shows children are spending more than half their online time actively engaging: creating content, getting involved in “interactive consumption” and communicating.</p>
<p>Ignoring the tectonic shifts taking place in our classrooms is not the solution. Simply dropping technology into our classrooms is not the solution. Simply training teachers to <em>use</em> computers is not the solution. As British author and education expert <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms">Sir Ken Robinson</a> has said, we need a paradigm shift, but it’s more than that - we need a pedagogy shift. </p>
<p>The young teen, Facebook, has changed how we connect and learn. But, as the OECD pointed out in its <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/15/schools-wasting-money-on-computers-for-kids-oecd.html">global study</a> about educational technology: “If we want students to become smarter than a smartphone, we need to think harder about the pedagogies we are using to teach them. Technology can amplify great teaching but great technology cannot replace poor teaching.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Blewett is the author of the book "Wake Up Class!: 5 Activating Digital-Age Pedagogies that will Revolutionize your Classroom" and founder of the ACT Academy training site. </span></em></p>You may not “like” it, but Facebook has an important role to play in education.Craig Blewett, Senior Lecturer in Education & Technology, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/782992017-06-26T01:08:06Z2017-06-26T01:08:06ZTextbooks in the digital world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174777/original/file-20170620-32381-3yaofb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ella Russell, a second grade student at Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, works on an e-book during class.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, textbooks were seen as the foundation for instruction in American schools. These discipline-specific tomes were a fundamental part of the educational infrastructure, assigned to students for each subject and carried in heavy backpacks every day – from home to school and back again.</p>
<p>The experience of students is much different today.</p>
<p>As a scholar of learning technologies and a director for outreach and engagement at Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology, we’ve seen how technological advances and an increase in digital curriculum materials have hastened the move away from textbooks.</p>
<p>Does all of this technology spell the end of traditional textbooks? And if so, is that actually a good thing for students and teachers?</p>
<h2>Standards and the decline of textbooks</h2>
<p>In 1983, President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education released “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a>,” which put a spotlight on school quality and accountability for student achievement. By the mid-1990s, the academic standards movement had picked up steam, spurred by “Goals 2000,” the <a href="https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED359637">Educate America Act of 1994</a>. In response, states and local communities drafted guidelines to indicate what students should know at each grade level.</p>
<p>With these guidelines, educators and policymakers began to question teachers’ reliance on textbooks. Education organizations examined textbooks not only for their accuracy and quality, but for their <a href="http://www.project2061.org/publications/textbook/hsbio/report/analysis.htm">alignment to academic standards</a>. Where once student success was marked by the end-of-chapter test for whatever textbook each school happened to use, success was now measured by how well students met standardized grade-level learning objectives. Different textbooks might produce different levels of knowledge and understanding from students, but the new standards were common across an entire state.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174781/original/file-20170620-26746-1e5d8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A science textbook used in Hardin County schools in 2012 still listed Pluto as a full-fledged planet – six years after it was reclassified as a dwarf planet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Increased access to digital content</h2>
<p>With the rise of the internet and the proliferation of online content, teachers have found new sources to support student learning.</p>
<p>Recent studies report that <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010040">student-computer ratios</a> in most U.S. schools have reached 5:1 (five students per computer), with almost all teachers having access to at least one computer in their classroom. <a href="https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/half_of_k-12_students_to_have_access_to_1-to-1_computing_by_2015-16_1/">One-to-one laptop programs</a>, which provide every student with a computing device, have spread across multiple states.</p>
<p>To support these initiatives, schools have access to a wealth of free and premium content designed specifically for a K-12 curriculum. Most textbook publishing companies have launched digital platforms; in fact, several have <a href="http://investors.mheducation.com/home/default.aspx">transformed their core identities</a> from traditional textbook publishers to learning science companies or digital education companies.</p>
<p>Much of this digitized content has blurred the definition of a “book.” Digital lessons can present information through dynamic, interactive features like simulations and videos. Digital textbooks can also provide support features that just aren’t possible in a print textbook: students can highlight text, search for content, change the font size or use text-to-speech audio.</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/221616328" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Discovery Education is one of the biggest players in K-12 digital textbooks.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Teachers are also looking outside the world of K-12 education to support their lessons. Content freely available on the internet (including digital collections by the <a href="http://library.si.edu/exhibitions/online">Smithsonian</a>, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/collections/">Library of Congress</a> and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/dln">NASA</a>) has created new opportunities for teaching and learning. Teachers can make classes more dynamic, more accurate and more customizable to meet the <a href="https://tech.ed.gov/files/2017/01/NETP17.pdf">personalized learning needs of individual students</a>.</p>
<h2>Challenges in the digital world</h2>
<p>But it’s not all good news. Schools are also confronting new challenges brought on by digital content.</p>
<p>Textbooks are relatively easy to use. The same is not necessarily true for digital resources, which might require technological expertise – on the part of the teacher or an in-school specialist – to implement well. Moreover, teachers’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.02.001">beliefs about technology integration</a> are still barriers for adopting digital content in classrooms.</p>
<p>There’s also a question of cost. Well-equipped schools are eagerly “going digital,” often <a href="http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/misc/DigitalContentTrendsReport.pdf">reallocating their textbook budgets</a> to purchase these materials. However, a lot of schools struggle to cover the costs of making the transition. Similarly, some schools, specifically those in rural communities, find it difficult to access wireless or high-speed internet services needed for digital learning: In 2016, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2016/07/18/rural-and-urban-america-divided-by-broadband-access/">39 percent of rural areas</a> lacked broadband internet.</p>
<h2>How to choose digital content</h2>
<p>Infrastructure and technological know-how aren’t the only obstacles. Digital education resources also vary in quality, and selecting the right content can be a major challenge for schools.</p>
<p>That means that a teacher’s ability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.05.006">evaluate and select digital content</a> becomes an important requirement for digital learning. Teachers need to be able to find the right resources for their lessons – and make sure they’re high quality, aligned to standards and compatible with existing tools. Without these skills, teachers <a href="http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/misc/DigitalContentTrendsReport.pdf">struggle to integrate technology and digital content</a> with their own teaching methods.</p>
<p>Most teachers rarely get the opportunity to learn how to evaluate, select and integrate digital resources into their classrooms. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-017-9519-0">Professional development programs</a> and resources from <a href="http://www.setda.org/priorities/digital-content/">educational support</a> <a href="https://www.inacol.org/resources/">organizations</a> can help teachers make the transition to digital content.</p>
<p>While these resources exist, not enough teachers are able to take advantage of them. Our research indicated that the majority of teachers rate themselves low when asked to indicate their knowledge and skill in digital content evaluation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/174775/original/file-20170620-32390-awxuah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eighth grader Aklya Thomas and teacher Faren Fransworth use a digital textbook during a math class at Burney Harris Lyons Middle School in Athens, Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/John Bazemore</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Embracing digital</h2>
<p>So, do we still need textbooks? Yes. But the composition as well as the role of textbooks is changing. They’re becoming more digitized, more open, more affordable, more dynamic and interactive, and more frequently updated.</p>
<p>Schools are buying <a href="http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/misc/DigitalContentTrendsReport.pdf">fewer textbooks</a> and are more often using them only as classroom or library reference materials or to teach special topics. Many school districts are shifting funds from their textbook budgets to purchase devices and digital content, but are making changes incrementally and replacing books with digital content based on their 3- to 5-year curriculum adoption schedules.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the proliferation of technology tools and resources has transformed the learning landscape. The shift from print to digital has given students and teachers access to content that exceeds the quantity and quality of a traditional textbook. With these advances come more engaging and exciting ways for students (and teachers) to learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kui Xie receives funding from Ohio Department of Education and Ohio Department of Higher Education. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Luthy receives funding from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Ohio Department of Education, and the US Department of Education. </span></em></p>Textbooks were once a major piece of educational infrastructure. But as digital content expands, a new kind of ‘textbook’ is improving the quality of K-12 instruction.Kui Xie, Cyphert Distinguished Professor of Learning Technologies; Director of The Research Laboratory for Digital Learning, The Ohio State UniversityNicole Luthy, Director of Outreach and Engagement in the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/711482017-01-17T19:05:26Z2017-01-17T19:05:26ZWhy learn spelling or maths if there’s an app for that?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152956/original/image-20170117-9052-wzvg97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We should not be afraid of the way technology is changing education.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is no doubt that digital technologies have disrupted our modes of teaching. The resources and inputs into teaching have changed to incorporate computer-aided approaches such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-hybrid-classroom-and-is-it-the-future-of-education-37611">“flipped” classrooms</a>, <a href="http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/study-shows-students-arent-ready-twits-classroom/1637797/">mobile-phone-enabled interactions</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-all-university-lectures-be-automatically-recorded-39158">video capturing of lectures</a> and <a href="http://epublications.bond.edu.au/fsd_papers/438/">enhanced mixed realities</a>.</p>
<p>The old “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-digital-natives-are-killing-the-sage-on-the-stage-39923">sage on the stage</a>” model of teaching has been pushed into becoming the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-not-abandon-the-humble-lecture-quite-yet-44501">guide on the side</a>”, or possibly even further out of the picture – “<a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/teach/video-teach-learn/ped-benefits.html">voice on the video</a>”, perhaps? – by the technology revolution. </p>
<p>And yet, the national scores in <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/naplan-3001">NAPLAN</a> and our competitive education ranking against other countries <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-results-dont-look-good-but-before-we-panic-lets-look-at-what-we-can-learn-from-the-latest-test-69470">are slipping</a>. </p>
<p>First responders to this comparative crisis are calling for the return of <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-australia-to-improve-in-maths-policymakers-need-to-make-a-plan-and-stick-to-it-69892">traditional teachers</a> with their “<a href="http://www.yourdictionary.com/three-r-s">3Rs</a>” of reading, writing and arithmetic, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-07/education-minister-simon-birmingham-responds-to-damning-schools/8098842">importation of the world’s elite teachers</a> to upskill our home-grown teachers, or maybe just a <a href="http://bigthink.com/rightly-understood/getting-technology-out-of-the-classroom">return</a> to the pre-disruption days without technology.</p>
<h2>Input-output modelling for classrooms</h2>
<p>But rather than mourning the disruption of the inputs, perhaps we should be disrupting the outputs from our academic systems. </p>
<p>Schools, as places where children were collected and taught by a teacher, evolved as farming communities developed. Children could be taught <em>en masse</em>, because those farming communities needed numbers of people to do the same activities again and again to maintain the crops or the livestock. </p>
<p>If all the graduates from the school were the same each year, the farms, and subsequently the factories after the industrial revolution, could use them as interchangeable inputs to keep the economy going. </p>
<p>Things have changed though. Certainly, the inputs to schools have improved: from slates to pen and paper, and now to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword-but-the-computer-is-mightier-than-both-37211">iPads and other tablets</a>. The schools are bigger and mostly air-conditioned and the teachers are professionally trained. </p>
<p>But the outputs may not have fundamentally changed over the decades. Successful schools still aim to produce large numbers of young men and women who can follow instructions; read, write and do arithmetic; and hopefully be ready to enter the existing workplace. </p>
<p>Our new teaching technologies might help these students to achieve all these things even better. But maybe, given all the other disruption caused by our technology, they may not need to do them at all.</p>
<p>Take spelling. Obviously, graduates being able to spell is still one of those essential outputs from our schools. Indeed, one of us (CB) regularly got an “A” for spelling in school and considers himself “successful”, although his “A” was for absent! </p>
<p>As a terrible speller, he literally made himself sick every Friday morning with an asthma attack (“A” is for “asthma”?). So on Fridays he sat fighting for breath while the others in the class spelled the lists of 20 words memorised for that week. </p>
<p>This scenario just wouldn’t happen today. Today, two-year-olds just have fun while learning to spell on their digital devices, catching monkeys or collecting coins while typing out words and being rewarded with exciting sounds and stickers. </p>
<p>And even if the monkeys don’t really work for kids, they’ve always got that handy squiggly line in Microsoft Word or the ever-present Google spell checker. Perhaps spelling <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/correct-spelling-a-case-of-c-u-l8r-m8/news-story/ddf2d34b83001c3d05f0c3f5a75922e0">isn’t even that important</a> for students today.</p>
<p>Don’t get us wrong, though. In our pre-technology days, we worked hard at spelling, and parents and teachers were hard-working hands-on people too, drilling regularly and using both carrots and sticks. There was nothing wrong with that then. </p>
<p>But, in today’s world, is a non-spelling-enabled student really a failed output from the school system? No, because digital tools are available that reduce the importance of spelling to something schools don’t need to focus on.</p>
<p>What about reading? There’s an app for that. Seriously. You can point your smartphone at a sign, some text or a book and your device will read it aloud for you, complete with definitions if you want. </p>
<p>Auto translations from hundreds of languages are available if you ask. Modern students can also usually get close enough to a word for the predictive text to list a few relevant options to click and/or check with the online thesaurus to ensure the right one. </p>
<p>Even when a student cannot get that close, they can just ask Siri to define “sigh-kology”, resulting in “<em>Define psychology: the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behaviour in a given context…</em>”. Add a quick bit of copying and pasting and there you are: definition memorisation skills unnecessary. </p>
<p>Similarly, mathematics and science, history and geography apps abound. If it is data-based, then there is likely an app that can extract it. Just think of all that time and all those panic episodes that could have been avoided in the attempt to produce a standardised school output. In today’s world, isn’t it easier to just ask “is there an app for that?” and focus instead on different skills?</p>
<h2>21st-century graduates for a 21st-century society</h2>
<p>So, the question is: why does NAPLAN still score primary school children on their memorisation of spelling, their reading, ability to recall names of long rivers, or even shortcuts to integrate a mathematical function, in the absence of any technology more advanced than a pen? </p>
<p>Do we need that sort of “output” from our schools anymore? If there is a known answer to a question, then graduates who are trained to search the web should find it (and quality-assure themselves of the value of both the question and the answer). </p>
<p>If there is no known answer, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/standardized-tests-are-so-bad-i-cant-answer-these_us_586d5517e4b0c3539e80c341">how does the school mark the student anyway</a>? Possibly by the student’s evaluation of the quality of the question? </p>
<p>But, a traditionalist might ask, <a href="https://theconversation.com/fatal-error-why-we-dont-fully-trust-technology-49215">what if the technology fails</a>? Well, frankly, if our computer networks collapse badly enough that the above technology becomes permanently unavailable, then we don’t think anyone needs to worry about NAPLAN scores. </p>
<p>Our commercial, retail and social systems are becoming so reliant on these digital technologies that society is simply assuming they must be there to build on. Wi-Fi and cheap internet devices may soon become a basic right for all. Free Wi-Fi is already commonly available over entire city areas and many schools provide or require <a href="https://theconversation.com/bring-or-buy-would-you-let-your-child-take-their-tablet-to-school-23221">students to have a smart device</a>. </p>
<p>So what sort of graduates do we need for the future? We don’t need large numbers who can all do the same thing adequately. The farms and factories now need only a relatively small number of people to supervise the machines. </p>
<p>We also don’t need large numbers of humans to follow instructions well. Even present-day robots are <a href="https://www.cqu.edu.au/cquninews/stories/research-category/2016/robotic-teaching-assistant-project-team-prepares-for-next-milestone">good at following instructions meticulously</a>. </p>
<p>What we need instead are graduates who are good at one thing or passionate about one thing. </p>
<p>Basic economics suggests that even if you are good at several things, it is best to focus on your best even if your best is not as good as someone else’s second best. If a student is passionate about history, why force them into remedial mathematics classes so they can <a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/exponent.html">define an exponent</a>? </p>
<p>Graduating classes, with each individual having a passion or just one thing they are good at, supported by technology that allows them to communicate and access the vast historical wealth of human knowledge, may be all we need from our schools. A massive diversity of passionate individuals, supported by the technology, cannot help but create new services and new opportunities that will not be subject to automation or replacement by robots. </p>
<p>As a society, we don’t need thousands of pure mathematicians or thousands of historians. Just a few passionate ones may do for the country. But we may need thousands of new options and opportunities for the future generations whose old jobs and services have been disrupted by the digital world. That is what we need from our schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cris Brack is a Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy. He does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no other affiliations beyond the academic appointments above.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Do we really need to focus on things like spelling or memorising dates if technology can do that for us? Perhaps education should focus on other things instead.Michael Cowling, Senior Lecturer in Educational Technology, CQUniversity AustraliaCris Brack, Assoc Professor Forest measurement & management, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631782016-08-18T02:54:21Z2016-08-18T02:54:21ZHow companies learn what children secretly want<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134501/original/image-20160817-3578-n5lxb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Companies use children's data to sell them junk food and other products.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-367390880/stock-photo-chocolate-chip-cookies-in-the-hands-of-a-child.html?src=lJAx4QMYQvOUq8qoi2GsyQ-1-73">Cookie image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you have children, you are likely to worry about their safety – you show them safe places in your neighborhood and you teach them to watch out for lurking dangers. </p>
<p>But you may not be aware of some online dangers to which they are exposed through their schools. </p>
<p>There is a good chance that people and organizations you don’t know are collecting information about them while they are doing their schoolwork. And they may be using this information for purposes that <a href="https://www.academia.edu/24593242/Corporate_Schooling_Meets_Corporate_Media_Standards_Testing_and_Technophilia">you know nothing about</a>.</p>
<p>In the U.S. and around the world, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr7Z7ysDluQ">millions of digital data points are collected</a> daily from children by private companies that provide educational technologies to teachers and schools. Once data are collected, there is little in law or policy that prevents companies from <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/google-deceptively-tracks-students-internet-browsing-eff-says-complaint-federal-trade">using the information</a> for almost any purpose they wish. </p>
<p><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475813616/Sold-Out-How-Marketing-in-School-Threatens-Childrens-Well-Being-and-Undermines-their-Education">Our research</a> explores how corporate entities use their involvement with schools to gather and use data about students. We find that often these companies use the data they collect to market products, such as junk food, to children.</p>
<h2>Here’s how student data are being collected</h2>
<p>Almost all U.S. middle and high school <a href="https://thejournal.com/articles/2014/04/08/a-third-of-secondary-students-use-school-issued-mobile-devices.aspx">students use mobile devices</a>. A third of such devices are issued by their schools. Even when using <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/06/11/districts-turn-byod-disorder-to-their-advantage.html">their own devices</a> for their schoolwork, students are being encouraged to use <a href="https://boostelearning.com/blog/google-apps-for-education-anticipated-to-reach-110-million-users-by-2020/">applications and software</a>, such as those with which they can create multimedia <a href="https://www.glogster.com/#love">presentations</a>, do <a href="https://compasslearning.com/goquest/">research</a>, learn to <a href="https://www.nitrotype.com/">type</a> or <a href="https://www.schoology.com/">communicate</a> with each other and with their teachers. </p>
<p>When children work on their assignments, unknown to them, the software and sites they use are busy collecting data. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134503/original/image-20160817-3602-1a7pzmc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ads target children as they do their homework.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-15854176/stock-photo-young-girl-with-laptop-doing-homework-in-dining-room.html?src=ktP0S4PfpU2i58Nw8GOZlQ-1-7">Girl image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.knewton.com/resources/press/67525/">“Adaptive learning”</a> technologies record students’ keystrokes, answers and response times. On-line <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OZyzYUog8w">surveys</a> collect information about students’ personalities. <a href="https://www.remind.com/">Communication</a> software stores the communications between students, parents and teachers; and <a href="https://www.glogster.com/#love">presentation</a> software stores students’ work and their communications about it. </p>
<p>In addition, teachers and schools may direct children to work on branded apps or <a href="http://www.studystack.com/Privacy">websites</a> that may collect, or allow <a href="http://adage.com/article/digital/google-dominates-ad-tech/244824/">third parties</a> to collect, IP addresses and other information from students. This could include the ads children click on, what they download, what games they play, and so on.</p>
<h2>How student data are used</h2>
<p>When “screen time” is <a href="https://www.eff.org/studentprivacy-casestudy">required for school</a>, parents cannot limit or control it. Companies use this time to find out more about children’s preferences, so they they can target children <a href="http://adage.com/article/catapult/path-changing-complex-journey-conversion/304598/">with advertising</a> and other content with a personalized appeal. </p>
<p>Children might see ads while they are working in educational apps. In other cases, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/googles-student-tracking-isnt-limited-chrome-sync?from=student-privacy">data might be collected</a> while students complete their assignments. Information might also be stored and used to better target them later.</p>
<p>For instance, a <a href="http://www.studystack.com/Privacy">website</a> might allow a third party to collect information, including the type of browser used, the time and date, and the subject of advertisements clicked or scrolled over by a child. The third party could then use that information to target the child with advertisements later.</p>
<p>We have <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/schoolhouse-commercialism-2015">found</a> that companies use the data to serve ads (for food, clothing, games, etc.) to the children via their computers. This repeated, personalized advertising is <a href="https://www.democraticmedia.org/article/how-youtube-big-data-and-big-brands-mean-trouble-kids-and-parents">designed</a> specifically to manipulate children to want and buy more things.</p>
<p>Indeed, over time this kind of advertising can threaten children’s <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/schoolhouse-commercialism-2012">physical</a> and <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/Schoolhouse-commercialism-2010">psychological</a> well-being. </p>
<h2>Consequences of targeted advertising</h2>
<p><a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/national-survey-types-and-extent-marketing-foods-minimal-nutritional-value-schools">Food</a> is the most heavily advertised class of products to children. The heavy digital promotion of “junk” food is associated with negative health outcomes such as <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm">obesity</a>, <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(07)60958-1.pdf">heart disease and diabetes</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, advertising, regardless of the particular product it may sell, also “sells” to children the idea that products can make them happy. </p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://www.scribd.com/book/235411618/Born-to-Buy-The-Commercialized-Child-and-the-New-Consumer-Cult">children</a> who buy into this materialist worldview are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and other psychological distress.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_High_Price_of_Materialism.html?id=2ekg225NTSwC">Teenagers</a> who adopt this worldview are more likely to smoke, drink and skip school. One set of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10478400701389045">studies</a> showed that advertising makes children feel far from their ideals for themselves in terms of how good a life they lead and what their bodies look like. </p>
<p>The insecurity and dissatisfaction may lead to negative behaviors such as <a href="http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/13276/">compulsive buying</a> and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sjop.12101/abstract">disordered eating</a>. </p>
<h2>Aren’t there laws to protect children’s privacy?</h2>
<p>Many <a href="http://dataqualitycampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/DQC-Student-Data-Laws-2015-Sept23.pdf">bills bearing on student privacy</a> have been introduced in the past several years in <a href="http://www.nasbe.org/wp-content/uploads/2015-Federal-Education-Data-Privacy-Bills-Comparison-2015.07.22-Public.pdf">Congress</a> and <a href="http://www.nasbe.org/wp-content/uploads/Vance_2016-State-Final.pdf">state legislatures</a>. Several of them have been enacted into <a href="http://www.nasbe.org/wp-content/uploads/Vance_2016-State-Final.pdf">laws</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, nearly 300 software companies signed a self-regulatory <a href="https://fpf.org/2014/10/07/k-12-student-privacy-pledge-announced/">Student Privacy Pledge</a> to safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance and use of student personal information.</p>
<p>However, they <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/privacy-bill-wouldnt-stop-data-mining-of-kids-116299">aren’t sufficient</a>. And here’s why:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134504/original/image-20160817-3602-5zi0zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Student privacy laws are not adequate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mimiw/1878700854/in/photolist-3S1Qj3-b8pivH-drsB7q-drsCcj-43YUBS-43UPNB-drsBxq-bx1jyp-bxpEou-9wp4KP-9jxJ6-dpT5sR-dn7w9M-5uGeWu-fryyBY-cSMfs1-b86bEk-cSMaNU-4zocnd-dJepGk-cz2KeE-dFxHmE-cSM96h-8wcRf8-6D47K-5TMsxx-2iV4D-8PCwt2-fvT5PN-bTkms-761HEK-5R4tTJ-4nWCrn-6N9kQU-dzbjuX-aYLK5P-cXg9D3-9pSwyB-eXBR7x-7agqDg-7yw12s-4Xtgen-7beJ1K-8dfWHj-dm3RNm-aYLK6D-7yw1sh-7yw1F3-cEJgcq-7yscJR">Mary Woodard</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First of all, most laws, including the <a href="https://studentprivacypledge.org/">Student Privacy Pledge</a>, focus on <a href="http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104256">Personally Identifiable Information</a> (PII). PII includes information that can be used to determine a person’s identity, such as that person’s name, social security number or biometric information. </p>
<p>Companies can address privacy concerns by making digital data <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/09/your-secrets-live-online-in-databases-of-ruin/">anonymous</a> (i.e., not including PII in the data that are collected, stored or shared). However, data can easily be <a href="https://www.cs.utexas.edu/%7Eshmat/shmat_oak08netflix.pdf">“de-anonymized.”</a> And, children don’t need to be <a href="http://adage.com/article/ken-wheaton/data-anonymized-find/297713/">identified with PII</a> in order for their online behavior to be tracked. </p>
<p>Second, <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s1788/text">bills designed to protect student privacy</a> sometimes expressly <a href="http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2016/Bills/A1500/1272_I1.HTM">preserve</a> the ability of an operator to use student information for adaptive or personalized learning purposes. In order to personalize the assignments that a program gives a student, it must by necessity track that student’s behavior. </p>
<p>This weakens the privacy protections the bills otherwise offer. Although it protects companies that collect data for adaptive learning purposes only, it also provides a loophole that enables data collection. </p>
<p>Finally, the <a href="https://studentprivacypledge.org/">Student Privacy Pledge</a> has <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/schoolhouse-commercialism-2015">no real enforcement mechanism</a>. As it is a voluntary pledge, many companies may scrupulously abide by the promises in the pledge, but many <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/google-deceptively-tracks-students-internet-browsing-eff-says-complaint-federal-trade">others may not</a>. </p>
<h2>What to do?</h2>
<p>While education technologies show promise in some areas, they also hold the <a href="https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-03-16-the-overselling-of-education-technology">potential to harm students profoundly</a> if they are not properly understood, thoughtfully managed and carefully controlled. </p>
<p>Parents, teachers and administrators, who serve as the closest protectors of children’s privacy at their schools, and legislators responsible for enacting relevant policy, need to recognize the threats of such data tracking. </p>
<p>The first step toward protecting children is to know that that such targeted marketing is going on while children do their schoolwork. And that it is powerful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> I have received funding to support my commercialism in schools research from Consumer's Union and from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Faith Boninger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When children work on their school assignments, unknown to them, the software they use is busy collecting data. These data are then used for individualized marketing of junk foods and other products.Faith Boninger, Research Associate in Education Policy, University of Colorado BoulderAlex Molnar, Research Professor, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/561572016-03-23T04:04:29Z2016-03-23T04:04:29ZHow games can hook students with short attention spans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115981/original/image-20160322-32306-zqjvai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't dismiss "playing games" as a waste of time - they can be a powerful tool for learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Modern human beings have a shorter attention span <a href="http://advertising.microsoft.com/en/cl/31966/how-does-digital-affect-canadian-attention-spans">than goldfish</a>: ours is, on average, below eight seconds while the little fish can focus for nine seconds.</p>
<p>These decreasing attention levels are driven by people’s constant use of technology. One <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6192/75">study</a> found that people’s dependence on digital stimulation has become so high that 67% of men and 25% of women would prefer to experience an electric shock rather than doing nothing for 15 minutes.</p>
<p>Children are no different. They occupy a hyper stimulating world and find it difficult to sit through a 40 minute lesson or focus on a single task. Many schools and universities are now turning to the very technology that can be such a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-binge-watching-is-to-blame-for-kids-not-learning-51056">distraction</a>. One of the avenues they are exploring is <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamification">gamification</a> - integrating games and their principles into learning.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.teachernology.com/blog/is-it-time-to-up-your-game">research</a> has shown that gamification has the potential to boost student learning and motivation.</p>
<h2>The game is changing</h2>
<p>Gaming has become a huge industry and is now even <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2009/sep/27/videogames-hollywood">more valuable</a> than the movie industry. A <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-media-use-by-tweens-and-teens">recent study</a> found that teens spend an average of nine hours each day on their devices, with nearly four of these hours spent playing games. </p>
<p>But schools are starting to realise that merely putting devices in pupils’ hands won’t <a href="https://theconversation.com/outdated-teaching-methods-will-blunt-technologys-power-40503">magically restore</a> their attention during lessons. Children need <a href="http://www.teachernology.com/blog/laptop-or-ipad-or-is-this-the-wrong-question">new teaching methods</a> to accompany these new devices. To this end, some schools are turning to gamification.</p>
<p>Gamification normally involves game-like elements such as leaderboards, levels and badges. These are underpinned by storylines and delivered using creative and appealing aesthetics. Leaderboards rank participants, while levels typically give the player additional benefits. Badges are symbols of achievement. </p>
<p>In a sense this is how education has always worked. Individual examinations are challenges, passed across a number of years - or levels. Pupils then earn a certificate, or badge. But a qualification is not a gamified experience because it doesn’t adequately fulfil the <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/09/18/5-gamification-rules-from-the-grandfather-of-gamification/#22bb91906d38">key principles</a> of a well designed game: clearly defined goals, a transparent scoring mechanism, frequent feedback, a personal choice of approach and consistent coaching.</p>
<h2>Gamification of the classroom</h2>
<p>Gamification is slowly proving its classroom mettle. Some research <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2513469&dl=ACM&coll=DL">suggests</a> that, if it’s properly applied, gamification can improve attendance, enhance understanding of content, encourage engagement and ultimately improve academic performance. </p>
<p>We decided to integrate gamification into an existing fourth year <a href="http://is.ukzn.ac.za/postgraduatecourses/honors/istn731.aspx">course</a> at a South African university. Traditionally, the course is delivered to students through social media platforms. This time around we built in an additional game layer. This created a scenario that saw students pursuing a corporate career and competing for executive positions at a large company. Throughout the course, corporate aesthetics and a corporate style of communication and feedback were adopted.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115611/original/image-20160318-4436-178ht61.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gamified course page with corporate aesthetics.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Students were recognised for meeting learning objectives, displaying academic progress, collaborating around activities and socialising with peers. They were awarded badges and points, which opened up opportunities for real-world benefits: marks, privileges like choosing their own project teams, and even letters of recommendation. They constantly competed to appear in the top 10 leaderboard.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115610/original/image-20160318-4456-pj6zjh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Badges each carrying a point weighting.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research found that students were highly motivated by gamification. They worked hard to try and master the content, as well as engaging with their peers about it. Since the game was based on rewarding learning outcomes and sharing their knowledge, students found gamification relevant and beneficial to their learning.</p>
<h2>Crashing the game</h2>
<p>There were challenges alongside the benefits. For starters, students had to invest more time in the course than they might ordinarily. To stay ahead of the game, they had to keep up with their peers. Those who simply couldn’t keep up fell out of the game, which made it harder to re-engage them. Some students also gave up because they weren’t receiving rewards frequently enough for their liking.</p>
<p>Teachers, too, must invest a lot of time in running the game - never mind the demands of the traditional course. Gamifying a classroom requires a significant investment in time and sometimes money. </p>
<p>We also found that there was a need to ensure a balance between competition - something gamified courses encourage - and helping develop socially cohesive students. This requires care from the teachers, who must ensure that collaborative tasks and social skills like empathy and mutual respect are rewarded within the game.</p>
<h2>Levelling up</h2>
<p>Despite the challenges, our research suggests that gamification techniques can provide interesting avenues to motivate student learning. </p>
<p>There are several free tools available to help teachers implement gamification in the classroom. <a href="http://getkahoot.com">Kahoot!</a>, for instance allows teachers to run gamified quizzes where students participate with their own devices and are placed on a leaderboard that the whole classroom can see.</p>
<p>Open badge platforms like <a href="http://www.credly.com">Credly</a> allow teachers to issue their students with badges, while platforms like <a href="http://www.classcraft.com">Classcraft</a> allow teachers to use role play scenarios in their lessons. </p>
<p>Gamification could, quite literally, be a game changer in the classroom if implemented correctly. As a teacher who recently tried gamification for the first time told one of the authors:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The students rush to class even though it is Maths. They often tell me it is the highlight of their day.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56157/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Introducing game-like elements into classrooms can boost student motivation and learning.Craig Blewett, Senior Lecturer in Education & Technology, University of KwaZulu-NatalEbrahim Adam, Lecturer in Information Systems & Technology, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/499142016-02-10T17:30:21Z2016-02-10T17:30:21ZParents express concerns as more toddlers switch on tablet computers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100319/original/image-20151030-16519-1riiiu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What else is there for her to do?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Philip Lange/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most parents have profound concerns about their children reading digital books on tablets. In a <a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/usr/library/documents/main/final-digital_reading_survey-wed-pdf.pdf">new survey</a> of 1,500 parents of under-eights in the UK about their attitudes to children’s use of technology and digital books at home, we found that only 8% have no concerns about them using tablets to read. For using digital media in general, only 16% of parents had no concerns.</p>
<p>By comparing the results with data from a similar survey conducted by the US-based <a href="http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publication/learning-at-home/">Joan Ganz Cooney Center</a> in 2014, the research also found that parents in the UK and US had different reasons for using or not using digital devices with their children. For example, more American than UK parents said that they use digital media together with their child to ensure they are not exposed to inappropriate content. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/usr/library/documents/main/final-digital_reading_survey-wed-pdf.pdf">survey</a>, commissioned by the charity <a href="http://www.booktrust.org.uk/">Book Trust</a>, highlighted the various opinions on technology “rights and wrongs” held by British parents. For example, 35% of parents thought that using interactive e-books would mean they lose interest in print books, 26% worried they would affect chidren’s attention span, and 14% that it would inhibit their learning. </p>
<p>Parents prefer to read print rather than digital books with their children under eight-years-old, but they do recognise the value of digital books for specific learning situations. The findings indicate that education and literacy charities need to maintain an open dialogue with parents about the various ways families use media. </p>
<p>But there are also key questions around who has access to technology. <a href="http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/publication/opportunity-for-all-technology-and-learning-in-lower-income-families/">Another US survey</a> of nearly 1,200 lower-income parents of school-age children and in-depth interviews with Hispanic families in three lower-income communities located in Arizona, California, and Colorado found that although most families (94%) had an internet connection, the access was often too slow, interrupted or from a shared digital device. These profoundly influenced children’s educational opportunities.</p>
<h2>Strategies for parents</h2>
<p>In their recent book, <a href="http://www.tapclickread.org/">Tap Click Read</a>, chief executive of Joan Ganz Cooney Centre, Michael Levine and journalist Lisa Guernsey recognise the diversity of families and ask the uncomfortable question: what if the differences in technology exacerbate the educational divide between rich and poor? </p>
<p>The authors go on to describe how the use of digital media varies among poor and rich people, but also first-time mothers, tech-savvy parents or immigrant families. The book is accompanied by several <a href="http://www.tapclickread.org/learn/">video vignettes</a> of programmes and initiatives that hold a promise to offer children equal access to the learning opportunities offered by technology. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aCt8_61Mwes?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Play and learning strategies for parents.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The variety of family expectations and motivations concerning children’s technology is important for all stakeholders working with young children, including technology producers and policy-makers. So far, the focus of attention has been on the increased access and ownership of technology by young children, notably touchscreens.</p>
<h2>A third of under-fives have a tablet</h2>
<p>Another recent UK survey of 2,000 families found that 31% of children under the age of five have their own tablet at home. The <a href="http://techandplay.org/download-report">report</a> of the <a href="http://techandplay.org/">Tech and Play</a> project at the University of Sheffield recommended that children have access to tablets in schools if they do not have a device at home. The researchers also encouraged development of better-designed apps for toddlers by informing developers about aspects that promote play and creativity.</p>
<p>While the Tech and Play report is based on data from families who already have tablet computers at home, the fact that increasingly young children have access to, and own, various technologies has also been documented in surveys with nationally representative samples. </p>
<p>For example, in the UK, the 2015 <a href="http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2015/five-years-of-tablets/">Ofcom survey</a> reported that 71% of five to 15-year-olds have access to a tablet device at home. In the US, <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/zero-to-eight-childrens-media-use-in-america-2013">Common Sense Media reported</a> the rising trend in 2013, with the finding that children aged eight-years-old and under were five times more likely to own a tablet compared than in 2011. </p>
<p>The extent to which young children, especially those under the age of two, can actually learn and benefit from tablets’ use is currently being heavily debated by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-wrong-for-pediatricians-to-eliminate-daily-screen-time-recommendations-49408">American Association of Peadiatrics</a> (APA), with an <a href="http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/36/10/54.full">updated guidance due to be issued in autumn 2016</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever the APA recommendations, family culture and parents’ perceptions profoundly shape the strategies they employ to support children’s actual technology use. With tablets and toddlers in particular, it is not just about who has access to what, but also about what parents think is important for their child. </p>
<p>But we need to urgently develop strategies to address the profound <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-natalia-kucirkova/technology-education_b_7704744.html">inequality gaps</a> when it comes to using technology.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalia Kucirkova received funding from Book Trust to lead on the project The Digital Reading Habits of Children which involved collaboration with the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre. </span></em></p>A new study shows how concerned parents of young children are about e-books.Natalia Kucirkova, Senior lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/500212016-01-21T13:15:09Z2016-01-21T13:15:09ZWhy your child’s digital footprints in school matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106362/original/image-20151216-30095-v5irca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What data are schools collecting on children? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Perun/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Vast amounts of personal, behavioural and academic data about children are being collected, processed and used by schools, local authorities, and the government every year. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news-and-blogs/2015/09/questions-raised-over-children-s-websites-and-apps/">a recent review</a> by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK of 50 websites and apps used by children found that only a third had “effective controls in place to limit the collection of personal information from children”. </p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/law/european-childrens-rights-unit/BriefingNote.pdf">real risk</a> to children that their activities online may be monitored and their personal and behavioural traits the subject of profiling by third parties. Children and their parents may have little or no knowledge of these activities or the fact that a wide range of their personal information <a href="https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/playground-multisite/futurium/en/system/files/ged/policy_paper_executive_summary.pdf">is being stored</a> in databases for an indefinite period. </p>
<p>Breaches of data protection rules and unauthorised processing and sharing of sensitive personal information expose children to privacy harms which may go unnoticed. </p>
<p>Schools need to up their game. On December 17, the European Union agreed on the final text of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which includes rules that all organisations will be expected to take into account <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52012PC0011&from=EN">the rights of children</a> to have their personal data protected. The regulation has to be formally approved by EU institutions in 2016 and will come into force in a little over two years time. </p>
<p>Information and communication technology is <a href="http://www.budrich-verlag.de/pages/frameset/reload.php?ID=1006&_requested_page=%2Fpages%2Fdetails.php">now pervasive</a> in primary, secondary and special schools. Many now integrate tablets and smartphones into lessons and have taken full advantage of the booming market for educational software packages, mobile apps, cloud computing services, intranets and games platforms. New biometric technology, such as security scanners that use fingerprints, is also being tried <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-trouble-with-taking-biometric-technology-into-schools-52355">by some schools</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, it is becoming apparent that parents and schools need to be more proactive to ensure that children’s data protection rights are not overlooked. For example, it is often assumed that schools need only obtain consent of the child or parent on a yearly basis to process their personal information. This cannot be right, since a wide range of personal information covering a child’s activities will be regularly collected, used and shared widely. Digital information can also be stored indefinitely.</p>
<p>New information relating to a child’s weekly performances or activities may form the basis of observations and inferences made by the teachers or other third parties. Schools should reconsider whether the processing of such information is covered by getting prior consent or whether it is sufficiently different to require additional consent from parents. </p>
<h2>Information is useful</h2>
<p>The collection of the personal information of children has a number of positive aspects. As well as grades and performance indicators, schools collect information including age, gender, language, ethnicity and health. Information relating to a child’s health and their family’s financial circumstances can help schools provide appropriate support and services, such as the pupil premium for disadvantaged children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106875/original/image-20151222-27858-12ssx65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who has access to children’s data?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much of this data is necessary for a school to undertake its administrative duties and deliver appropriate education services. For example, processing information relating to attendance, discipline, or performances in class and tests can help inform the delivery of lessons and study support. </p>
<p>Local authorities and the government may also collect personal data from children to ensure that educational benchmarks are met, and also use information collected from schools to identify educational priorities and needs. </p>
<h2>What the law says</h2>
<p>Data protection law recognises scope for legitimate and fair processing of children’s personal data. Schools are regarded as “data controllers” – in other words, they must comply with data protection laws for personal information held by them as well as processing that is undertaken on their behalf by third parties. </p>
<p><a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-definitions/">Section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998</a> on “sensitive personal data” imposes an obligation on schools to take particular care when dealing with information relating to a child’s “physical or mental health, their racial or ethnic origin, sexual life or commission or alleged commission of any offence, and related proceedings”.</p>
<p>The key point here is that while it is important that schools should have access to children’s relevant personal data, it is imperative that access, collection and processing of their information is not seen as opening the way to make use of their data for purposes without their knowledge. </p>
<p>Schools must ensure that children’s personal data is processed in accordance with all the ICO’s <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/data-protection-principles/">data protection principles</a> and best practice guidelines. These include requirements that personal data be fairly and lawfully processed, kept secure, processed for a limited purpose and not kept longer than necessary. </p>
<p>Schools need to produce privacy policies which are accessible to children and their parents. The time is ripe for all schools to demonstrate that children and parents are provided with privacy policies that are comprehensible and not written by lawyers for lawyers. Schools must demonstrate that good information governance is an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/children-s-online-games">ongoing priority</a>. Children and their parents must know precisely how their personal information is being used, for what purposes and by whom.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Savirimuthu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Schools are collecting more and more data on children. They must make sure they comply with the law.Joseph Savirimuthu, Senior Lecturer in Law, Director of Postgraduate Studies, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/478102015-10-20T10:21:25Z2015-10-20T10:21:25ZOutdated exams are holding children back – not computers in the classroom<p>A recent <a href="http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/students-computers-and-learning_9789264239555-en">report</a> has confirmed that simply increasing the number and use of computers in a school is unlikely to result in significant improvement in “educational outcomes”, including in results for reading, mathematics and science.</p>
<p>The report, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-access-to-computers-wont-automatically-boost-childrens-grades-47521">recommended solutions</a> were fairly predictable and included increasing training for teachers and greater use of innovative teaching methods. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34174795">According</a> to Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills: “Adding 21st-century technologies to 20th-century teaching practices will just dilute the effectiveness of teaching.” We therefore need to get much better at using pedagogies that make the most of technology.</p>
<p>But a significant problem still remains. Even if we combine 21st-century technologies with 21st-century teaching practices we are still stuck with a form of assessment born in the 19th and 20th centuries – the written exam. </p>
<h2>Testing the wrong things</h2>
<p>Like it or not our national exams continue to dictate children’s “educational outcomes”, the kind of content that is delivered and the skills which pupils are expected to develop. Unfortunately, in many countries these exams do not attempt to assess, evaluate or encourage the development of 21st century skills such as problem solving and critical thinking.</p>
<p>It is easy to understand why the introduction of new technology in the classroom may well have very little, if any, impact on the traditional learning outcomes that are associated with it. For example, if an exam is expected to test a student’s knowledge of a clearly defined subject area which is covered in a single textbook, then having access to the internet in the classroom may well prove to be an unnecessary distraction. Instead, the text book alone may be sufficient. </p>
<p>And if teachers have a proven track record of producing grade A students without using technology, why risk rocking the boat with new technology? Within this outdated assessment framework of examinations there appears to be little incentive for teachers to introduce and use new forms of technology.</p>
<p>The damage being done by a culture of education built around exams is now also being further exacerbated by the OECD itself and its <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> (PISA) survey and league tables. Member countries now take great pride in being top of the league table. But this means they’re competing with each other to have the most efficient but outdated assessment framework, which is assessing many skills which are slowly becoming redundant. </p>
<p>And this perverse race to the bottom will continue until assessment systems are reformed and begin to focus more on the development of 21st century skills. PISA <a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-education-rankings-are-a-problem-that-cant-be-solved-24933">has already taken an encouraging step</a> in this direction by introducing a test on problem solving; but the traditional tests still dominate much of its analysis.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, an <a href="http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=EDU/WKP%282009%2920&doclanguage=en">OECD Education Working Paper</a> from 2009 found that while there was much talk about 21st century skills and competencies there were few specific definitions and “virtually no clear formative or summative assessment policies for these skills”. There was also a distinct lack of relevant teacher training programs, which is a real cause for concern. </p>
<h2>Bring in the internet</h2>
<p>To help drag assessments systems into the 21st century a simple solution is now being proposed by a number of academics such as our colleague <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jun/17/ipads-exams-teaching-test-schools">Sugata Mitra at Newcastle University</a> and by <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11275200/Allow-pupils-to-use-Google-in-GCSE-exams-says-academic.html">Eric Mazur at Harvard</a>. Internet-enabled exams involve introducing the internet into the exam hall. The hope is that they could prove to be a catalyst that will encourage the educational system to reform itself from within.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98256/original/image-20151013-31122-1kt897f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Let them search.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Students on computers via YanLev/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The organisations writing the examinations would have to think differently. If students have access to the internet then they would no longer be able to use the same old standard exam questions. Instead, they would have to think of new, open and challenging questions <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-education-if-google-can-tell-us-anything-44441">which would require students</a> to navigate the internet and identify different perspectives and points of view. </p>
<p>The curriculum would also need to change from being one that is based on things that are known, to one based around big questions that do not have an easy answer. Teachers would also have to focus less on the teaching of facts and more on developing children’s searching, critical thinking and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-21st-century-children-need-to-excel-at-problem-solving-24996">problem-solving</a> skills. </p>
<p>Students would also have to think differently. Remembering facts and figures and passive listening skills would no longer be as important. Instead, the development of 21st century skills would become critical, including skills associated with the effective use of multiple forms of technology.</p>
<p>In 2010, the Danish government began experimenting with internet enabled examinations with <a href="http://eng.uvm.dk/News/%7E/UVM-EN/Content/News/Eng/2010/Okt/101008-Use-of-internet-in-exams-is-a-success">initial success</a>. Mark Dawe, the former chief executive of the OCR exam body in the UK, has <a href="http://www.ocr.org.uk/blog/view/blog-to-google-or-not-to-google-that-is-the-question-by-mark-dawe/">also suggested</a> that this is a reform whose time has come. Now it is time for others to think the unthinkable and blaze new trails.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To prepare teachers for the 21st century, we need to reform the way we assess children.James Stanfield, Lecturer, School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Newcastle UniversityAngelika Strohmayer, PhD candidate in Digital Civics, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/451462015-09-24T09:40:32Z2015-09-24T09:40:32ZLearning from PowerPoint: is it time for teachers to move on?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95718/original/image-20150922-25752-1gck4o5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How well do students learn when a lesson is mainly in PowerPoint?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkb4dawn/3390585399/in/photolist-65hVoy-4abWCw-4uyiv9-Hzh4d-6mDHa9-4Xgrs9-QWNVK-5CzJan-5uDuTA-kfGx2-6RhrHq-4zajqc-6vtS7X-JtPRd-JtSUr-JtPFL-JtPzf-bvVygY-66bWgT-7y2hn8-255BTY-ALww-6RhsFY-6Rhs3f-9JPK7V-61xZHf-5K8jjS-5uz87R-6M4rhU-5uJ2Dq-4ejQjH-tWwoe-69jS8b-5pn6cM-6tTwn3-5mHeUA-HMKKg-HMKJr-GVrf6-6LZgux-6M4r2J-6aBCUX-jcXEE-Hzgyb-Hzg8G-HzfxY-Hzj3B-Hzajf-Hz7Jc-XNkBr">Henrik Berger Jørgensen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For a brief period in the history of teaching, using PowerPoint automatically qualified you as a tech-savvy professor – an innovator who wouldn’t settle for the usual combination of staticky black-and-white overhead films and hand-scrawled chalkboard notes. </p>
<p>Now, it’s hard to believe that PowerPoint was once considered innovative by anyone. Popular criticism includes everything from tongue-in-cheek comments about <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2014/11/14/six-ways-to-avoid-death-by-powerpoint/">death by PowerPoint</a>
to serious claims that it <a href="http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint">fundamentally degrades</a> how we think and communicate.</p>
<p>But much of today’s college instruction isn’t in face-to-face classrooms, a setting in which PowerPoint was traditionally used. It’s in the <a href="http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/reports/changingcourse.pdf">burgeoning field of online learning</a>. </p>
<p>So if more learning is moving online, does that mean that teaching with PowerPoint is becoming a thing of the past? </p>
<p>Surprisingly, the answer is no. </p>
<h2>Passive learning through PowerPoint?</h2>
<p>Even though there’s <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10755-006-9017-5">little research</a> that directly addresses whether PowerPoint affects learning in college students, critics have <a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-ban-powerpoint-in-lectures-it-makes-students-more-stupid-and-professors-more-boring-36183">questioned its value</a> in educational settings. </p>
<p>Some ask whether PowerPoint might indirectly undermine the quality of teaching by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265381218_PowerPoint_An_Overused_Technology_Deserving_of_Criticism_but_Indispensable%20%E2%80%93%20one%20centered%20around%20the%20lecture%20rather%20than%20active%20student%20involvement">reinforcing a passive learning approach</a>. </p>
<p>We know that <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410">lecturing is less effective</a> than alternative methods. It therefore makes sense for teachers in face-to-face classrooms to question how much of their class time ought to be spent on slideshows.</p>
<p>But the fact is “slideshows” remain a popular method for presenting content in today’s online courses.</p>
<p>Technically, these are often not PowerPoints, but decks generated using other types of <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate.html">specialized programs</a>. </p>
<p>And they may differ from standard in-class PowerPoint presentations in important ways. </p>
<p>For example, taking advantage of the increased flexibility of the online environment, they give students more control over how quickly to go through the material and when to backtrack. They can also have more interactive features, such as quizzes, that ask students to apply material while they are learning it. </p>
<p>Even so, the basic – and flawed – idea is the same: put the material in front of students, and learning will happen. </p>
<h2>What’s wrong with slideshows in online courses</h2>
<p>As a psychologist specializing in teaching techniques and course design, when I talk to faculty about <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674368248">teaching effectively with technology</a>, I sometimes tell them to follow the ABS principle: anything but slideshows.</p>
<p>I’m only half-kidding with that blanket statement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95720/original/image-20150922-25773-105n5uu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are alternatives to using only PowerPoint for instruction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dkeats/4600373827/in/photolist-7NLVGj-4xxcoh-4TJVAC-4B38kY-72M76r-pjGMBh-4B37XL-81w7S8-9AnmG-4U84p6-513e4n-513dMa-4B2WZS-4B2VH9-4B2GBS-4AXqUr-5nghwZ-dQdZxD-65VMrK-aE5UnQ-aE5SCf-aE5KYd-5mH8ks-axzyGx-axzucX-4vXanA-4xeHjH-4iWMs-4uVjyH-39cZ3A-5FJKjk-4AXrge-5PA4Ke-4eWiki-4uubp6-517r5U-513emp-axCdQU-aE2QWD-5PzLLx-4B2YMG-axA9qK-axCjnL-axzze4-axzphg-4uuhbM-axCcGq-4eWhTr-4DkBmh-4uyjjA">Derek Keats</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After all, we learn with the same brains in online environments as we do face-to-face; the principles of learning don’t change just because the medium changes. And <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470484101.html">today’s learning theorists</a> agree: active involvement trumps passive viewing.</p>
<p>Students need to grapple with challenging problems, practice skills, discuss and defend viewpoints. But for this kind of active learning to happen, instructors need to ensure they do not rely too heavily on slides.</p>
<p>There are alternatives: <a href="http://www.phil.cmu.edu/projects/causality-lab/">simulations</a>, <a href="https://pblc.nss.udel.edu/Pbl//">problem-based learning</a>, even <a href="https://reacting.barnard.edu/about">educational games</a> are all proven methods for drawing students in. They also <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674368248">transplant well into online learning</a>.</p>
<h2>Using slideshows the right way</h2>
<p>So do slideshows have any place in a well-designed online course? Possibly.</p>
<p>They can be used strategically for things they are best at: giving students an overview of new material, or providing a refresher on concepts students will need for an upcoming activity. </p>
<p>Slides are also great for for integrating visual illustrations. This is important because visuals – diagrams, figures, photos and the like – have a powerful impact on learning. </p>
<p>Visual information is almost always more memorable than sound, text or other modalities. </p>
<p>This isn’t because of the <a href="http://www.changemag.org/archives/back%20issues/september-october%202010/the-myth-of-learning-full.html">now-debunked</a> idea that some people are “visual learners,” but more likely stems from <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/mental-representations-9780195066661?cc=us&lang=en&">how the brain codes images</a>. There are separate systems for representing verbal and visual information in the brain. When we save information in both places, it is easier to recall. </p>
<p>Teachers don’t have to stick with static images, either. Even <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ940536">basic animations</a> can illuminate conceptual relationships – such as cause and effect, or the unfolding of a process over time – in ways that text can’t. </p>
<p>Furthermore, as University of California, Santa Barbara researcher <a href="https://www.psych.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/mayer">Richard Mayer</a> has <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/US/academic/subjects/psychology/educational-psychology/multimedia-learning-2nd-edition">discovered</a>, visuals and the spoken word pair up in powerful ways, so that audio plus visuals produce better learning than either alone. </p>
<p>Research also tells teachers some things <em>not</em> to do with visuals. Instructors should avoid purely decorative graphics, as these can actually <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212000921">hamper learning</a>. </p>
<p>They should also eschew <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2013-09151-001/">reading text verbatim</a>, instead using a <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/US/academic/subjects/psychology/educational-psychology/multimedia-learning-2nd-edition">conversational, natural speaking style</a> for voiceovers and verbal explanations.</p>
<h2>What this means in the larger context of online learning</h2>
<p>In sum, slideshows can be a useful part of online instruction, when used for the right things and designed in the right way. But they shouldn’t be the main, or the only, method of instruction – any more than lectures should dominate face-to-face classes.</p>
<p>But it’s not just instructors who need to hear this message. </p>
<p>Publishing and educational technology companies, who provide many of the tools that educators rely on, can do more to develop products that push beyond familiar formulas and draw on the latest learning science.</p>
<p>We need tools that make it easy to create assignments that ask students to apply what they have learned, in scenarios that are as realistic and challenging as possible. </p>
<p>These learning tools also need to be adaptive, adjusting the material and pace to the individual learner. This kind of educational technology <a href="http://oli.stanford.edu">does exist</a>, but far more can be done to expand the available options.</p>
<p>Teaching in the age of technology comes with its own set of opportunities as well as challenges. And online education presents educators and tech developers with a rare opportunity to fundamentally rethink what we do. </p>
<p>Will we use it to explore new avenues for learning, or will we fall back on the the same old techniques that don’t work well in face-to-face classrooms?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Denise Miller is a partner in Rhizome Learn LLC and consults for Minds-Online.com.</span></em></p>Slideshows, when designed right, can be a useful part of online instruction. But they shouldn’t be the main, or the only, method of instruction.Michelle Denise Miller, Director, First Year Learning Initiative at University College and Professor of Psychological Sciences, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/475212015-09-15T10:13:16Z2015-09-15T10:13:16ZWhy access to computers won’t automatically boost children’s grades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94728/original/image-20150914-8747-49l1ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Best use of time?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tablets in classroom via Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Filling classrooms to the brim with computers and tablets won’t necessarily help children get better grades. That’s the finding of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264239555-en">a new report</a> from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). </p>
<p>The report reviews the links between test results of 15-year-olds from 64 countries who took part in the OECD’s 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and how much the pupils used technology at home and school. </p>
<p>Pupils in 31 countries, not including the UK, also took part in extra online tests of digital reading, navigation and mathematics. The countries and cities that came top in these online tests were Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan – who also perform well in paper-based tests. But pupils in these countries don’t necessarily spend a lot of time on computers in class. </p>
<p>The report also shows that in 2012, 96% of 15-year-old students in the 64 countries in the study reported that they have a computer at home, but only 72% reported that they used a desktop, laptop or tablet computer at school. </p>
<p>The OECD found that it was not the amount of digital technology used in schools that was linked with scores in the PISA tests, but what teachers ask pupils do with computers or tablets that counts. There is also an increasing digital divide between school and home. </p>
<p>These findings, as well previous <a href="http://moodle.perins.net/pluginfile.php/98265/mod_resource/content/0/The_Impact_of_Digital_Technologies_on_Learning_FULL_REPORT_%282012%29.pdf">evaluations</a>, indicate that just increasing the provision and use of computers or other digital tools for students, either at home or at school, is unlikely to result in significant improvements in educational outcomes.</p>
<p>In fact, the study shows countries which have invested more in introducing computers in schools, such as Russia and Portugal, have improved slower, on average, than countries which have invested less. Results are similar across reading, mathematics and science.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94724/original/image-20150914-4706-1uugwdp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.oecd.org/education/students-computers-and-learning-9789264239555-en.htm">OECD</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Across the countries in the report, students who do not use computers in mathematics lessons (or use them only rarely) do better on paper-based tests than students who do use computers, after accounting for differences in socio-economic status. </p>
<p>However, there are some countries that buck this trend: in Belgium, Denmark and Norway there is a positive association between computer use in mathematics lessons and student performance in maths tests. </p>
<p>My interpretation here is that you have to know how to use technology well to get the best from it in an educational setting. Introducing technology may actually make the process of educational improvement more difficult as teachers have to adjust to technological change while trying to improve their wider teaching skills.</p>
<h2>The Goldilocks principle</h2>
<p>There is also a persuasive case that the effective use of digital technologies for learning is an example of the “Goldilocks Principle”. Too much is not a good thing, but nor is too little: you’ve got to get it just right.</p>
<p>The best performing countries don’t have students using technology a lot (it is hard to tell how much teachers use technology such as interactive whiteboards from the surveys), but some of the least successful are also the lowest users. Overall levels of computer use in schools above the current OECD average of about 25 minutes per day are associated with significantly poorer results. To get the best from technology, it appears that you should be neither too hot, nor too cold.</p>
<p>However, this principle also applies to students’ use at home too, where the best performing students don’t use technology excessively, but they do have access to it. It would be wrong to assume a causal link here. It seems more likely that motivated and hard-working students get on with their schoolwork or do other things at home.</p>
<p>The principle is also evident in different subjects of the curriculum. As the graph below shows, the report suggests that students who make slightly below-average use of computers at school actually have the highest performance in digital reading. It is also important to note that for wider reading skills, rare users actually perform better than intensive users. In terms of the development of reading skills, digital technology may act as a distraction. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94726/original/image-20150914-4678-1vep8j0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.oecd.org/education/students-computers-and-learning-9789264239555-en.htm">OECD</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What teachers change</h2>
<p>One point briefly mentioned in the OECD report, but worth developing further, is the opportunity cost of technology use. What do teachers stop doing when they use computers or get their students to, and what do 15-year-olds not do at home when they use technology? </p>
<p>The net educational benefit of digital technology use in classrooms is likely to depend on whether such technology displaces other less effective learning activities or increases the efficiency of time that is spent learning. It is hard to assess this, but we should explore more carefully what technology replaces and whether it really is better than what went before. </p>
<p>There is no simple message about technology use in schools from this OECD report – and one of its main conclusions is unsurprising: “In the end, technology can amplify great teaching, but great technology cannot replace poor teaching.” </p>
<p>Obvious though this point may seem, I am sceptical that this will convince those in charge of the education purse strings to invest the same sums they have been prepared to spend on the purchase of technology equipment, on the effective training and development of teachers to use it well in their lessons. This is despite the fact that we know it is the quality of our teachers which determines the quality of the education in our schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Durham University received funding between 2008-12 from the Economic and Social Research Council/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the TLRP-TEL Programme for the SynergyNet Project which developed an interactive digital classroom using multi-touch surfaces. Steve Higgins led the education strand of this research.</span></em></p>A new report from the OECD says pupils in countries that invest a lot in technology in the classroom, don’t perform better in tests.Steve Higgins, Professor of Education, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/433352015-06-22T20:17:05Z2015-06-22T20:17:05ZNo gimmicks: technology in schools must serve a purpose<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85868/original/image-20150622-17765-1qaqn71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C24%2C928%2C640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many classrooms have embraced digital technology, but it hasn't always translated into improved learning outcomes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brad Flickinger/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re a student, teacher or parent, you might have noticed there is a massive push to use technology in the classroom these days. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear somebody talking about the digital curriculum, or computers in classrooms, or <a href="http://www.afr.com/technology/federal-budget-2015-labor-light-years-ahead-of-coalition-on-tech-policy-20150515-gh264h">teaching coding in schools</a>.</p>
<p>But this push for more technology often misses the mark when it comes to improving educational outcomes. Just adding more gadgets to the classroom won’t necessarily benefit students. Rather, we need fewer gimmicks and more focus on what actually works.</p>
<h2>Good for learning?</h2>
<p>Schools are being forced to embrace computers. Unlike their “digital immigrant” teachers, these students are “<a href="http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf">digital natives</a>”, born into a world where technology is an integral part of everyday life. Almost every student has access to a multitude of computers, laptops and tablet devices. It would be crazy to assume an assignment would <em>not</em> be written on computer in this day and age.</p>
<p>Many schools now have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword-but-the-computer-is-mightier-than-both-37211">1-to-1 computer policy</a>, and many districts and states in the United States have mandated computers or iPads across the state for every student, <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/2065460/ipads-in-schools-the-right-way-to-do-it.html">including Los Angeles</a>, the second largest school district in the country. </p>
<p>But the thing is, when they tried it in LA, it wasn’t the success they hoped for. That’s because the tablets weren’t used as much as they expected. Rather, it appeared there was a gap between the digital native’s love of technology and their use of it in the classroom.</p>
<p>This conflicted relationship with computers is also underscored by much of the literature on education. It is also highlighted in professional development and conferences such as <a href="http://www.edutech.net.au/">EduTech</a>.</p>
<h2>Gadgets galore</h2>
<p>This was the second time I attended <a href="http://www.edutech.net.au">EduTech</a>. It’s always fun to look at the technology being demonstrated and think about how it might be used for learning. There is usually a theme to the conference as well. Last year it was all about 3D printers. This year it’s all about digital collaboration.</p>
<p>As I wandered around the conference, I got to play with lots of cool technology, including 3D printed gears, big touch screens that can be used for collaboration, automatic drawing robots and even a massive blow up tent with a projector pointed at the roof that <a href="https://www.aarnet.edu.au">AARNET</a> uses to give a 180 degree view of the solar system. </p>
<p>For me as a technologist, it was all endlessly fascinating. And it’s tempting to think it could all contribute to improving education. But as I wandered around, I wondered how these gadgets would genuinely benefit teachers and students? Sure the digital touchscreen might be fun to use, but how much support do teachers get to actually put this into the classroom?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85867/original/image-20150622-17743-1neur6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author having fun trying out Samsung’s virtual reality headset at the EduTech conference - but how valuable will it really be for students?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Teaching teachers to use tech</h2>
<p>When I looked into it further, I found there are a lot of presentations on technology use, but not so many presentations on practical ways to integrate technology into the classroom that target individual teachers and their needs. </p>
<p>If these teachers are “digital immigrants”, then how are they going to know how the digital touchscreen or the blow-up tent can be best used in their classroom, with their curriculum and their students? </p>
<p>I’m not questioning the ability of teachers to develop good lessons; I’m questioning how they will be able to integrate technology into their class for maximum effect without a full understanding of the technology and what it is capable of?</p>
<p>Google seems to have noticed this and has developed a program called Computer Science for High Schools – <a href="http://www.cs4hs.com">CS4HS</a> – to address this. Rather than targeting students directly, this program targets teachers, introducing them to innovative new technology and helping them think about how that technology might be used in the classroom. </p>
<p>The CS4HS is a terrific initiative, and it would be great to see more like it, but it’s ultimately supported by a technology company. When we are talking about technology in the classroom, we shouldn’t be putting the technology first. </p>
<p>Instead, we should be putting the pedagogy first, finding a problem and solving it with technology, rather than bolting technology onto a classroom and hoping it solves some problem.</p>
<p>But what we really need, more than anything else, is more educational technologists. This role combines a love of technology with an understanding of the classroom. So instead of demonstrating a new 3D printer, an educational technologist will talk to the teacher, identify a problem and then suggest a technology solution. </p>
<p>No more shoving technology into classrooms like they did in LA; rather we need an approach where pedagogy comes first and technology follows.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Cowling received funding in 2015 from a Google Computer Science for High Schools grant .</span></em></p>There were lots of fun gadgets and gizmos on display at the recent EduTech conference. But most of it is really just gimmickry when we really need a greater focus on learning.Michael Cowling, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Leader, Mobile Computing & Applications, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/420322015-06-19T05:06:50Z2015-06-19T05:06:50ZWhy World Bank praise for a profit-making education firm in Kenya was a bad idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82554/original/image-20150521-1020-28klmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A school run by Bridge International Academies in Nairobi, Kenya. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gpforeducation/16517268968/sizes/l">GlobalPartnership for Education/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim has come under fire for a <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2015/04/07/speech-by-world-bank-group-president-jim-yong-kim-ending-extreme-poverty-final-push">speech</a> he gave in April at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in which he pointed out the importance of investment in education in order to end extreme poverty. However, his only example was the supposed success of one private, for-profit company. Kim said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We know that using new technology can help transform educational outcomes. For example, Bridge International Academies uses software and tablets in schools that teach over 100,000 students in Kenya and Uganda. After about two years, students’ average scores for reading and math have risen high above their public school peers. The cost per student at Bridge Academies is just $6 a month.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bridge International Academies is a for-profit education company that has set up a network of 405 private primary schools in Kenya and seven in Uganda. It is owned by the US firm, <a href="http://newglobeschools.org/About%20Us.html">New Globe Schools</a> founded in 2007 to actively pursue a new education market – what some have called the <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/paul_collier_shares_4_ways_to_help_the_bottom_billion?language=en">“bottom billion”</a>. There are <a href="http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com/company/history/">plans to expand</a> the model in Nigeria and India.</p>
<p>Kim’s statement about Bridge International Academies – which the World Bank <a href="http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com/company/investors/">funds through its investment arm</a> the International Finance Corporation – troubled many people in the international education community and over 100 regional, national, and global civil society organisations released their <a href="http://globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/May-2015-Join-statement-reaction-to-WB-statement-on-Bridge-14.05.2015.pdf">own statement</a> highlighting their concerns.</p>
<h2>Problems with a ‘school in a box’</h2>
<p>Kim made three points about Bridge in his speech. Those discontented with Kim’s speech suggest that each one of these points is either misleading or incorrect. His first point, that Bridge “uses software and tablets in schools” could be misinterpreted. Readers may assume that the students in Bridge had access to computers. Not at all. Barely trained, unqualified, poorly paid teachers are <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/11/12/243730652/do-for-profit-schools-give-poor-kenyans-a-real-choice">given a tablet to deliver</a> and control a totally scripted curriculum to students, who do not have access to their own tablets.</p>
<p>Teachers in its schools <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/11/12/243730652/do-for-profit-schools-give-poor-kenyans-a-real-choice">are expected</a> to all read aloud to the students, word-for-word, the content delivered on the tablet at the same time in each school every day. This teacher turned-robot barely deserves to be called education and would not be tolerated in most schools in most developed countries. The name Bridge applies to itself, <a href="http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com/approach/model/">school-in-a-box</a>, is perhaps appropriate.</p>
<p>Kim’s second point, that Bridge student test scores “have risen high above their public school peers” appears to be the result of a study financed by Bridge International Academies itself. Kim has been <a href="http://globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/May-2015-Join-statement-reaction-to-WB-statement-on-Bridge-14.05.2015.pdf">severely criticised</a> for using this source as evidence of the efficacy of the teaching model. Few respectable researchers would cite a company’s own studies as valid evidence of the efficacy of a product. Criticism by <a href="http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2014-04-16/academies-box-are-thriving-are-they-best-way-school-worlds">Berkeley education professor</a> Erin Murphy-Graham of <a href="http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2014-04-16/academies-box-are-thriving-are-they-best-way-school-worlds">Bridge’s study</a> has suggested its analysis of the data was misleading.</p>
<p>In response to these criticisms, Keith Hansen, global practices vice president at the World Bank, told The Conversation that it is “supporting a rigorous, independent impact evaluation of the Bridge program in Kenya, the first large-scale randomized controlled trial of fee-paying schools in sub-Saharan Africa”.</p>
<p>For many, this is much too late – Kim has already praised the system and the World Bank, via its investment arm the IFC, has <a href="http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/industry_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/industries/health+and+education/news/bridgeschools_feature">already invested</a> US$10m of taxpayers’ money in the programme. Bridge has also attracted more than <a href="http://www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com/company/investors/">US$100m from international investors</a>, including Bill Gates, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerman, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, education company Pearson, and the UK’s Department for International Development.</p>
<h2>Not just $6 a month</h2>
<p>Kim’s third point, that Bridge costs “just US$6 a month” <a href="http://globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/May-2015-Join-statement-reaction-to-WB-statement-on-Bridge-14.05.2015.pdf">is also misleading</a> and does not reflect developing country reality.</p>
<p>Fees vary by grade, and $6 is the average, according to Bridge. Adding in fees for exams, uniforms, and other expenses means that costs per pupil per month can range from $9 to $13 – up to two times higher than Kim suggested. And this does not include the optional costs of breakfast and lunch, for which Bridge says it charges an additional $7.50 per month.</p>
<p>For many of the poor in Kenya and Uganda, such costs are out of reach, requiring more than a quarter of their income to just send one child to school. Those who do send children to private schools can be forced to make invidious choices, often only able to afford, barely, to send one child, usually a boy, and to leave their other children out. It has been <a href="http://www.disasterriskreduction.net/fileadmin/user_upload/drought/docs/wfp247486.pdf">estimated</a> that the urban poor in Kenya spend between 60%-65% of their income on food. Sending a child to school for US$6 a month means taking money away from <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-in-your-purse-dictates-whats-on-your-plate-41137">necessary expenses</a> on food, water, and health care.</p>
<h2>Reverse decline of public education</h2>
<p>As I have <a href="http://educationincrisis.net/blog/item/904-whats-wrong-with-low-cost-private-schools-for-the-poor">argued elsewhere</a>, 30 years of neo-liberal policies have often left public schools around the world over-crowded, with poorly trained teachers, few learning materials, dilapidated facilities, and not close by.</p>
<p>More than <a href="http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/oosci-global-report-en.pdf">120 million</a> primary and lower-secondary school children around the world are not in school, and more than <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/newdelhi/about-this-office/single-view/news/efa_global_monitoring_report_2012_200_million_young_people_fail_to_complete_primary_school_and_lack_skills_for_work/#.VVsYxxcb7FQ">200 million young people</a> have not learned basic skills even if they have attended school. As Kim himself acknowledged in his speech: “Over 50% of young people in Kenya who have completed six years of schooling cannot read a simple sentence. Over 70 percent of children completing primary school in Mozambique do not have basic numeracy skills. These low achievement levels have devastating implications for when people look for jobs.”</p>
<p>In Kenya, parents can be charged extra fees for what is meant to be free primary education and <a href="http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/lifestyle/article/2000151592/parents-sue-jacob-kaimenyi-over-school-fees">some parents</a> are suing the government over the issue.</p>
<p>It is no wonder that some parents opt out from public schools – and Bridge says that there are more than 118,000 students enrolled in its schools. However, while it is rational for some disadvantaged individuals to send their children to private schools, many disagree with a public policy that promotes privatised education, as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/apr/23/education-is-a-basic-human-right-why-private-schools-must-be-resisted">recent criticisms</a> make clear.</p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=dwSRmgEACAAJ&dq=SRIVASTAVA+LOW-FEE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hTpbVdySFoLnsATLlYFI&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA">Privatisation</a> in education increases inequality, provides no learning gains, and de-professionalises teachers. The right of children to free basic education is enshrined in numerous international agreements. While in practice there are often fees for public education, they are being <a href="http://www.ungei.org/infobycountry/247_712.html">challenged and eliminated</a> around the world. Privatisation is supposed to help meet the growing education gap resulting from years of attack on the public sector, but all it does is replace an attempt to develop good public policy with the vagaries of charity or a narrow focus on profit-making.</p>
<p>Too often everything is about the bottom line vs the interests of children. We will not bridge the gap between the soaring rhetoric of <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/efa-goals/">Education for All goals</a>, the Millennium Development Goals, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/moving-global-goals-for-education-from-quantity-to-quality-after-2015-41732">their successors</a> and the too-dismal reality of our education efforts through privatisation.</p>
<p>The World Bank has been the most influential global marketeer in pushing for the privatisation of education for over three decades, based on ideology not evidence, as I and my colleagues detail in our recent <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_World_Bank_and_Education.html?id=DYxgM1im9o0C&redir_esc=y">research</a>.</p>
<p>The World Bank’s Hansen told The Conversation that its support for Bridge was “complementary to what is offered in local school systems” and that the World Bank is “committed to working with the governments of Kenya and Uganda to help strengthen their public education systems”.</p>
<p>But I argue that Kim should recant his recent statement, and the World Bank should re-evaluate its ideological zeal for marketing privatisation in education.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation contacted Bridge International Academies for comment on the criticisms raised in this opinion piece.</em></p>
<p>In a response to the allegations raised by the civil society groups, a spokeswoman from Bridge International Academies told The Conversation that its “technology-enabled school management system” – tablets for every teacher – was used to tackle core problems, such as teacher absenteeism and neglect and that scripted programmes for teaching had been shown to drive “higher learning gains for children”. Bridge said that all its teachers “earn above the national median income” with many earning “significantly above this” and “every teacher working for Bridge earns more than the <a href="http://www.ipsos.co.ke/news/Middle%2520Class.html">Gross National Income</a> per capita of $1,036 per year.” It also said that 20% of its teachers are government certified and “all teachers undergo an extensive selection process, and more than 200 contact hours of induction training before beginning in-service training that continues throughout their tenure with Bridge”.</p>
<p>Bridge told The Conversation that the study about the achievement of pupils at its schools was an “extensively vetted, quasi-experimental measurement of the learning outcomes of 10,000 children who attend Bridge and neighboring schools over 26 months”. The spokeswoman said the study based on examinations “administered independently by the same specialist consulting firm” used by the UK and US aid agencies to evaluate public schools in Kenya.</p>
<p>Bridge also told The Conversation that: “fees vary based on a child’s age as well as an academy’s location, the average of which is just $6 per month per pupil. This is affordable to the average Bridge family – who lives on just $1.60 a day per person and is able to spend less than 20% of their income to send all of their children, both girls and boys, of nursery and primary school age to Bridge. This fee includes all costs of education for the child, including all use of textbooks, classwork books, homework books, and other materials and toys in class.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42032/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven J. Klees does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Bank has come under fire for its investment in Bridge Academies, which runs a network of schools in East Africa.Steven J. Klees, R. W. Benjamin Professor of International & Comparative Education, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/387802015-03-18T01:14:54Z2015-03-18T01:14:54ZAre you afraid of technology? You shouldn’t be<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75047/original/image-20150317-13671-1pyw3mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many people fear technology, and have great reservations about kids using smartphones and computers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/62337512@N00/3601525070/in/photolist-6ox3Gt-9CjBEt-cVAeFq-eFTweg-qSxuUL-pXQoTQ-6ufKVQ-qniJxt-hzKjWZ-7KPY3o-dugknG-dugusA-dvUKVG-pKxEzD-hLXH8U-dvEGts-9ahvdS-2S6hee-dsKiEn-4ZYQZM-naWx8w-6EsL28-7yTwSm-cxtJaq-cJRmLL-gcDHaa-5vArmA-mkFFdx-prF4ao-b4VTiz-cqrjdh-cswyyf-92XodD-cnp3z9-nRHc4Y-cswyr3-csGJsQ-mWA3ss-5ydn3F-kq4zo6-ackPQ8-dPaWL4-nCm5k-kZYVTi-BwZpG-53F4fx-6cS3TE-ry43F-7AeCkd-4ZvfXo">Anthony Kelly/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nary a week goes by that doesn’t see a new mainstream media story on the dangers of technology use. Just the other day I spotted one talking about how <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/why-your-smartphone-is-making-you-dumber/story-fn6vihic-1227260085141">smartphones are making us dumber</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563215001272">original study</a> cited in the news story is actually more about how mobile phones help us to be more intuitive than analytical, and stop us from “overthinking”. But it’s particularly interesting that this study, like many others, gets framed up as a “fear of technology”.</p>
<p>It makes me wonder why many people appear to be so afraid of technology? To answer this question, we need to consider motivations, and perhaps even look at where this argument tends to appear the most, which is in reference to children and education.</p>
<h2>Think of the children</h2>
<p>The ABC caused <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/children-learn-the-abc-of-twitter/story-e6frfro0-1226448686016">some controversy</a> in the mainstream media a couple of years ago when an episode of Play School showed a presenter using a toy computer to send e-mails and a toy smartphone to “tweet” his friends.</p>
<p>The ABC said at the time its intention was to promote items that have now become a part of everyday life. But what is of particular interest is the responses to the episode that express a fear of technology. </p>
<p>For instance, comments on the above-linked article were predominantly negative, with two out of three commenters believing that children shouldn’t be exposed to email and social networking.</p>
<p>I saw a similar phenomenon in 2012 with <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet/story-fn6ck51p-1226244826436">a story</a> by The Courier Mail on research on Twitter in the classroom <a href="http://www.proceedings.com.au/isana/2012.html">that I conducted with my colleague Jeremy Novak from Southern Cross University</a>. The Courier Mail also conducted a survey alongside the story that asked readers “should students be able to tweet questions to teachers in class?”. More than 3,000 people responded to the survey, with more than 90% voting in the negative.</p>
<p>As educators, we see this position from teachers every day. For example, <a href="https://prezi.com/6kycmq7fiq25/icte-uq-inservice-pd/">data from Paul Forster</a> at the University of Queensland notes that more than 40% of teachers he sampled felt “put out” when seeing a mobile phone in their classroom. In fact, Paul said that anecdotal evidence suggested that the most common approach for many staff was to ban mobile phone usage in their classroom, rather than encourage it.</p>
<p>As an educational technologist, I find this type of public reaction to the uptake of technology astounding. Technology is now an integral part of our daily lives. As such, society should not vilify technology, but embrace it as an essential part of life in the information age.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/75144/original/image-20150318-2142-2rntsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children are often fascinated by technology. That’s not necessarily such a bad thing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rahego/5509227208/in/photolist-9oQej1-7WDRJE-8saSzM-7z26e1-dawCCx-7RuUYh-9RYyDm-fDroG2-bR4HfT-8eG7p2-dzvC1Y-bMtoTk-7S3Z9z-888WyG-bC9Qvj-87pvpZ-hQVuQX-819Mx2-86gixi-7T3Yq9-7RrE24-7zCVaE-81Ryga-7RrE6p-9UiHV1-7S7Scw-7Pq2gw-8utK8v-a7Dzg7-898cDd-7zWz8q-bJRoAr-atHwcM-7RuVrQ-9dgRxT-89J1wm-dYPPLV-7TRHJ2-dWKYRS-9sK9yH-7RpM4Q-7z6TyM-9djXEG-mMo7Qe-7XyHAF-9kQG8J-dSAG34-e8H2NE-9pPdsu-8fWHDW">Raúl Hernández González/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Anxiety about the phone in our pocket</h2>
<p>In spite of this, Australian Bureau of Statistics data show that there are almost as <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/8153.0%7EDecember+2012%7EChapter%7EMobile+handset+subscribers?OpenDocument">many active mobile phones in Australia</a> – 17.4 million, as of December 2012 – than <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/3235.0%7E2012%7EMain+Features%7EMain+Features?OpenDocument#PARALINK3">people to operate them</a> – 18.4 million adults aged 15 and above as at June 2012.</p>
<p>The ABS also reports that in 2009, [76% of 12–14 year olds owned a mobile phone](http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1370.0~2010~Chapter~Children%20and%20mobile%20phones%20(4.8.5.3.2). So it would appear that although almost every adult in Australia has a mobile phone, and three-quarters of children also have one, many people (including teachers) are reluctant for kids to learn about this technology, or use it in the classroom.</p>
<p>Why is this? The answer may involve the culture surrounding technology. It’s been long-documented that the various generations have differing attitudes to technology. And it’s becoming apparent that the typical Generation X’er – a “<a href="http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf">digital immigrant</a>” – not only worries about how to use the technology, but doesn’t necessarily see the benefit of having the technology in the first place. </p>
<h2>Horses for courses means technology for kids</h2>
<p>Henry Ford is (often misquoted) as saying: “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.” And perhaps this is also true of technology in the classroom. While our “digital native” students embrace the technology, maybe our “digital immigrant” teachers continue to search for “a better horse”, all the while ignoring the technology that is already in every student’s pocket or backpack.</p>
<p>So, how do we overcome this? Our research is ongoing in this area, but it would appear that what is needed is a cultural change. Rather than standing up and telling teachers to embed technology into their classroom, we should be working harder to get teachers to embed technology into their everyday lives. </p>
<p>If a teacher learns to use a tablet while they sit on the couch at home, or read tweets on their smartphone on the way to work, they will then start to understand how the technology works. It will then become a part of their culture and they’ll be more likely to want it in their classroom.</p>
<p>Until we can reverse this fear or technology, we can expect to see many more negative comments about children and technology, and how your smartphone is making you dumber. People tend to fear change, and there is a great fear of technology in our generational culture that needs to be conquered.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/38780/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many people fear technology is making us dumber, and they have great reservations about children using smartphones or computers. But technology ought to be embraced, particularly by kids.Michael Cowling, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Leader, Mobile Computing & Applications, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/376112015-02-19T13:50:51Z2015-02-19T13:50:51ZExplainer: what is the hybrid classroom and is it the future of education?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72478/original/image-20150219-28209-ym3d88.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mixing it up. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Children in class via racorn/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When artists blend styles into a Latin reggae or manufacturers mix tablets with laptops to create a phablet, the idea is to create a superior product or a new artistic experience. Often seen in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/11208340/Hybrid-animals-Artist-creates-new-species-using-Photoshop.html">art and business</a>, hybrid solutions are gaining increased attention in education. In the classroom, the blend of traditional and new teaching methods, and the mix of online and face-to-face learning – known as the “hybrid classroom” – is posing profound questions about the lessons of the future. </p>
<p>Yet much of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30814302">focus</a> so far on the future of classrooms has been on technologies that disrupt rather than merge new and traditional teaching methods. Central to this thinking are the models of “personalised learning” and the “flipped classrooms”.</p>
<p>Personalised learning focuses on each individual’s active contribution to the learning process. The idea dates back to the 19th century and American educator Helen Parkhurst’s <a href="http://www.dalton.org/philosophy/dalton_plan">Dalton Plan</a>, but there is no doubt that portable personal technologies such as tablets and smartphones can revolutionise the way personalised learning occurs in schools today. Several technology companies, such as Apple, <a href="http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2391598/apple-touts-technology-as-core-to-education-shake-up">actively advocate</a> for personalised learning to change, not just facilitate, traditional ways of teaching. </p>
<h2>Flip it rather than merge it</h2>
<p>One model inspired by personalised learning is the popular “flipped classroom” model. The idea <a href="http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/">originated</a> with two US teachers in 2007 and since then, has spread in many classrooms in the US, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/mar/30/flipped-learning-benefits-challenges-best-practice-live-chat">UK</a> and <a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/tediteach/flipped-classroom/case-studies.html">Australia</a>. </p>
<p>While definitions vary, the essential idea is that the traditional classroom is flipped on its head. The original idea was to teach students new content at home – predominantly online by watching video lectures – and do homework in class. Since then, <a href="www.khanacademy.org">The Khan Academy</a>, a non-profit operating according to the flipped classroom model, has popularised the concept, with more than 235m lessons viewed online. </p>
<p>The effects of the model on children’s learning and skills are gradually being analysed. In the UK, <a href="http://www.nesta.org.uk/project/digital-education/flipped-learning">Nesta</a> and the National Foundation for Educational Research are currently working to explore the impact of such reverse teaching models in several secondary school maths departments across the country. </p>
<p>Research funded by the <a href="http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects/flipped-learning-shireland-collegiate-academy">Education Endowment Foundation</a> is investigating a model of flipped learning with Shirelands Academy in the West Midlands. Meanwhile, the US government has <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2014/07/khan_academy_to_be_subject_of_.html">invested $3m</a> to test the effectiveness of Khan Academy. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30814302">Proponents</a> of the flipped learning model suggest that it can maximise the time that teachers have available for each student in the classroom and enable teachers to act more as guides rather than instructors. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-pro-and-con-mary-beth-hertz">Critics</a> argue that the flipped classroom is merely the first step towards a change. To enable all students to benefit from flipped learning, there needs to be more attention paid to students who come from educational backgrounds where access and use of technology at home is difficult. This could put up barriers where some, more well-off students with devices at home, are able to benefit more than others. Some teachers have set out why they’re not going to be <a href="https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-306757880/five-reasons-i-m-not-flipping-over-the-flipped-classroom">rushing to “flip”</a> their classrooms because of this and other reasons. </p>
<p>While the jury is still out, what the flipped classroom and personalised learning models highlight is a strong turn towards classrooms centred around technology. This can often translate into a debate about whether we need teachers in classroom at all. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ted.com/speakers/sugata_mitra">Some experiments</a> from developing countries show that children can learn without the need for teachers. But while this may work in some circumstances, most <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/bf02504683#page-1">current research clearly states</a> that the role of teachers is fundamental and that their beliefs about the way they teach are central to the effective integration of technology into the classroom. The principal task before us is therefore to refocus the debate to find a hybrid model which combines powerful technology with powerful teaching.</p>
<h2>Impact of the hybrid classroom</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/72475/original/image-20150219-28215-gszvio.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It ain’t easy being a zonkey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sugarpuss4ever/407938980/sizes/o/">Leogirly4life</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For hybridisation to work in education, we need to begin to ask more ambitious questions about what we lose and gain by combining old with new – and the joint impact for different groups of children, for different subjects and different contexts. So far, we know little about these combinations.</p>
<p>In evaluating hybrid learning models, we also mustn’t lose sight of the fact that hybrid models produce hybridised outcomes. Last year’s results <a href="http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/12/18/hybrid-classes-outlearn-traditional-classes.aspx">from a comparative study</a> by the <a href="http://www.pahli.org/about/methods/">Hybrid Learning Institute</a> – which aims to balance digital and traditional instruction – found that students in nine out of ten schools using hybrid learning had <a href="http://www.pahli.org/results/reports/">higher academic performance on standardised tests</a> compared to traditional classrooms.</p>
<p>This is encouraging, but tells us little about the added value of the combination, and what extra skills the students learnt in the process. As the coalition <a href="http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework">Partnership for 21st-Century Skills</a> advocates, 21st-century classrooms need to support <a href="http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/blog/6405_backing_soft_skills_campaign_launched">new soft skills</a> such as communication, team work and time management, as well as traditional skills in core subject areas.</p>
<p>Hybrids are, by definition, complex – and it’s clear we can’t reinvigorate children’s education overnight. Technology can jump-start the process but we cannot leapfrog over traditional infrastructure models in schools. The future of our classrooms is bright if we can carefully blend innovation with sound principles of education, rather than let one replace the other.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37611/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalia Kucirkova is affiliated with The Open University.</span></em></p>A blend of online and face-to-face teaching is changing the nature of the classroom.Natalia Kucirkova, Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/372112015-02-12T05:00:46Z2015-02-12T05:00:46ZThe pen is mightier than the sword, but the computer is mightier than both<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71804/original/image-20150212-16609-jfaf3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The way we teach our children must accommodate the radical changes in technology that have occurred over the past couple of decades.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>It’s official. In 2015, the keyboard has began to genuinely challenge the pen for dominance in the classroom. </p>
<p>With Finland having decided that it will no longer teach <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-03/finland-scraps-cursive-writing-lessons-in-schools/6066826">cursive handwriting</a> in primary school, replacing it with typing lessons for students, and with pen manufacturer BIC fighting to “<a href="http://www.bicfightforyourwrite.com.au">save handwriting</a>” in Australia, it could be argued that the humble pen might finally be singing its swan song. </p>
<p>But what does this mean for the Australian classroom, now that <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-the-back-to-the-future-we-imagined-23440">smartphones are ubiquitous</a> and gadgets are invading <a href="https://theconversation.com/smaller-is-smarter-at-the-2015-consumer-electronics-show-35897">every part of our lives</a>?</p>
<h2>The relationship between education and technology</h2>
<p>Education has always embraced technology. From the humble <a href="http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/using-ohp">overhead projector</a>, to the TV with VCR that was pushed into the classroom on a trolley, to the computer labs full of <a href="http://oldcomputers.net/c64.html">Commodore 64s</a>, new technology in the consumer space has always found its way into the classroom. What’s changing, though, is the availability of that technology.</p>
<p>As a middle-class student growing up on the North Shore of Sydney in the 1980s, I remember clearly how computer time worked. The classroom I sat in every day had no computers, but once a week we would all queue up and march down to the computer room to spend an hour using them. </p>
<p>You would find a disk, boot the computer and spend a blissful hour playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Sandiego">Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?</a> or <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/game/treasure-island_">Treasure Island</a> and learning how the computers worked. Even in my later years in high school, the computer labs were always a separate activity, reserved for special classes on “Business Technology” or “Computers in Schools”.</p>
<p>Now, 30 years later, my son is attending prep at a school that boasts a <a href="http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/working-digitally/1-to-1-learning.html">1-to-1 computer policy</a>. Every student in the school is expected to have a computer, and in later classes every student is equipped with an Apple iPad. </p>
<p>The teacher uses a television screen for learning connected to a Macbook Pro and builds lessons around the technology that the students have access to. As he grows up, I’m sure my son will request a smartphone of his own, and I hope that the school he goes to will encourage him to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/04/12/3475860.htm">use it for learning</a> as well. </p>
<p>No longer is technology relegated to just the computer. Rather, it’s built into every facet of the students lives. This has the potential to change classrooms in ways that have never been seen before.</p>
<h2>The digital native, active learning, digital resident student</h2>
<p>Back in 2001, Marc Prensky coined the term “<a href="http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf">digital native</a>” to describe a different type of individual, one who doesn’t know a world without technology in it. </p>
<p>I personally learnt the term around five years ago, and since then have noticed a certain amount of controversy about it’s use, especially amongst those that Prensky considered “digital immigrants”: individuals who grew up in a world before technology was commonplace. </p>
<p>Among the immigrants, the notion that there is a divide between those who know technology and those who don’t is difficult to come to terms with. Many counterpoints to Prensky’s work have been written, as well as other terms proposed like David White’s “<a href="http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/vandr.html">Digital Resident/Digital Visitor</a>”, or the “<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-engage-to-excel-final_feb.pdf">Active Learner</a>” to describe the change in learning. </p>
<p>For some reason though, the term “digital native” persists, perhaps because, despite its flaws, it acknowledges a change the in the way that we interact with the world, regardless of our generational differences.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71815/original/image-20150212-16638-53kdwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technology is integral to the lives of digital natives, but is our education system catching up?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/7691519996/in/photolist-4uHRPi-9yRaR4-dN2e2a-7M6Jvx-djaFhx-b9wRSx-cHF3VJ-6tfQ8E-bGos8e-7Hw1EN-EMg4o-gufHEo-b9wxaT-fDhtzy-iMs3J2-7Gug3x-7JxyWy-7LPQek-pPMX-6YcvH5-b9wDTX-kcD6wy-aFhXnY-4pZDCW-c1BPPu-7cDpST-oiSHkf-b9wo4v-9ySC2Q-iGHvyV-eh63K9-6LKvVD-iGHvWP-p7qzMq-8pCyv5-4KmgiK-mCXGKq-hfe6Ti-9Y5821-ixzak-mCWE3T-66SG2X-2qip4-3iytPY-dYPgWE-iGGgF6-5CPPpE-5Y1U3j-q2auU3-czXoSC">Michael Coghlan/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The best example I can give is from my own experience. When I was a student, a pen was an important implement to take to lectures and tutorials. It allowed me to not only make notes but also write down other pieces of information, like the lecturer’s contact details or the submission time for an assignment. </p>
<p>Now, I notice that students no longer take pens to class, and when they want to take notes, they instead use their mobile phone’s inbuilt camera.</p>
<p>As a “digital immigrant”, I found myself totally floored the first time that a student submitted an assignment via the online Learning Management System in front of me, and when I suggested that they print the confirmation page, they instead took out their phone and took a photo of the screen! </p>
<p>Add that to the ubiquity of students using their phones to check words you say in class, Google a quick question you ask, or even record your lectures for later listening, and you can understand the persistence of the term “digital native”.</p>
<h2>The last gasp for the mighty pen</h2>
<p>Of course, this transition is not without its challenges. Technology moves quickly, and as soon as one piece of technology becomes popular, it gets replaced with another.</p>
<p>This presents a <a href="http://www.cqu.edu.au/cquninews/stories/general-category/dont-worry-if-students-use-or-abuse-technology-in-class,-just-find-best-use-for-learning">challenge in the classroom</a>, where lesson plans and pedagogy often takes longer to bed down than the life of the average mobile phone. </p>
<p>Add in new technology like the <a href="http://www.oculusvr.com/">Oculus Rift</a> headset and the raft of new <a href="http://www.theinternetofthings.eu">Internet of Things</a> devices and you discover new pedagogical challenges for the 21st Century student.</p>
<p>A good example of this is the use of technology in exams. We often use exams to make sure that students understand the material in a controlled environment, free of opportunities to “phone a friend” or look items up on the internet. </p>
<p>But how does this work for the digital native, who expects to always be connected? How do we conduct exams with these students, without resorting (as many universities do), to forcing students to write the exam with pen and paper, possibly asking them to put ink on the page for the first time in the semester? </p>
<p>I am currently working on a project to bring <a href="http://www.transformingexams.com/">electronic exams to more classrooms</a>, but even this presents challenges, as computers need to be locked down and student access to a global world of information controlled. </p>
<p>And don’t even get me started on how Internet of Things devices fit into the mix. Students are now able to use devices such as <a href="http://www.android.com/wear/">Android Wear</a> and the upcoming <a href="https://www.apple.com/au/watch/">Apple Watch</a> to bring the connected world into the exam room, even when we don’t want them to. </p>
<p>An exam invigilator recently confessed to me that this check has now been added to their list: checking water bottles, erasers and then also what watch a student is wearing! Quite a challenge for the digital immigrant, isn’t it?</p>
<p>But even these challenges are surmountable. The evidence suggests that 2015 might be the year where we finally start making these changes, acknowledging that even if we aren’t sure if we should call them “digital natives”, the way that modern students learn has changed, and the tools we use in the classroom have to change along with it. </p>
<p>Just like the humble Commodore 64 and the TV on a trolley before it, perhaps it’s time for the pen to say it’s farewells for regular use in the classroom, replaced by the smartphone and relegated to “writing time”, just like we used to have “computer time” back when I was a kid.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s official. In 2015, the keyboard has began to genuinely challenge the pen for dominance in the classroom. With Finland having decided that it will no longer teach cursive handwriting in primary school…Michael Cowling, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Leader, Mobile Computing & Applications, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/321742014-09-26T13:43:09Z2014-09-26T13:43:09ZWe must all be foot soldiers in the battle to stamp out illiteracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60174/original/2y38wgjy-1411730657.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sacred time. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-104294405/stock-photo-son-and-daughter-with-their-mother-sit-on-sofa-and-read-book-in-room-focus-on-woman.html?src=TwsgqpVCkLi0t1vtPu4utA-1-5">Reading: Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two initiatives aimed at getting children to learn and read more have just launched with a flourish. The $15m <a href="http://learning.xprize.org/">Global Learning Xprize</a> pits teams of innovators across the world in a competition aiming to find a technological solution to teach children literacy and numeracy, without the need of a human teacher. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.readongeton.org.uk/">Read On Get On</a> campaign in the UK is encouraging all adults to read to their children, even for as little as ten minutes per day. It is backed by a coalition of UK charities, teachers, publishers, and several celebrities, including <a href="http://www.bestdaily.co.uk/your-life/news/a595386/author-jk-rowling-backs-new-book-campaign.html">JK Rowling</a> and <a href="http://www.itv.com/goodmorningbritain/just-read/geri-halliwell-reading-changed-my-life-just-read-take-10">Geri Haliwell</a>. </p>
<p>Both initiatives were launched in response to some alarming education statistics. Xprize cites a <a href="http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unesco_study_shows_africa_and_arab_states_are_worst_hit_by_teacher_shortage/#.VCOuq_ldWSo">UNESCO report</a> which estimates that the world will need 1.6m more teachers by 2015. Read on Get on draws on a <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/Read_On_Get_On.pdf">Save the Children report</a> predicting that 1.5m British children might reach the age of 11 unable to “read well” by 2025, and that this could cost the UK £32 billion in growth. </p>
<h2>What, how and who reads</h2>
<p>If we aim to eradicate illiteracy, we really need to think big and act boldly. Yet there is a bit of a Catch 22 here. To do this well, we need to be clearer about what we mean by the slogan <a href="http://www.itv.com/goodmorningbritain/just-read">Just Read</a> and the “magic formula” of reading <a href="http://www.itv.com/goodmorningbritain/just-read/take10-minutes-and-just-read-to-your-child">just ten minutes per day</a>, espoused by the Read On Get On campaign. </p>
<p>What, who and how we read in those ten minutes are just as important as why. Does reading a print book count as much as reading an e-book or are we in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/speed-it-up-or-slow-it-down-the-boundaries-of-reading-apps-for-children-30544">tired dichotomy</a> of encouraging engagement with printed books at the expense of on-screen reading? Whether we mean reading fiction or non-fiction is also important – fiction seems to be prioritised in the Save the Children report. And are we trying to get children to <a href="http://www.bookstart.org.uk/usr/resources/75/booktrust-reading-for-pleasure-reading-for-life-1-.pdf">read for pleasure</a> or read for learning or both?</p>
<h2>Not just a solution from the West</h2>
<p>Similarly, it is not clear what is meant by the ultimate goal of the Xprize, that the winning technological solution is supposed to most effectively support autonomous learning. It’s important that the outcomes are not assessed solely using Western standards. They should also reflect the skills essential to thrive in a particular local environment. </p>
<p><a href="http://learning.stage2.xprize.org/sites/default/files/global_learning_xprize_competition_summary_v1.pdf">Xprize does specify</a> that the cultural and political importance of local languages will be emphasised and that the shortlisted software will be field-tested only in countries with a national policy of promoting English fluency. </p>
<p>But the issue of how appropriate large-scale technology-driven initiatives are in different cultures and economies is a complex one. With Xprize, it’s also important to think carefully about merging the knowledge infrastructure of the West with the physical infrastructure of the developing world. </p>
<p>While in the Western world mobile technology is typically implemented with the aim of enriching classroom instruction and assisting teachers, in the developing world technological initiatives are often about <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/news/506466/given-tablets-but-no-teachers-ethiopian-children-teach-themselves/">replacing teachers</a> and teacher-proofing – or taking decisions away from teachers. The same technology is therefore serving two very different imperatives – and this requires a mind shift for those software designers who grew up with a different educational paradigm.</p>
<h2>Reading and learning in 21st century</h2>
<p>For both campaigns, it is crucial to think about whether they will change how well and often children read rather than just the delivery mechanisms for reading. So that the two campaigns become truly game-changing national and international campaigns, we need an openness and willingness to rethink habits and routines. More time is needed to understanding what reading and learning in the 21st century is and could be about. </p>
<p>This is why it’s important that both campaigns <a href="https://theconversation.com/coding-classes-should-bring-in-everyone-not-just-children-31266">maintain a community approach</a> supporting cross-generational dialogues. </p>
<p>The children’s author <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29366399">Michael Rosen has suggested</a> that parents should be encouraged to come and sit on the floor with their children at story time. Other children’s authors, for example <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/08/reading-literacy-uk-cbi-schools-read-on-get-on-campaign">Michael Morpurgo</a>, are promoting reading for pleasure by adding their short stories to the Saturday edition of The Sun newspaper. Read On Get On did well by employing a general strategy to engage a wide number of people: it has already managed to galvanise politicians, business leaders and other big players who might be able to provide the necessary resources to tackle the issue of eradicating illiteracy in the UK. </p>
<p>Also, behind the Xprize there is a clear sense of community collaboration as the organisers encourage teams to work together on the best possible technical solution and engage in an open-source development process. </p>
<p>We need to keep such a community approach to ensure that reading becomes a shared concern and decisions about future educational technologies are driven by communities rather than by selected technology companies. In this respect, both campaigns give us a lot of hope.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalia Kucirkova receives funding as a KTP Associate. She is affiliated with The Open University and Booktrust. She was selected as Xprize vanguard in September 2014.</span></em></p>Two initiatives aimed at getting children to learn and read more have just launched with a flourish. The $15m Global Learning Xprize pits teams of innovators across the world in a competition aiming to…Natalia Kucirkova, KTP Associate for Booktrust, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.