Thinking About Learning

Finally! Scientific research from a reliable, respected source about the effect of technology on student achievement!  I have been heavily engaged with educational technology for more than 6 years.  For 4 years I taught fifth grade in a technology-infused classroom, and I’ve been a technology integration specialist for the past 2 years.  I knew from the beginning that the use of technology had a positive impact on student learning, but most of the benefits I observed were non-measurable with a test: higher motivation, increased engagement, improved student focus, development of problem-solving skills, more collaborative learning, improved student behavior with fewer office referrals, growth in digital literacy, and increased student efficacy.  While all of these effects are significant gains for 21st Century learners,  the bottom line comes down to student achievement, and up until this time, I knew of no data-rich research that documented the impact of technology on student achievement.

Dr. Robert Marzano, one of our nation’s leading scholars in the field of educational research, has begun studying this issue and recently presented his findings in the keynote speech at CUE. Using 85 teachers across the nation who taught one class using an interactive whiteboard and another “control” class without the technology, he examined the effect of the use of an interactive whiteboard on student achievement.  He discovered 4 variables that affected results: overall years of teaching experience, length of time in months of experience in using a whiteboard, percentage of time the whiteboard is used in the classroom, and teacher’s confidence level in ability to use the technology effectively.  The research showed that optimal student achievement gains (the “sweet spot” according to Marzano) are possible with these conditions: a very experienced teacher who has at least 2 years of experience using an interactive whiteboard, uses it about 75% of the time, and is confident in his/her ability to effectively use the technology.  According to Marzano, such a teacher may expect up to 30 percentile point gains in student achievement.  Marzano admitted that all research is equivocal, and that ultimately the most significant factor in student achievement, with or without technology, is teacher quality.

His suggestion for effective use of technology was to focus on content, not the bells and whistles.  He also gave a reminder of the importance of keeping track of which students are getting it and which are not.  That point led Marzano into commentary about formative assessment and the use of technology for record-keeping.  He asserted that assessment should be an instructional technique, not a labeling technique. It’s important to examine lots of data over time to get the best picture of a student’s progress.  The most significant acievement gains came from tracking student progress over time using a rigorous rubric-based model.  The implications are that teachers need professional development in both effective teaching and the effective use of technology to maximize growth in student achievement.

I am fortunate to work in a district that embraces technology. Several years ago we passed an additional penny sales tax to fund a laptop, projector, and SMART Board for every classroom. My school is at the end of the roll-out plan, but it’s finally our turn. My teachers now have their laptops and projectors. Their SMART Boards arrived before Christmas, but they’re still in boxes locked in a storage room. I CAN’T STAND THIS! The company doing the mounting of projectors is way behind schedule, but those boards need to be in classrooms where teachers can use them now.
It’s time to get creative, so I’m borrowing SMART Board stands from a TIS friend at another school who already got his boards mounted. I got 4 set up on Wednesday, and those teachers acted like I had just given them a million dollars! I plan to get 5 more set up on Monday. My teachers are hungry to use their technology tools!

I posted a 2 minute video on TeacherTube to give students some reminders about taking care of the SMART boards in their classrooms.

Download Video: Posted by ffoxworth at TeacherTube.com.