Tech Disruptions

EdWeek’s Technology Counts 2010 Blesses Mobile Learning

Elliot: The EdWeek Technology Counts for 2010 is out – and it is pure music to my ears.
Cathie: Allow me to translate Elliot-speak.  What he is saying is that EdWeek just blessed Mobile Learning by devoting its annual special section, Technology Counts, to Mobile Learning in K-12.
Elliot: Since when do I need a translator?
Cathie: I don’t think you want to go there.
Elliot: Hmm. Then how about: thank you very much for helping me!
Cathie: My pleasure.
Elliot: District Administration Magazine was first to the party with their special section on Mobile Learning in its Nov/Dec 2009 issue, and now Tech Counts makes it official.
Cathie: Mobile technology is growing at 50% a year: from mobile data traffic to mobile advertising to sales of mobile smartphones, its rate of adoption by consumers and business is faster than any other technology – including the Internet.
Elliot: Now, even K-12 will see the potential of Mobile Learning and…
Cathie: … schools are still making decisions about whether to buy electronic whiteboards; mobile learning is not yet on their radar.
Elliot: eWBs – eWBs – eWBs!! Breaks my heart; what a waste of money.
Cathie: That’s a whole other discussion; let’s stay focused.
Elliot: Right – mobile learning. Folks – I know, I know – it’s hard to believe that kids can do anything seriously educational on a device with such a small screen and such a small keyboard. But watch this video made by Verizon Wireless depicting the 1:1, 24/7 use of “mobile learning devices” (aka smartphones) in the St Marys, OH school district*.
Cathie: There are over 600 smartphones in use in St Marys schools  – it is the largest 1:1 deployment of smartphones in the U.S.  But Dave Whyley’s Learning2Go Project in the Wolverhampton UK schools still has the largest deployment of smartphones in K-12  – in the world!
Elliot: Technology Counts presents the logical, left-brain argument for Mobile Learning …
Cathie: … but “seeing is believing” and that St Marys video is really compelling.
Elliot: Can I rant about eWBs now?
Cathie: How about saving that for the next blog?
Elliot: #@@$%!!! – ok.
Cathie: Bought us some time, folks! Till then….

*Full Disclosure: The company founded by Cathie and Elliot, GoKnow, Inc., is involved in the St Marys, OH project.

On “We Must Fire All Bad Teachers”

Cathie: You seem very upset, Elliot
Elliot: Did you see the March 15, 2010 cover of Newsweek?
Cathie: No, I …
Elliot: Newsweek has crossed the line into sensationalist journalism!!
Cathie: Oh gosh… I feel a rant coming.
Elliot: Rant? RANT? Me rant?
Cathie: Now I am sure ….
Elliot: …The cover says, and I quote, “The key to saving American Education” is “We must fire bad teachers.”
Cathie: Teacher bashing--a favorite American pastime.
Elliot: On so many levels Newsweek is wrong!
Cathie: Did you read the article?
Elliot: What do you think?
Cathie: Thought so.
Elliot: I don’t need to read the article; I can’t read the article; it’s too painful.
Cathie: Read the article, Elliot; then let’s talk.
Elliot: Ok, Ok, you’re right. BRB.
Cathie: We aren’t texting, remember.
Elliot: Oops – be right back!
Cathie: <patiently waiting – but also reading the Newsweek article>
Elliot: I’m back and it’s worse than just teacher bashing. Newsweek is saying that the fundamental problem with American education is bad teachers. Yes, there are teachers that should not be in classrooms and yes, there should be a mechanism to get those individuals out of the classroom, but firing the bad teachers will not fix America’s education system.
Cathie: During the auto industry meltdown, we didn’t see a magazine cover that said: Fire all the bad auto workers.
Elliot:  Right! No other profession takes such a public beating.  Maybe there should be a magazine cover saying “Fire all the Wall Street speculators.”
Cathie: Careful, careful…
Elliot: The problem with the Newsweek article is its simplistic analysis…
Cathie: …you mean its overly simplistic analysis.
Elliot: Newsweek’s unprofessional and naïve journalism doesn’t contribute to the solution.
Cathie: My, my, you are on a tear.  I wonder how our readers feel about this issue.
Elliot: There is no debate on this one!
Cathie: Now whose analysis is simplistic…
Elliot: <grumble, grumble> Stop being right all the time.
Cathie: Relax, relax... let’s hear what folks have to say!

Research-based findings: Smartphone usage in K12 leads to increased student achievement

Elliot: Hah, Hah, Hah -  We have the data! – Hah, Hah, hah! We have the data!
Cathie: Very mature, Elliot.
Elliot:  I don’t care; I am sooooo tired of folks taunting us by asking for research data that show that  using mobile learning devices…
Cathie:… you mean smartphones…
Elliot: … yes, yes, yes…. results in improved student achievement.
Cathie: Both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration are big on using only “research-based” innovations in the classroom.
Elliot: Yeah, so where is the research that demonstrates that textbook usage leads to increased student achievement – but American schools spend billions of dollars buying textbooks.
Cathie: You are on a tear;  you must’ve eaten something that disagreed with you.  On second thought, that couldn’t be; you eat everything.
Elliot: Except orange vegetables.
Cathie: That’s right. How could I have forgotten that tidbit of rationality.
Elliot: Poke all the fun you want, but we have the goods –we have real data!  How about telling’em about the data from Nan Chiau Primary School in Singapore, please?
Cathie: My pleasure since you asked so nicely. Our colleagues Chee Kit Looi and Wenli Chen from the Learning Sciences Lab in Singapore’s National Institute of Education reported that the 3rd grade students at Nan Chiau Primary who have been using Windows Mobile smartphones for science for the past 12 months, scored higher than the other 5 comparable 3rd grade classes on a standardized science test.
Elliot: And the teacher had initially expressed her lack of confidence in teaching science content knowledge, and she did not think that she was a good science teacher then. After the intervention of the smartphone-enabled lessons, she felt more competent as a teacher and she is now more prepared to teach science. She said that what she taught to the class was no longer limited to the textbook. The use of the amartphones allowed her and the students to learn beyond the textbooks as the they were searching for answers to their questions.
Cathie: And, we need to point out that curriculum designed for the smartphone-using classroom integrated the state-mandated curriculum with the affordances of the smartphones. For example, students used the software app Sketchy on the smartphones to create detailed animations of the science processes, and they used the smartphone’s camera to take pictures of concrete objects in the world that illustrated the abstract ideas in the curriculum and they brought them back to the class for further inquiry and discussion
Elliot: That’s gold-standard science evidence. Now, let’s talk about some  evidence that’s closer to home.
Cathie: Last week, Mindy Dickerson, Principal at Cimarron Elementary School, Katy TX and Lenny Schad, CIO, of Katy school district reported that 5th graders ---150 of them --- using the same sort of smartphones used by the 3rd graders in Nan Chiau Primary scored 82% and 69% on the science and math Texas Benchmark TAKS tests, respectively, while last years’ 5th grades scored 50% and 40%, respectively.
Elliot: Those are whopping improvements in student achievement!
Cathie: And statistically speaking, we are not allowed to attribute causality…
Elliot:  Yeah, Yeah.. we can’t say that the smartphone usage led to increased student achievement. But, duh,  what else is going to account for such a whopping increase in student test scores!
Cathie: Mindy and Lenny both observed that the teachers were spending more time preparing the lessons…
Elliot: …and the students were spending more time doing the lessons because they actually were engaged and enjoying themselves. More time on task leads to increased student achievement. That is a research-based finding.
Cathie: Should I say, not suprisingly, the same sort of results as Katy's are coming from schools in St. Marys, OH, the largest mobile learning device installation in the US.
Elliot: "Not suprisingly" - very good! I told you so, I told you so! We can be boastful and proud – we have solid research-based evidence that smartphone usage…
Cathie: …along with an appropriate curriculum, where teachers are properly prepared, and the smartphones have educationally relevant software…
Elliot: … can lead to improved student achievement. And  I’m going to sing these results from the mountain tops.
Cathie: A suggestion: skip the singing.
Elliot: You always have the last word.
Cathie: That’s because I write  the last word.
Elliot: Aren’t you the clever one!