Lecture 9: Technology enhanced learning: factors for success

Overview

In this lecture we will look at what some of the published research says about the key factors for success when introducing new technology into the classroom – with a particular focus on the use of tablets in UK schools.  Project groups will then be asked to consider if and how this research will impact how they introduce technology into their new school.

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Lecture notes

We started by having a brief recap about what we had examined to date and highlighted that we have still not critically examined what the published research says about impact technology has (if any) on different learning outcomes, what the research says about the benefits and what the key factors for success were when introducing technology.  That said we have discussed the following OECD report Students, Computers and Learning: Making The Connection (2015) which found that two key factors that were limiting the potential of new technology in schools across the OECD was a lack of teacher training and a lack of use of innovative pedagogies.

We therefore started by reading the following article: Tablets use in schools: a critical review of the evidence for learning outcomes by B. Habler, L. Major & S. Hennessy, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2016), 32, pp 139-156.  This BERA blog by Sarah Hennessey (Tablets in schools: Tools for learning or tantalising toys?) provides a useful introduction.

The authors examined 23 studies which met the quality criteria – 16 reported positive learning outcomes, 5 no difference and 2 negative learning outcomes.  However they go on to say that the lack of rigorous studies makes it difficult to draw any firm conclusions and to generalise the evidence.  Plus “detailed explanations as to how, or why, using tablets within certain activities can improve learning remains elusive”.  As this research was published in 2016 it shows how much the research community is still in the dark about the use of technology in schools and also perhaps how complex this issue is.

Take for example the 7 studies which found either a neutral or a negative impact on learning outcomes – there is no single explanation for this.  Furthermore, these neutral or negative outcomes were not linked to the nature of the tablets themselves.  Instead the studies showed that students enjoyed using the tablets and had a positive attitude towards them!  So why the neutral or negative impact?

This article also identifies the following six factors that contribute to the successful/unsuccessful use of tablets:

  1. High usability of the tablets and integration of multiple features
  2. Easy customisation and supporting inclusion
  3. Touchscreen
  4. Availability and portability
  5. Tablet content and instructional design
  6. Interaction of pedagogy and technology

Have you taken these factors into account when thinking about introducing technology into your new schools?

We also had a look at the executive summary of another report titled ‘The Impact of Digital Technology on Learning:  A Summary for the Education Endowment Foundation.  The challenge is to ensure that technology is used to enable, or make more efficient, effective teaching and learning practices. With this in mind the findings from the synthesis of the meta analyses indicate the following overall trends:

  • Collaborative use of technology (in pairs or small groups) is usually more effective than individual use, though some pupils, especially younger children, may need guidance in how to collaborate effectively and responsibly.
  • Technology can be as powerful as a short but focused intervention to improve learning, particularly when there is regular and frequent use (about three times a week) over the course of about a term (5 – 10 weeks). Sustained use over a longer period is usually less effective at improving this kind of boost to attainment.
  • Remedial and tutorial use of technology can be particularly practical for lower attaining pupils, those with special educational needs or those from disadvantaged backgrounds in providing intensive support to enable them to catch up with their peers.
  • In researched interventions, technology is best used as a supplement to normal teaching rather than as a replacement for it. This suggests some caution in the way in which technology is adopted or embedded in schools.
  • Tested gains in attainment tend to be greater in mathematics and science (compared with literacy for example) though this is also a more general finding in meta-analysis and may be at least partly an artefact of the measurement process. In literacy the impact tends to be greater in writing interventions compared with reading or spelling.
  • At least a full day’s training or on-going professional inquiry-based approaches to support the introduction of new technology appear the most successful. The implication is that such support should go beyond the teaching of skills in technology and focus on the successful pedagogical use of technology to support teaching and learning aims.

The report also produced some useful recommendations:

1. The rationale for the impact of digital technology on teaching and learning needs to be clear:  Will learners work more efficiently, more effectively, more intensively? Will the technology help them to learn for longer, in more depth, more productively? Or will the teacher be able to support learners more efficiently or more effectively?

2. The role of technology in learning should be identified:  Will it help learners gain access to learning content, to teachers or to peers? Will the technology itself provide feedback or will it support more effective feedback from others, or better self-management by learners themselves?

3. Technology should support collaboration and effective interaction for learning:  The use of computer and digital technologies is usually more productive when it supports collaboration and interaction, particularly collaborative use by learners or when teachers use it to support discussion, interaction and feedback.

4. Teachers and/or learners should be supported in developing their use of digital technology to ensure it improves learning. Training for teachers (and for learners), when it is offered, usually focuses on technology skills in using the equipment. This is not usually sufficient to support teachers and pupils in getting the best from technology in terms of their learning. On-going professional development and support to evaluate the impact on learning is likely to be required.

5. Identify what learners and teachers will stop doing: The use of digital technology is usually more successful as a supplement rather than as a replacement for usual teaching. Technology is not introduced into a vacuum. It is therefore important to identify carefully what it will replace or how the technology activities will be additional to what learners would normally experience.

With reference to your group projects – have you made the rationale for the introduction of digital technology clear?  How will students be expected to benefit? Does your technology support collaboration?   There is one recurring problem in all of the research published to date – how do you ensure that teachers receive effective teacher training, not just in how to use the technology but also in how to adopt innovative teaching pedagogies?  How will your school address this problem?

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