September 2008 Archives

Last week's chat on edweek.org may be of particular interest to readers of this blog. Susan Patrick, the president and chief executive officer of the North American Council for Online Learning; Julie Young, the president and chief executive officer of the Florida Virtual School; and Cheryl Vedoe, the president and chief executive officer of Apex Learning, answered questions from readers about trends and approaches in online teaching and learning.

The conversation touched on such subjects as online security, student engagement, online courses for at-risk students, technical difficulties, teacher quality, online professional development for teachers, and student evaluation and assessment, among many others. There are a ton of informative tidbits about the growing population of online learners and how online instruction is being improved from experts who are on the front lines of this increasingly popular trend.

I highly recommend reading through this chat transcript for anyone who is interested in online education and how it is evolving to meet the needs of today's students and educators. In fact, many of the questions touched on subjects I have been curious about, too.

Posted by Katie Ash at 12:36 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

This commentary on edweek.org ties in literacy rates with 21st century skills and outlines how an emphasis on digital media and proficiency can help increase academic achievement.

Using new, innovative technology can help students who are struggling with language to increase their vocabulary and form associations between what they're learning with the real world, say the authors of this commentary. Also, becoming familiar with technology helps kids gain the skills they need in order to be successful in a global economy.

What I thought was most interesting about the article was the suggestions they outlined to promote technology in the classrooms. Some I'd heard many times before—increasing research to see what works and what doesn't, forming a teacher support network to help educators become more tech-savvy—but others were a little more unfamiliar. For example, the authors suggest forming a "digital-partnership school" to test different digital approaches to instruction, and creating a "place in every community" where students can come to beef up their technology and language skills.

What do you think? Would those suggestions help promote the use of technology in the classroom? Can technology really impact literacy rates as dramatically as this commentary suggests?

Posted by Katie Ash at 3:46 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

A few months ago, I wrote a post in another edweek.org blog called Motivation Matters about the pros and cons of online classes. This growing trend is something my co-blogger Andrew has written quite a bit about, and something we're both keeping our eyes on as the number of students taking online classes increases.

But recently I've had an experience that I think gives me a little more insight into the world of online learning. This summer, I moved from my home in the Washington area to Portland, Ore., and in the process my work environment has changed from a bustling newsroom full of colleagues to one computer in the basement of a house where I am the only one working. While teleworking definitely has its perks (my commute consists of a 30-second walk down the hallway), there are inevitably some things I miss about being in an office.

Just like online classes, teleworking means giving up daily interactions with people who are working in the same niche as I am. Not seeing them every day makes it harder to collaborate on stories, and I don't have the advantage of easily bouncing ideas off other reporters or getting someone else's perspective on whatever I'm writing. On the other hand, e-mail makes it possible to ask questions and get feedback fairly quickly, and I don't feel particularly cut off from the resources and expertise of my colleagues.

Overall, teleworking has given me the opportunity to pursue certain life goals without having to choose between those and my career, which I do not think would have been possible 15, or even ten, years ago. I imagine there are similar reasons behind many students' decisions to enroll in online classes. Learning online gives students greater flexibility in what classes they can take, when they can take them, and where they have to be in order to take them. I do think there's something to be said for a classroom environment where discussions between teachers and students can generate new ideas and help prevent confusion, but the situation I find myself in now is helping me to see that through e-mail, telephones, and the Internet, those interactions can still take place, albeit in a somewhat more formal and less off-the-cuff kind of way.

Still, I do wonder how difficult it would be to learn something completely new entirely through the Internet, especially for those students who are visual or auditory learners (although I suppose video streaming could help with that.) I also wonder about the amount of self-discipline and maturity needed to stay on task without a teacher or mentor actively watching and encouraging progress. I'm sure that educators and students alike share these concerns, and as online learning continues to grow--because I don't see this trend slowing down--we'll have to see how these and many other questions will be answered.

What is your take on online learning? What are the benefits and drawbacks? What experiences have you had taking or teaching Web-based classes?

Posted by Katie Ash at 5:37 PM | Permalink | 7 Comments | TrackBacks (0)

The "open content" movement in education is getting a boost from the state of Wyoming, a regional education agency, and a for-profit virtual school. All have all agreed to share teacher-created curricula on Curriki, an online community for creating and sharing open source K-12 curricula, the nonprofit company announced yesterday.

Under a typical open content license, anyone can take the materials, use them and modify them freely, and even republish them.

Wyoming's Department of Education has made available on Curriki a 6th grade Spanish curriculum that was developed with federal funding. The materials can be accessed, downloaded, and modified as necessary by Spanish teachers worldwide. The 7th grade version of the curriculum will be added this fall, with 8th grade materials following within two years.

The Cattaraugus-Allegany-Erie-Wyoming BOCES, a regional education agency in southwestern New York State, is sharing a collection of upper elementary and middle school math and science curricula that is the product of 15 years of development.

And the American Academy, a for-profit virtual school in Utah, plans to offer a large collection of accredited high school courses, according to Curriki.

Curriki says its growing collection now offers educators, parents, and students access to more than 18,000 high-quality "learning assets."

Posted by Andrew Trotter at 12:37 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

I find support for this week’s Pew study of teens, video games, and civics (see my Sept. 17 post) in my own basement--where my two sons, ages 13 and 10, regularly play video games.

The study links some aspects of video games with positive social and civic engagement among teenagers—a conclusion that, I hope, will lead to further study.

My boys play an online Star Wars combat game, one of a couple of online games they play. The game operates on multiple computers that permit hundreds of people to play in separate or joint games. In realistic virtual settings, they act out land- and space-based scenarios that fans of Star Wars would instantly recognize. Individual players or teams compete to capture positions, retrieve flags and bring them to home base, and of course, wipe out the other side using an array of weaponry and tactics.

My sons like to participate in this game side by side, on separate computers—which allows them to chat about the action and share tips and intelligence. Skype, the Internet-based phone service, is integrated into the game system so they can talk to their teammates, too.

Significantly, they have joined an informal online club devoted to the game—a group with its own rules of sportsmanship and military ranks and chains of command, even though in practice these civic niceties sometimes break down.

While playing as a club or versus other clubs, members work toward promotions—by being successful on the battlefield, of course, but also by regularly writing bulletins about the action and posting them on the club’s discussion board, and eventually by passing a test of club rules and officers’ duties.

My boys regard all this as entertainment, but they do take pride in their online community: In fact, they helped other members write a Wikipedia article about their club, illustrated by screen grabs from their battles. Both have gotten some practice in keyboarding and writing, which I appreciate.

And I do observe this gaming activity from a parental perspective. I try to chat with my sons often about the activities of the club, which is moderated by the father of one of the players. I have learned that sometimes there are arguments and hurt feelings, but for the most part it’s a decent and fun-loving bunch--and apparently a real community.

Have you have observed teens’ social or civic engagement—in a positive or negative way--through video games? If so, please post a comment about it.

Posted by Andrew Trotter at 9:24 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments | TrackBacks (0)

STEM is a hot topic in education, but a new survey by the Bayer Corporation actually calls for more attention about it from both U.S. Presidential candidates.

The study surveyed 100 Fortune 1000 executives and found that 95 percent thought the U.S. was in danger of losing its global position because of a lack of students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, also collectively known as STEM. Fifty-five percent reported already feeling that shortage, says the press release. Almost all the executives surveyed (98 percent) felt that improving STEM education should be a major priority for both Presidential candidates.

For more information about STEM education, check out this year's Technology Counts report, which focused specifically on improving STEM education in U.S. schools. Also, to see what the candidates are saying about education in this election, head over to the Campaign K-12 blog.

Posted by Katie Ash at 1:20 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | TrackBacks (0)

If you think teenagers who play video games are insular or antisocial and that video games will draw them away from civic participation, consider a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The study, released Sept. 16, finds that teenagers’ gaming experiences are often social and have earmarks of civic engagement.

The large-scale study adds a new dimension to the research on teenagers and video games, which generally has focused on the impact on academic achievement and negative social effects, especially aggression.

More understanding of video game activity is a good thing, because 97 percent of teens ages 12-17 play video games, according to the study, which looked at a wide spectrum of interactive entertainment software that is played on computers, television-attached consoles, online, or handheld devices. The data was collected by a national phone survey of 1,102 teens, and their parents or guardians, from November 2007 to Feb. 5, 2008, by Princeton Survey Research Associates.

Teenagers’ time and frequency playing video games is not clearly related to most civic outcomes, the study found, but “some particular qualities of game play have a strong and consistent positive relationship to a range of civic outcomes.”

Gamers who play video games with others in the room, for example, more often go online to get information about politics, have raised money for charity, say they are committed to civic participation, and have tried to persuade others how to vote in an election, compared with teenagers who play video games without others in the room.

And teenagers who take part in social features related to the games, such as commenting on Web sites or contributing to discussion boards, are also more engaged civically and politically than those who do not.

Of course, young people get civics opportunities at school, but other studies have found that those experiences tend to be unequally distributed--with wealthier, higher-achieving, and white students having more opportunities than other students.

“Civic gaming experiences are more equally distributed than many other civic learning opportunities,” the study found, with teenagers equally likely to report having civic gaming experience regardless of race, age, or income. That finding was not true, however, of girls, who spend less time gaming and play a narrower range of games.

The researchers underscored that their work shows correlations between game playing and civic engagement—not causal links. Future researchers should look at whether, and how, games encourage teenagers to get involved in their communities, whether online or in the real world.

Posted by Andrew Trotter at 11:58 AM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Incorporating the Internet and other technologies into the classroom provides teachers with more ways to present material to students and more resources to help them learn. But does a teaching approach that blends technology with traditional teaching methods work better than a purely traditional approach?

That's the question Shawna Strickland, director of the Respiratory Therapy Program at the University of Missouri's School of Health Professions, hoped to answer in a study of college students that compared a "blended" technology and traditional learning environment with a traditional classroom with little or no technology use, according to this press release from the University of Missouri.

Strickland compared the level of student satisfaction in both environments and the academic performance of the students, and found that while achievement levels hardly varied between the two approaches, students in the "blended" environments reported feeling more confused about course requirements and less satisfied overall.

It's good to see some research coming in about this subject, but I do have some hesitations about drawing hard and fast conclusions from this study. I definitely think student satisfaction levels--in K-12 as well as higher ed-- correlate somewhat with how the teacher used the resources and how comfortable he or she was with those resources. A teacher using traditional methods of teaching might be more comfortable than someone attempting to learn an entirely new way of teaching, which could account for the differences in student satisfaction levels.

Strickland recognizes this in her study and predicts that when teachers become more comfortable using online resources and a "blended" approach, it will indeed become more favorable than a traditional classroom.

Posted by Katie Ash at 2:15 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | TrackBacks (0)

My colleague Sean Cavanagh has written an interesting story about Spore--a new computer game designed by the makers of SimCity that focuses on evolution. The game allows users to create organisms by giving them various (hopefully advantageous) traits to help them survive. As these organisms evolve, players continue to build civilizations and worlds.

One of the most interesting parts about this game to me is the wide audience it has attracted--which goes beyond the education crowd and includes the tech-savvy gaming folks as well. To succeed as a commercial game, it has to be a delicate balance of educational fact and fictional fun, which means some parts of the game aren't considered scientifically accurate. Teachers recommend teaching evolution alongside the game, so students recognize which parts are accurate and which aren't, according to the article.

But even if the game doesn't measure up 100% to the textbook definition of evolution, it has the potential to be a powerful tool in shaping the way kids think about the concept. I can't help but draw the comparison to the Oregon Trail, which was a widely played commercial computer game that simulated a pioneer's journey to Oregon. You'd be hard-pressed to find a person of my generation who doesn't have distinct memories of watching pixelated covered wagons forge rivers and cross mountain ranges. I can still remember the gloomy music that played when one of the passengers died of dysentery (which seemed to happen a lot.)

It's too early to tell exactly what kind of impact Spore will have, but I'm looking forward to seeing its effect on the educational gaming field.

Posted by Katie Ash at 3:04 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks for reading our new ed-tech blog. Please let us know what you would like to see us covering in this blog.

One thing we will be doing here is passing on ideas from experts whom we encounter in the course of reporting.

My expert du jour is Joseph S. Renzulli, the director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut. In a phone chat, he said his career has mostly focused on gifted students, but for some 25 years he has been interested in how technology can help students of all ability levels.

With Sally M. Reis, a principal investigator at the center, he spearheaded development of an online tool that helps match learning activities to students’ individual learning styles in the different areas of their school curriculum.

Renzulli gave some examples of higher-order activities that students can benefit from as a curriculum supplement: One game challenges students to dissect and preserve their own mummy, as in Ancient Egypt; other online opportunities let students perform “virtual” knee surgery, build a roller coaster, analyze documents on the Underground Railroad, or listen to oral histories of ex-slaves.

Those sorts of stimulating activities can increase students’ motivation to learn by making it more enjoyable and purposeful, Renzulli says. “Motivation is a very complex process, but anything you enjoy doing, you tend to put more effort into,” he says.

Incidentally, the Renzulli Learning System, which launched in 2005, uses an online survey tool—“the profiler” —to gauge students’ best learning styles. Most activities are gleaned from the Web, with many developed by museums or professional and scientific societies; others are developed by Renzulli and Reis and their colleagues. Schools can gain access to the system, which is marketed by the University of Connecticut Research and Development Corp., for an annual site license of $5,000, which makes it available to every teacher, student, and parent.

Posted by Andrew Trotter at 4:47 PM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)

According to this press release, sent out by the University of California, Los Angeles, the university will be launching a new technology research center, which will focus, at least initially, on the relationship between gaming and students' math skills.

As someone who has written a number of stories about gaming in education, I've heard quite a bit of anecdotal evidence about how including video and computer games in classroom lessons can boost motivation and achievement levels, but hard-hitting research on whether that's actually true is pretty thin, although new organizations designed to provide just that seem to be cropping up more and more often.

I'll definitely be keeping my eye on this center to see what it finds.

Posted by Katie Ash at 2:13 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | TrackBacks (0)

Welcome to Digital Education, a new blog that aims to provide news updates, solutions, and analysis to help ed-tech leaders and others address the technological challenges they face today. This blog is a partnership between Education Week and its sister publication, Digital Directions, which are working together to expand coverage of ed-tech issues in K-12.

As Digital Education gets going, please tell Andrew and Katie what you think are the most important ed-tech challenges of today and how schools should go about tackling those challenges. They are very interested in hearing what you have to say.

Kevin Bushweller
Executive Editor
Digital Directions

Posted by Kevin Bushweller at 10:56 AM | Permalink | No Comments | TrackBacks (0)