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Announcing the December issue of "From Now On - The Educational Technology
Journal"
http://www.pacificrim.net/~mckenzie
"Did anybody learn anything?" - Assessing Technology Programs
and the Learning Accomplished
Subtopics:
Introduction to Assessing Technology Programs and the Learning
Accomplished---The Sad and Sorry State of Technology Program
Assessment---Hypotheses for the Sad and Sorry State---Why Bother?
What's the Pay-Off?---The Centrality of Clear Goals and Outcome
Statements---Assessment for Navigation---Self-Assessment
Instruments---Performance Assessment Instruments---When all is said
and done---Resources
Introduction
Ever since microcomputers came ashore around 1980, schools have been
scooping them up by the millions as if they represented some great panacea
to
resolve the dozens of crippling issues raised by A Nation at Risk and
countless other critical reports.
Fifteen years and millions of dollars later, what evidence can we present
to justify the investment?
"Did anybody learn anything?" is the essential question. Has this just been
another great educational bandwagon or boondoggle? Or has the introduction
of new
technology made a substantial difference in the learning of students?
The most substantial research into student learning with technologies has
examined performance on lower order tasks and basic skills. And much of that
research was highly biased and seriously flawed. In all too many cases, the
findings were generated by vendor contracts and the research failed the
independence test. A careful review of professionally conducted research
provides little evidence that growth in skill persists beyond the initial
"gadget stage." The impact of technology upon such skills is rarely
contrasted with
alternative strategies such as training teachers to be more effective
teachers of reading. Given several hundred thousand dollars, what's the best
way to
provoke dramatic student gains?
Too little work has been done measuring gains in higher order skills. We
have
few studies which explore the growth in student group problem-solving
skills, for example. How does the power of student communication improve
when they are
taught to compose essays with a word processor - when they are taught to
wield
the computer as an idea processor rather than a glorified typewriter? How
well
can they "crunch" data in order to gauge relationships between variables?
Can
they conduct explanatory research rather than mere descriptive research? Or
are they simply more powerful word movers?
How do new information technologies enhance student learning? Does e-mail
make for stronger writers and communicators? Does access to the Internet
encourage a global perspective? How well can our students manage info-glut,
info-garbage, info-tactics and cyberporn?
For decades now, many educators have shied away from measuring progress on
essential learning tasks. Recent attention to "student outcomes" has brought
the challenge to center stage, but much of the early work has been either
frustrating to teachers or seriously flawed. Those who have pushed for
standards and
assessment of outcomes have often found themselves on the defensive as
various
groups have launched assaults (Example: Go by Web to Kossor Newsletter -
http://www.voicenet.com/~sakossor/pe1_3.html) against the movement.
The premise of this article is that "deep" assessment is central to both
program growth and student progress. Time has come to measure results. We
have the
tools and the models. (Example: an abstract of the article,
Computer-Mediated
Collaborative Learning: An Empirical Evaluation, MIS Quarterly, (18:02),
June
1994, pp. 159-174, written by Maryam Alavi, College of Business and
Management, University of Maryland -
http://www.bmgt.umd.edu/Business/AcademicDepts/IS/Learning/misq1802.html)
Now we must "face the mirror."
Remember what happened to the mirror in Snow White! Asked by the Queen
who was the fairest of them all, the mirror erred in telling an unwelcome
truth. Assessment which is deep and authentic can also be disheartening,
threatening and embarrassing. Go by Web to Snow White story.
(http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/~fp/Disney/Tales/SnowWhite.html).
On the other hand, if we cannot look at reality, we will be left with
virtual
success, which tastes, when all is said and done, about as appetizing as
virtual lunch.
Jamie McKenzie
Editor
mckenzie@pacificrim.net
LM_NET
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