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by Karena O'Riordan
While the discordant hum of debate lingers over whether education technology has the power to transform learning in a positive way, a new briefing by the Milken Exchange summarizes the evidence on both sides, supplying data to the dialogue.
The Exchange report, titled "The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say" evaluates seven recent research studies and their findings. By outlining what is known so far about the effects of technology and its correlation to student achievement, the Exchange hopes to help educators and policymakers make wise decisions about future investments in computers and technology.
"What we see from the research is that how computers are used has a lot more to do with their impact than whether or not they're used," says Cheryl Lemke, executive director of the Exchange. Lemke points out that schools should not be trying to figure out ways to use computers. Rather, they should be mapping out strategies for raising achievement levels for all students and using technology as a tool in the process.
Many of the studies selected for review were large in scope, and applicable to local, state and national audiences. "We analyzed the five largest scale studies of education technology to date," says John Schacter, Ph.D, of the Milken Family Foundation and author of the briefing, "and also two smaller studies that point to the promises newer technologies afford. Although the studies we mention positively demonstrate the impact of technology on student achievement, they do not address an issue critical to the success of technology: evaluating a school or district's current performance in an academic area, selecting standards, and then choosing an appropriate technology or technologies to meet those standards."
The briefing offers cautious optimism to educators and policymakers considering investments in education technology. It suggests that there are ideal classroom environments in which technology can be helpful and lead to improved test scores. "The goal of education technology should not be to throw a bunch of computers into classrooms," comments Lemke, "we want to see effective uses of these tools. More extensive analyses will be needed as we get closer to that goal,
but the reports we have selected here provide a very good starting
point."
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