Archive for the 'Technology' Category

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Zig site morphs

Published on 7 February 2009 in Administration, Arithmetic and mathematics, Assessment, Behavior Management, Content learning, News, Policy, Reading, Research, Secondary, Social behavior, Spelling, Teacher education, Technology, The press and Written Expression. 0 Comments

Zig Engelmann, principle author of a sweet suite of instructional materials that cover the range from beginning language skills to core concepts in physical sciences, has revised his Web site, Zig Site. If you’ve ever heard of “Direct Instruction” (sometimes said, “Big DI”), you’ve heard of Zig’s work. The new site has somethings new and somethings old. Rather than précis the changes, here’s how Zig describes it:

Starting in 2009, Zigsite is going to have an emphasis on training through videos. The first will be a series of 13 video sessions on teaching English pronunciation to non-English speakers. It will be followed by a series of training videos on teaching our new program, Direct Instruction Spoken English.

The longer printed works on Zigsite include, Rubric for Identifying Authentic DI Programs, Low Performers’ Manual, and the log of the first formal study I did in education—Comparative Preschool Study: High and Low SES Preschoolers Learning Advanced Cognitive Skills. These are constructive. Most of the other works are constructive only in the sense that they help clarify why education has gone basically nowhere in the past 40 years. Only now are educators starting to “invent” some of the stuff we used back in the 60s.

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Tech not

Published on 4 February 2009 in Administration, Arithmetic and mathematics, Content learning, News, Policy, Reading, Technology and The press. 0 Comments

Todd Oppenheimer, who wrote The Flickering Mind: Saving Education from the False Promise of Technology, published an op-ed piece in the San Francisco (CA, US) Chronicle recommending that US President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan avoid plans to invest heavily in computer technology for US schools. In “Technology not the panacea for education,” Mr. Oppenheimer argues that promoting technology will not improve US competitiveness.

Rather than promote technology, Mr. Oppenheimer recommends—gasp!—preparing students to read, write, and compute!

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Hunh?

Published on 29 January 2009 in Musings, News, Reading, Research, Technology, The press and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Could this be for real? Anyone seen any data? (Not likely.)

New iPhone Application to Help Children Learn to Read using Phonics

London, UK – Apps in My Pocket Ltd launches PocketPhonics for iPhone. Children can now enjoy learning to read using phonics on an iPhone or iPod Touch. Phonics is the reading system recommended by education specialists in both the US and UK.

Teacher, Sue Keen, said: “As a teacher of young children, I am always anxious that new resources for the classroom have a strong educational basis and actually work. I’ve used PocketPhonics with children aged 4 to 6 and the results have been very encouraging. You know you’re winning when the child doesn’t want to stop.”

John Friend, company director at Apps in My Pocket, said: “PocketPhonics starts by saying the sounds and showing children how to write them. It’s been developed from scratch with children in mind, for parents to use with their children or for use in the classroom. Children love to copy the writing on the handheld screen using their finger, and shake the iPhone to make their writing disappear. Sounds are taught in small groups so they can be quickly used together in a game to make short words.”

Pricing and Availability:
PocketPhonics costs $2.99 (USD) in the US and £1.79 in the UK, and is available to download now from Apple iTunes. It uses touch, graphics, animation and sound to make learning to read both fun and engaging for younger children. There’s also a free “lite” version so that people can see how it works before they buy.

Apps in My Pocket
PocketPhonics
PocketPhonics Lite (free version) Download Link
PocketPhonics purchase link
Main screen
Phonics game screen

Apps in My Pocket Ltd started in October 2008 to create useful and usable applications for Apple’s iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch. PocketPhonics is the first app to be launched. More information can be found at their website. Copyright 2008 Apps in My Pocket Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Computer in the U.S. and/or other countries.


[MacMegasite]

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ALA sites for kids

Published on 10 December 2008 in Administration, Content learning, Parents, Technology and The press. 0 Comments

Since 1997, the first Children and Technology Committee of the US American Library Association has maintained a list of Web sites for children that should be on the list of to-be-visited-locations-on-the-Web for readers of Teach Effectively. Here’s a snippet about the content:

The Web is a lot like a flea market: there’s a vast selection of sites to choose from but not a lot of order to it. Some sites are offered by reputable “dealers” and some from individuals who want to show off their personal favorite items. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s a hidden treasure, what’s worth taking a look at, and what’s a waste of time.

It’s not hard to find sites if you use a search engine like Google, or a subject directory like Yahoo (or Yahooligans for kids). But how can you tell if a site you find is worthwhile?
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More on brain-based education

Published on 16 May 2008 in Administration, Arithmetic and mathematics, Content learning, Musings, News, Policy, Reading, Research, Spelling, Teacher education, Technology, The press and Written Expression. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

My colleague Dan Willingham has posted a marvelous video that’s an introduction to thinking about neuroscience and education. Under the title “Brain-based Education: Fad or Breakthrough,” he illustrates important elements about what are reasoned extrapolations from cognitive neuroscience to education and what are not.

Update (18 May 2008): It’s heartening to see that other sites are pointing to Dan’s video. Here’s a preliminary list (please add others via the comments):

Update (7 June 2008): A couple of days ago, Dan posted a new version of the video; I’ve modified the links in the box accordingly.

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Are education blogs valuable?

Published on 19 August 2007 in Musings, News, Policy, Teacher education, Technology and The press. 5 Comments

On his self-named blog, Mathew K. Tabor posted his response to a quotation by David Warlick. Mr. Warlick suggested that administrators might ask prospective teachers what blogs they read and students in schools of education might ask their instructors a like question. In his post—Don’t Ask This Question, Part I (18 August 2007)—Mr. Tabor took exception to this question and argued that too many blogs about education are untrustworthy and he’d rather have educators who promote mastery of content.

There are two issues here – I’ll address in this article the insignificance of the blog medium given this context and in Part II the reasons why asking this question in this way is inappropriate.

Warlick’s question rests on the assumption that education blogs are a necessary and irreplaceable part of education curricula. Simply put, they aren’t.

I agree that there are too few good blogs related to education, but there are some. I think many are represented in the blogroll for Teach Effectively! I also agree with Mr. Tabor that instructors can (and should) teach to mastery; this is true whether the instructors read or write blogs.

Educators’ blogs can—and do—provide valuable content. To the extent that blogs are based on empirical data, go beyond case studies and personal opinion, they provide a valuable service. To the extent that blogs communicate news and other current developments in education, they can help readers be informed.

link to Mr. Tabor’s post and a link to Mr. Warlick’s original article that started Mr. Tabor on his response. Of course, I hope teachers (practicing and prospective), administrators, and others will find useful information on Teach Effectively!

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BEE cool

Published on 10 June 2007 in Administration, Arithmetic and mathematics, News, Parents, Policy, Reading, Research and Technology. 0 Comments

The Best Evidence Encyclopedia (BEE) from the Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) at the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, US) provides a marvelous set of resources to help educators and the public understand effective practices. BEE, which is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, summarizes the results of meta-analyses or other integrative sumamaries that have examined the efficacy of curricula, computer applications, and instructional practices.
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Tech bust

Published on 5 April 2007 in Administration, Arithmetic and mathematics, News, Reading, Research, Technology and The press. 0 Comments

A report from the US Department of Education which revealed that use of educational software in schools has yielded little improvements in students’ outcomes is receiving lots of media attention. For examples, there is a front page story in entitled “Software’s Benefits On Tests In Doubt: Study Says Tools Don’t Raise Scores” by Amit R. Paley in the Washington (DC) Post and there is coverage under various headlines (e.g., “Study Eyes Effect of Education Technology” on Fox) by Nancy Zuckerbrod, the AP Education Writer.

The study on which these and other folks report examined reading and mathematics software that had previously been identified as effective and was then used in 132 schools (439 teachers), with the products introduced according to an experimental design. Based on assessments administered a year later, students experienced no significant changes in their reading or math achievement.

1. Test Scores Were Not Significantly Higher in Classrooms Using Selected
Reading and Mathematics Software Products. Test scores in treatment classrooms that were randomly assigned to use products did not differ from test scores in control classrooms by statistically significant margins.

2. Effects Were Correlated With Some Classroom and School Characteristics. For reading products, effects on overall test scores were correlated with the student-teacher ratio in first grade classrooms and with the amount of time that products were used in fourth grade classrooms. For math pwith classroom and school characteristics.

I’m not terribly surprised by this. Most software is not predicated on appropriate instructional principles. But, there are other concerns, too. For example, as is the case in studies where multiple products are compared in aggregate, it is likely that they overall results mask some differences at a lower level. The research team promised software companies that the outcomes for individual products wouldn’t be identified, but there are likely to be different effects by product; some are likely to be more effective than others.

Even more importantly: Even if you have great curricula and instructional packages, it matters how they are used. You can put the teacher’s book that describes an excellent set of lessons for teaching reading on the teacher’s desk, but that’s not going to cause reading scores of the students in that classroom to rise. Even good technology won’t do much good unless it’s used appropriately. (To their credit, the researchers here observed in classrooms and have examined some of these issues.)

Link to stories by Ms. Paley and Ms. Zuckerbrod (Fox version). Link to a site from which you can read HTML pages about the actual report; alternatively, download the full report, which is the result of a study by a large team of researchers associated with Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International, by clicking here (PDF).

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