One to one laptop classrooms work - but you have to use authentic assessment to see it

[Jason Ohler]

Recently I completed an evaluation of a one-to-one laptop program involving over 12,000 students in over 100 schools. The results? Standardized test scores show mixed results, but student engagement is through the roof.

In addition, student behavior issues are down, student interest in their communities is up, parental involvement increased and students extended their school day by continuing their work at home on their laptops. And because I used focused conversations with teachers and administrators involved in the project, rather than strict quantitative analysis of standardized test scores, I saw many things I would not have seen otherwise, like the following:

* teachers could truly differentiate instruction for the first time
* mainstreaming special needs students became more effective
* students could actually show many more of the multiple intelligences we have heard so much about
* students developed a more professional attitude toward using digital technology
* teachers and parents enjoyed improved communication, largely because parents were more involved in what was going on at school

Challenges included teacher frustration in terms of how to use the new technology effectively, machine malfunctions, and cultivating an atmosphere of serious study among students who are used to using technology to play games and surfing ad nauseam.

Had I not involved a little bit of anthropology in my assessment, the program would have looked like a huge waste of money. Clearly we are using the wrong measurements to see the changes in education - especially the ones that work - that could be all around us.

If you want to know more about the study, email me ([e-mail]), or the project coordinator, Steve Nelson ([e-mail]) from Alaska Association of School Boards, who directed this project.

[Marla Coffey]

Hi, Jason,

I would definitely like to know more about the study. Would it be possible to link to it here in the discussion?

Thanks!

Marla

[Reid Cornwell]

IMHO, the engagement issue is the hardest to achieve. Given engagement, achievement is not far behind.

Is the the study available for additional publication. I have two places I would love to publish it.

Thank you,

Reid

[Jason Ohler]

Hi Reid, et al.

The report can be viewed at: http://web.mac.com/aasb.cdl/Consortium_for_Digital_Learning/CDL_Pro.... I would be happy to talk to you about publication possibilities.

Regards- jason

[Marla Coffey]

Jason,

I looked at the report and wished that I had had an opportunity like this when I was in the classroom! The Alaska project is an unusually wide implementation of blended learning that more people should know about.

If you haven't seen this already, you might be interested in Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education from iNACOL.

This would also make a great presentation at ISTE next year (sponsored by the International Society of Technology in Education. )

Thanks for sharing this with us!

Marla

[Marla Coffey]

One more thing, Jason,

You might want to check out TCFIR's CAT/L: A Framework for Re-Forming Education. We'd like to develop this further, but we need a team of people to collaborate.

Marla

[Jason Ohler]

Thanks for the reference. I scanned it and think I glean the basic ideas behind it. Where did your team want to go with it? I will tell you that I believe statistical models are failing us as we try to understand digital kids. Looking at reading scores of kids who read differently, are taught by teachers who do not understand that using methods that were developed by behaviorists to conform to the factory economy doesn't bode well for our search for truth. It is time to send in the anthropologists.