what really matters & what’s worth doing? bruce dixon co-founder anytime anywhere learning...

What really matters & what’s worth doing?

Bruce DixonCo-founder

Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation

Founding Director ideasLAB

What’s now possible?

The goal of AALF is to ensure that all children have access to unlimited opportunities to learn anytime and anywhere and that they have the

tools that make this possible.

To achieve this, the AALF helps schools develop visionary school leadership and knowledgeable,

innovative educators.

[email protected]

What the research tells us…

• Student attendance increases and students are more motivated and more engaged (Russell, 2004, New Brunswick, 2004-06)

• Students write more, more often and better. (Silvernail, 2004, Warschauer, 2005)

• Overall improvement in test scores (New Brunswick, 2004-06 )

• Students engagement in critical thinking, problem-solving, and higher-order thinking on a task increased with 1-to-1 students; more willing to address/assess controversy within an assignment (Rockman, 1998)

• Increase in 21st century learning skills – including multimedia engagement, greater quality/quantity of writing, multiple/deeper investigation of information (Warschauer, 2005)

• Motivation, engagement, independent work, interaction, and class preparation/participation of students with disabilities improved (Harris, 2004)

• Access to a laptop for teachers and their students often forced a change in teachers’ level of risk and openness to learning (Rockman, 1997)

• As digital confidence grows, and teachers are more ambitious…

– More students are accessing more mathematics in deeper ways.

– Students explore new dimensions of accessing new knowledge

– Students are more engaged in in-depth research (Warschauer, 2004)

What the research also tells us…

• Teachers perceive that students exhibit a range of learning behaviors that are better because of the laptops (Silvernail, 2004)

• There is a greater level of effective delivery to students with special needs and individualized learning programs. (New Brunswick, 2004-06)

• There is a statistically significant change towards a constructivist teaching practice; teachers indicated the laptops were important in making these changes (Rockman, 2000)

• Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs significantly affect implementation and success (Penuel, 2005)

What the research tells also us…

• Baldwin (1999) documented effects on student

behaviors at home such that students reported

spending less time watching television and more

time on homework.

• Substantially more time is spent on science and

mathematics knowledge deepening in comparison to

what has been found in studies that focus on non-1:1

laptop settings (Ravitz, Wong, & Becker, 1999;

Russell, O’Brien,Bebell, & O’Dwyer, 2003).

What the research tells also us…

• What will have the most impact, in a sustainable, scalable way?

• What don’t we yet know?

• How can we structure future research such that it is not irrelevant, irrational or redundant?

• What should be the focus of research such that we avoid the excesses of the past?

So what questions should we be asking?

What is the impact of 1 to 1 on student achievement?

How might we best design assessments that truly reflect

contemporary learning priorities?

Questions worth considering…

What is the impact of keyboarding on handwriting?

How does keyboarding/word processing in a 1 to 1 learning environment improve

student expression?


How does 1 to 1 impact on mathematical achievement?

How does 1 to 1 empower us to rethink how we teach mathematics?


Do spell checkers let students cheat on their spelling?

How do spell checkers impact on a students vocabulary development?

How might 1 to 1 enhance a student’s spelling?


An idea worth

exploring: Personalising Spelling and

Vocabulary

How does 1 to 1 impact on mathematical achievement?

How does 1 to 1 empower us to rethink how we teach mathematics?

Questions that matter…

What age should you teach students keyboarding?

Should we teach keyboarding before

handwriting?


How might a technology-rich learning environment contribute to a student’s ability to self-organize and self-direct their learning?


How might ubiquitous computing access offer new dimensions of personalization?


The PbyP learning cycle

What to use for goals?

Lifelong competencies

Arranged in Skills Ladders

Clear progression up a ladder

Can be understood and evidenced by the learner

Setting a Priority for a Public

Voice…

Advocacy and Thought

Leadership

Why are we not more

ambitious in seeking

answers to what technology makes possible for schools, for

learners and for teachers?

What are the necessary

pre-conditions

for effective

transformation?

An idea worth

exploring: Transformation

Index

Northern Metropolitan Region

Transformation IndexPilot July 2010

What’s now possible?

“My goal in life is to find ways

in which children can use

technology as a constructive

medium to do things that they

could not do before..

..to do things at a level of

complexity that was not

previously accessible to

children”

Prof. Seymour Papert 1998

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[email protected]

what really matters & what’s worth doing? bruce dixon co-founder anytime anywhere learning...

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