Reading this article made me consider how long it's been since I've taken any kind of statistics or educational research class. Instead I had to approach the information from a conceptual standpoint.
As is pointed out in the article, the meta analysis of using technology in education only demonstrated an effect size of .410. It further indicated that it had a negative effect of -.091 on student behavior. This made curious about a few things.
I noticed that the study was published in 2003 and considered studies that were published between 1997-2003. Much has happened since 2003. I wonder what the results of a meta analysis would be if it considered more recent work? I realize that it takes time to gather results, but I still wonder. Many of the tools we've been discussing in our program have only begun to be used wide spread within the last few years. Once more teachers and schools adopt these technologies, how will the effects change?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Jenny - I agree with your observations, regarding the article's date range. I, too, wondered what a more current analysis would find. I tried to reflect on what types of technologies were being taught in 1997. I would guess that, for many students, the Internet was a rather new development in the curriculum. In fact, 1997 was my last year teaching high school and although we had a nice, new computer lab, nothing like what we're doing now was even thought of. Sometime, you'll have to explain to me what all the numbers meant in that study. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I have never had statistics.
Same here Jenny, I also wonder about the advancement in teacher experience using technology has drastically changed just in the last couple of years, this may have a large impact on effectiveness as a teaching tool.
Post a Comment