Educational Technology at a Crossroads in America

In a December, 2008 radio address to the nation, President Barack Obama outlined a proposed plan to invest in educational technology for public schools. Obama's proposed improvements include school facility upgrades, installation of system-wide broadband access and physical plant upgrades to help schools become more energy efficient.

The brick and mortar components of Obama's proposed school facility and physical plant upgrades are pretty clear cut. Across the board you try to improve conditions and level the playing field. By contrast the proposal to enhance broadband access is a much more involved commitment. When it comes to educational technology, one thing always leads to another. Increased broadband access requires enhanced computing technology to handle it. Enhanced computing technology leads to new software investment. Updated software enables all sorts of new learning tools. New learning tools require sophisticated presentation hardware to deliver and present the curriculum. It all falls under the category of digital media management, which is simply another term to describe educational technology.

That means when it comes to investing in educational technology, President Obama and his team may find themselves caught up in a chain of interlocking upgrades. You could say that educational technology operates very much like the opportunistic mouse character in the popular children's book who, when you offer him a cookie (funding for education) may ask for a glass of milk...(more money to better education..)

Data is the milk of education...

Almost all the information necessary to run our schools--from attendance to grades to extracurricular activities--is now computerized and stored somewhere in databases. Schools nationwide wrestle with what kind of role information technology should play in improving education. An Information Week special report (November 2008) said this about the role information technology might play in the near future. "Yet grading schools is kids stuff compared with what a growing number of school districts around the United States think they can do with data mining and data analysis. Combining standardized test scores, attendance, grades and other data sources, districts are trying to spot weaknesses and strengths of not just schools, but groups of kids and even individual students."

Thinking on that level is why educational objectives have to be developed parallel with educational technology. These days, objectives are all about information, which flows from data gathered through the educational experience. It is no stretch to say that information technology and educational technology are becoming one and the same. What will education choose to do with this two-headed beast?

Educational technologies such as Student Response Systems (SRS) have evolved to deliver the interactive classroom experience while simultaneously gathering data now seen as critical to monitoring student progress. At first SRS was just a nifty way to conduct tests and keep kids engaged in the classroom. But as Student Response evolved, "clickers" took on new roles. The first was helping teachers assess student comprehension of curriculum material in real time. The second was delivering data on student performance to a centralized information technology database where metrics could be established and analyzed.

Overnight it seems, schools have evolved the potential ability to know how every student is doing in the classroom, right to the minute. Educators ranging from K-12 to professional development now use "clickers" to conduct both formative (learning) and summative (testing) instruction, and these seemingly diametric teaching methodologies are being blended in creative ways. Some schools are even experimenting with self-paced learning, the use of clickers to conduct individualized instruction. You can see how these learning methodologies carry potential to funnel data in real time at every level of accountability in education.

Many student response systems are now synchronized with grading and reporting software. Schools are now looking at data-driven learning as a potential answer to the question of academic measurability.

Dollars drive the data

Nothing happens in education without funding, however. Obama's economic stimulus plan holds promise for schools looking to solve problems related to infrastructure or neglect. Then comes the challenge of how to improve the overall education system.

Unfunded mandates have been no help to education the last 8 years. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation imposed standards on education but did not necessarily provide the funding necessary to empower schools to meet federally established objectives. That role fell to states and even local school districts, who found themselves struggling to find ways to make ends meet and develop new ways to teach to testing standards.

NCLB has contributed to a higher profile for accountability and measurability in education, standards some feel are quite crucial to an overhaul in US education. Increased emphasis on testing and measurement of student progress has thus driven schools to seek better reporting methods. The educational technology industry was called upon to bridge the gap between educational methodologies and objectives.

Educational technology companies responded with products like student response systems that deliver data on student progress, but the actual penetration and use of these products in the education marketplace is estimated to be anywhere from 10-25%. So far this is how private enterprise has proposed to help education respond to government mandates for more measurable learning. That is where educational technology stands today: poised to help education enter the "data era" in public and private education. But dollars define the data.

Not everyone agrees that this drive toward measurability is ultimately the best way to educate students. A former English teacher quoted in the Information Week report noted that learning to think is as important as learning to succeed on state and federal testing standards. "The students who were considered most successful (in other classes) were those who could find clever ways to spit back to the teacher exactly what the teacher's views were. When I taught, I tried to reward students who could come up with their own thoughts and analysis."

This teacher's comments illustrate the fact that teachers are not automatons carrying out direct orders from administrators or the government. Instead, teachers who learn the power of educational technology often drive the technology to perform for them rather than letting it drive their classroom objectives. There are remarkable tools available in educational technology today that truly can help teachers create classroom stimulating, interactive classroom environments. The ideal solution in educational technology satisfies the need for measurability while enabling teachers to creatively and effectively engage students in the formative learning process.

Let's take a moment to review some of the standard and innovative educational devices now being used in educational technology.

Personal Computing

The race to build the perfect (yet affordable) personal computing device for education has not yet produced a winner. One of the proposed goals of computer hardware and software companies has been to develop a computing device and software that schools can buy for umder $100. The right solution would offer enough computing power and durability to serve K-12 classrooms.

The vision of what that computer should ultimately look like and do is changing by the year, of course.

For example, increased internet bandwidth is making off-site learning and courses delivered through the web a reality. It has been estimated that as much as 20% of future high school courses may be delivered online within the next 5-10 years. Comprehensive personal computing seems like the most sound answer to effective educational technology, but computing represents only dimension of the classroom experience. Teacher instruction and class interaction are important considerations as well.

That is where presentation technology (visual learning)--now a key part of educational infrastructure--really enters the picture.

Data Projectors

The classroom "standard" for curriculum presentation is the data projector. The market on data projectors remains strong with many companies vying for the education market. In recent years the data projector market experienced a split between two types of projector technologies with LCD (liquid crystal display) projectors and DLP (digital lens projection) competing for market share.

Both technologies make claims of superior performance. LCD projectors require fans and filters to keep heat down and dust away from the projector lens. These are both problems that can affect the usage and performance life of an LCD projector. New Hybrid filters on many LCD projectors now deliver from 2000 up to 10,000 hours of usage (the working life of the most projectors is from 4-5 years).

By contrast, most DLP projectors are "self contained" and require no filters. The DLP technology is stable, provides high quality light projection and can result in lower maintenance costs. The technology behind DLP projection is a chip with millions of tiny vacillating mirrors that reflect light to compose an image. This technology has revolutionized industries such as movie theaters and is making major inroads in education with on claims of lower total cost of ownership due to lower maintenance costs. The price on data projectors runs from $450 in lower-end, portable models suitable for small classrooms to more than $2000 for auditorium-scale projectors with extremely bright lamps.

The battle for market share between LCD and DLP projectors resembles the Beta versus VHS battle for videotape market supremacy years ago. Someone will likely emerge the winner.

Whiteboards

Digital whiteboards are large format white screens (generally about 5' X 7') that enable teachers and presenters to stand in front of a room and use digital technology to do all the things teachers used to do with chalk on blackboards. The digital whiteboard is a nifty invention, but it is not cheap, ranging between $1200 and $2000.

Whiteboards are immensely popular in countries like Great Britain where the technology was essentially standardized in schools. A number of companies manufacture whiteboards and there are a variety of presentation software packages that let teachers call curriculum use software like the Microsoft Office Suite. It remains to be seen whether Whiteboards will become an end solution in America because the hardware investment tends to be quite high. There are also emerging technologies that essentially allow educators to do everything a whiteboard can do in a mobile solution that costs only 1/5 as much as a whiteboard.

Slates

One of the most exciting new pieces of technology for education (and heady competition for whiteboards) is the "slate," essentially a lightweight flat plastic instrument with a digital interactive "pen" that enables presenters run digital devices and computer using the slate like a mouse. Slates can be used to direct software and annotate information on a projected screen just as you would with a whiteboard.

Document Cameras and Visual Presenters

A document camera is a geeky looking instrument usually featuring a long neck with a lens at the end that enables presenters to place material flat on the table and project it through a document camera onto a screen. Document cameras are like glorified overhead projectors and can even be used to look through microscopes.

Visual presenters feature multiple arms with lenses and lights to illuminate and capture objects on a base.

Audio enhancement

One of the newest sensations in classroom environment is outfitting teachers with microphones to provide amplified sound. That means students no longer crane to hear the instructor and teachers no longer strain their voices from talking loudly all day. This combination of benefits is making amplified sound an increasingly popular tool in educational technology.

Some students like the fact their teacher no longer sounds like they're yelling at them. Amplification has genuine benefits for hearing impaired students, of course. But it may do just as much for students prone to cease listening when they're only hearing every other word in the classroom.

iPhones, Cell Phones, iTouch and other devices of the future

The "handheld" revolution now includes phones utilizing touchscreen technology to enable users to instantly move and access information. These technologies represent the "new wave" in potential educational technology. Education applications are being written for the handheld devices, but the cost of these devices remains a hurdle for many schools. Still, compared to the expense and utility of providing personal computers for each student, "touch" devices may well provide a superior solution that works well in terms of size and utility for many classrooms. Potential theft and durability remain problems to be solved.

Smart phones are also being examined for potential use in the classroom. The problem with some technologies such as so-called Smart Phones is the inherent focus on physical adeptness and texting that may be a hindrance, not a help, to some student learning.

Technologies must therefore be developed inclusively, and with an end goal in sight. Objectives can and should drive the instruments of educational technology. But we must also accept that certain technologies are so insightful they open new opportunities for learning.

If President Obama succeeds in passing legislation to fund investment in American schools, the industries that supply these technologies will be challenged to work with education to envision and build a fluid infrastructure that can look to the future and still serve the present.

Student Response Systems

For years teachers have sought ways to know if students grasp material as it is being taught in the classroom. Now teachers can hand out remotes or other response devices that let students "respond" to questions given as TRUE/FALSE or Multiple Choice options. Student Response Systems use various forms of "clickers" or handheld remotes to allow students to instantly respond to questions projected digitally on a screen.

Results can be tabulated instantly, allowing teachers to know how well students understand what is being presented. Additionally, these results can be tabulated, measured and analyzed for comparison against school teaching standards by district, state or federal standards. Of all teaching technologies on the market, student response systems (SRS) have perhaps the highest potential for generating key data for schools to analyze student progress. This is key to delivering data schools need to measure and meet objectives in learning.

Currently, student response systems cost between $1100 and $2000 per classroom. Some offer curriculum "presets" or assessments that schools can purchase and use to meet teaching standards. Lessons can be structured as formative (learning) or summative (testing) curriculum depending on the objectives of the teacher. Additionally, some student response systems allow teachers to engage in a process call "enterprise" with the ability to store and shared lessons between educators.

Student Response Systems are the current best solution for generating and delivering data key to helping teachers and school administrators work together in measuring student progress.

Students who have grown up in the era of digital devices (some call this new generation "screenagers") are accustomed to using technology like cell phones and remotes. These students expect and enjoy interactive learning, which doesn't feel like "traditional" school methods like pen and paper. That means educational technology can have an important role to play in creating the interactive, engaging classroom of the future, especially if it hopes to deliver on the promise of high expectations for measurable student progress.

The data generated by student response systems can be crucial to curriculum managers and educational developers seeking to interpret how state and federal standards should be taught in the classroom.

Data interpretation is a part science and part politics, balancing the tried and true objectives of schools with the political climate of a nation. The one big question remains: Should teachers be "teaching to the test" or engaging students in formative assignments that help them better interpret the world for themselves?

Data "backpacks" seen as potential mechanisms to track student progress

A December 10, 2008 Education Week article titled "Better Data Seen as Vital to Improving National's Schools" contends that having information on each student's performance ultimately will help schools set and track progress individually and collectively.

One of the unique concepts being presented by the information technology sector is the idea of a "virtual backpack" of data for each student. Establishing methods to determine whether students can perform certain functions and logging that data in ways that provide as objective a picture as possible may be one of the goals for schools in the future. Information like this could be used mutually to develop an overall picture of learning trends even as it is used to individualize instruction. For example, isolating learning problems while simultaneously establishing student strengths.

The drawback of course is the Big Brother aspect of student information. How much is too much? What issues of privacy are pertinent to student data maintenance and use?

In its article about "data backpacks," Education Week magazine quotes Chrys Dougherty, a senior research scientist at ACT, Inc., the Iowa City, Iowa based testing firm. "The bigger problem is convincing policymakers that the benefits (of tracking student information) outweigh the risks."

It all tracks back up to Washington, D.C., where President Obama and his Education Secretary Arne Duncan are preparing to lead a new path of investment in education. America's competitiveness on the global stage depends on educating its students to compete in knowledge and ability with students in other countries. There will no doubt be political arguments over which is more important, protecting student privacy or ensuring that we know how well America's kids stack up against the world. The problem with educational technology--or technology of any type for that matter--is that it sometimes delivers "too well" on its promise of defining whatever we want to know about someone.

Ultimately "technology" in education may less to do with hardware, software or data information than it does with the political ability to steer and determine our priorities toward objectives that both encourage national progress yet protect individual rights on these issues. In this respect educational technology mirrors the nation's challenges as a whole. The balancing act between educational cohesiveness and personal liberty is a delicate dance, a reflection of our national identity and a sign of the inventiveness that makes America both a great nation and a difficult principle to sustain.

Sources: Education Week Magazine, January 21, 2008

Information Week Analytics Report, November 14, 2008