This question , tongue in cheek, arises from an article I read on my ipad! in news media this morning:
Are iPads in schools a waste of money? OECD report says yes
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/are-ipads-in-schools-a-waste-of-money-oecd-report-says-yes-20150914-gjmnqf.html#ixzz3lrfFopLi
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According to OECD findings, investment in learning technologies does not lead to better performance in literacy and numeracy. The report Students, computers and learning: making the connections is based on 2012 PISA findings.
Headlines such as these are bound to cause a stir and perhaps lead parents, education administrators and governments to question the considerable private and public investment in learning technologies.
The report found that there was no appreciable improvements in performance in mathematics, literacy and science in countries that invested heavily in technology for education. In fact students in South Korea and Shanghai, where only 42% and 38% of students were using computers in schools, were among the top performers in digital reading and computer-based mathematics tests.
The report notes the startling conclusion that
"Students who use computers moderately at school [once or twice a week] tend to have somewhat better learning outcomes than students who use computers rarely. But students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes."This conclusion is moderated by Keysborough College Principal John Baston, who makes the point that technology can support good teaching practice but not replace it. Ipads used in a classroom with twentieth century teaching practices will not advance quality student learning.It is good pedagogy that leads to good learning outcomes. So are the higher performing countries in this study using better pedagogy? Or are the PISA tests cited not telling the whole story?
Laptops are useful tools for practise, but they can't teach literacy and numeracy. Teachers do. So rather than holding technology to account for bad test scores, we need to examine pedagogy and other issues like the crowded curriculum that take teaching time away from literacy, numeracy and science.
What does learning technology enable? When used well, it helps teachers differentiate, allows students to learn and present their learning in different formats. It helps students develop 21st century skills like collaborative problem solving. It will be very interesting to see the results of the new 2015 PISA tests results for that. Standardised tests measure only a few of the skills we hope students will learn. The development of this test is a step in the right direction.
Pisa 2015 Draft Frameworks
Here is Jonathan Martin's blog post about assessing collaborative problem solving.
And here's another good blog post by Judy Salpeter in Tech and Learning in particular, a response to the Learning for the 21st Century report. One of the key points of the report is the narrow definition of essential skills such as literacy, and the need to broaden these for the 21st century context, along with new assessment tools to measure them.
And here's another good blog post by Judy Salpeter in Tech and Learning in particular, a response to the Learning for the 21st Century report. One of the key points of the report is the narrow definition of essential skills such as literacy, and the need to broaden these for the 21st century context, along with new assessment tools to measure them.
