IT/Computers

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in school closings for the remainder of the year in 48 of 50 states and a sharp turn toward remote instruction in order to finish the year as best as possible. Understanding best practice in remote instruction and learning will be key as schools look to the future.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology funded this study of international policy and programmes supporting information and communications technologies (ICTs) in education across 21 countries at primary and secondary levels. The final report includes an overview of international programmes and priorities as well as individual reports for each of the 21 countries. Findings suggest focusing on data collections at international level in order to compare the type and impact of ICT policies and programmes in education as well as improving the understanding of ICT in education best practices.

This paper is based on the simple idea that students’ educational achievement is affected by the effort put in by those participating in the education process: schools, parents, and, of course, the students themselves.

 This study explored student achievement in a K-12, full-time, online learning environment and the effect parents had on student success.

This paper examines the factors affecting the successful implementation of a laptop program, classroom uses of laptops and the support required for schools from current research almost exclusively from the United States.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology published this brief that summarizes research on the role of online communities of practice and social networks in supporting the professional performance of educators.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, in partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), developed a research-based synthesis defining a set of policies and practices implemented by successful Future Ready district leaders. The resulting rubric provides a basis for personalized professional learning to expand the capacity of district superintendents to effectively transition to digital learning.

This essay suggests potential research avenues in the area of technology-mediated learning. It seeks to motivate greater depth of research into the question of how technology enhances learning. 

This article explores the theoretical underpinnings surrounding quality teaching in online settings as well as practical considerations for what teachers should know and be able to do in online environments. 

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the simSchool (v.1) simulation as a tool for preparing student teachers for actual classroom teaching. Twenty-two student teachers used the simulation for a practice session and two test sessions; data included objective performance statistics generated by the simulation program, self-rated performance data, and qualitative opinions and perceptions from participants.

The report provides foundational knowledge needed to examine and understand the potential contributions of online learning to educational productivity, including a conceptual framework for understanding the necessary components of rigorous productivity analyses, drawing in particular on cost-effectiveness analysis as an accessible method in education.

In the present educational context, active methodologies and new technologies are aspects that should be included when teaching and learning a subject area. For the education to be successful, classroom management must be considered, since problems may arise and handicap this process.

In these pages, we estimate the costs of blendedlearning models and fulltime virtual schools as currently operated in the U.S.

A report about blended learning programs analyzes the instruction, operational, and financial models of Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) schools. KIPP focuses on blending technology with in-class education to provide small group instruction and to meet the needs of each individual student.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of familial participation in student's achievement in K-12 virtual schools.

Researchers have hypothesized that parental engagement is even more critical when online students learn from home, but few researchers have examined parents’ engagement behavior—especially parents of adolescent learners. In this case study, we addressed this gap using parent and student interviews at a full-time online charter school.

This report summarizes the methodology, measures, and findings of research on the influence on student achievement outcomes of K–12 online and blended face-to-face and online learning programs that offer differentiated learning options.

This paper explores the theoretical and empirical literature on the impacts of technology on educational outcomes. The literature focuses on two primary contexts in which technology may be used for educational purposes: i) classroom use in schools, and ii) home use by students.

While research has been conducted on parental involvement in K-12 online learning, none of this research relates specifically to the parents of students with disabilities. Thus, researchers developed a survey around the following constructs: parental roles, instruction and assessment, communication and support from the school, and parental challenges. 

Education Week is learning as it surveys educators across the country about the impact school closures have had on their morale, student engagement, technology skills, and many other factors.

The author reviews the economics literature at the intersection between innovation and K-12 education from two different, but related perspectives.

This article briefly describes blending learning definition and models.

The Clayton Christensen Institute, formerly Innosight Institute, has published three papers describing the rise of K−12 blended learning. This fourth paper is the first to analyze blended learning through the lens of disruptive innovation theory to help people anticipate and plan for the likely effects of blended learning on the classrooms of today and schools of tomorrow. 

This study aimed to look into this by asking, “Which features of high quality online professional development were noted by participating educators in a statewide online teacher professional development program?” A survey was used to collect educators’ voices in this FIP professional development (PD) program.

The study compared basic and elaborated corrections within the context of otherwise identical computer-assisted instruction (CAI) programs that taught reasoning skills. Twelve learning disabled and 16 remedial high school students were randomly assigned to either the basic-corrections or elaborated-corrections treatment. Criterion-referenced test scores were significantly higher for the elaborated-corrections treatment on both the post and maintenance tests and on the transfer test. Time to complete the program did not differ significantly for the two groups.

This paper discusses an adapted-Continuous Practice Improvement model, which qualitative findings indicate was effective in facilitating the transfer of creative and innovative teaching approaches from the expert or Resident Teacher’s school to the novice or Visiting Teachers’ classrooms over the duration of the project. 

Reading comprehension is a critical skill for school success. Struggling readers can benefit from computer-assisted instruction that utilizes components of effective instruction (e.g., frequent practice, immediate feedback). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Headsprout Comprehension, a computer-assisted reading program, on the reading comprehension of six elementary students with high-incidence disabilities (i.e., learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and other health impairment–attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (OHI-ADHD).

This mixed-methods study investigates student achievement in the full-time, online learning environment and the effect parents have on student success.

Based on a review of more than seventy recent studies, this brief describes these approaches, particularly as they apply to high school students who have been at risk of failing courses and exit examinations or dropping out due to a range of personal factors and academic factors. The brief then outlines policy strategies that could expand the uses of technology for at-risk high school youth.

Going Virtual! 2010 is a follow-up report to the Going Virtual! Research series started in 2007. The purpose of the series is to describe current trends on the status of professional development for K-12 online teachers, as well as identify the unique needs and challenges faced by these instructors.

The Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning is an edited collection of chapters that sets out to present the current state of research in K-12 online and blended learning. 

This chapter provides a survey of what is known about professional development for both brick and mortar and online teachers and uses this knowledge as a springboard to suggest policy and research implication of professional development and K-12 online teacher. 

This article presents a critical review of the transitions that technology integration has made over the years; the amount of resources and funding that has been allocated to immerse school with technology; and the conflicting results presented on effectiveness of using is technology in education.

This article offers ideas to improve the quality of inquiry into teacher learning, one of the most critical targets of education reform. 

The future of virtual environments is evident in many fields but is just emerging in the field of teacher education. In this article, the authors provide a summary of the evolution of simulation in the field of teacher education and three factors that need to be considered as these environments further develop. The authors provide a specific example of the work at two universities that use a specific virtual environment, TLE TeachLivE™, in teacher education.

The focus of this project is to create research in teacher education that positively impacts teacher recruitment, preparation and retention in urban environments. The novel approach we are using to attack this problem is that of capturing, analyzing, synthesizing and simulating human interactions in Mixed Reality (part real, part synthetic) environments, thereby creating training/screening settings that are realistic and yet do not put actual children at risk.

Online, blended, and digital learning in K–12 schools in the United States includes an assortment of schools, programs, tools, and resources. These range from the fully online schools in which students receive their entire education, to the digital platforms and content that mainstream teachers are using to bolster instruction in their physical classrooms. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in school closings for the remainder of the year in 48 of 50 states and a sharp turn toward remote instruction in order to finish the year as best as possible. Understanding best practice in remote instruction and learning will be key as schools look to the future.

The authors examine whether social capital created at home and at school has differing effects on child academic achievement. They hypothesize that children derive social capital from both their families and their schools and that capital from each context promotes achievement.

The analysis in this report is based on 2019 application data from the FCC’s Schools and Libraries Program (“E-rate”). This data represents the best national source of current information on school district connectivity; specifically, what broadband services schools are buying and how much they are paying for these services

This review paper synthesizes and discusses experimental evidence on the effectiveness of technology-based approaches in education and outlines areas for future inquiry. While this review focuses on literature from developed countries, it also draws upon extensive research from developing countries. 

This report grew out of the understanding that it is not enough to know that noncognitive factors matter for learning. Researchers from a range of disciplines have provided evidence that such factors are important to students' grades and long-term educational outcomes. 

Research that claims to focus on students with disabilities in online learning environments should be designed and carried out with particular attention to educational and social outcomes. The Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities (COLSD) conducts research in alignment with these goals.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of using computer software to store, graph, and analyze student performance data on teacher efficiency and satisfaction with curriculum-based progress-monitoring procedures.

This study assessed the efficiency of and teacher satisfaction with curriculum-based measurement (CBM) when student performance data are collected by teachers or by computers. 

The goal of the current research was to better understand when and why feedback has positive effects on learning and to identify features of feedback that may improve its efficacy. Results suggest that minimal computer-generated feedback can be a powerful form of guidance during problem solving.

In early March, Education Week caught up with them by phone when they were in Paris to speak at an ed-tech conference. We asked them how their 2015 predictions had fared. Then, we talked again in late April, when the coronavirus had suddenly transformed K-12 education into a massive remote learning system.

Recognizing the power of high quality practice in teacher preparation, a web-based simulation called Cook School District was designed to allow teacher candidates to practice the skills necessary to connect their teaching to the learning of all children employing the framework of teacher work samples (TWS). Pilot study data comparing simulation users' abilities to analyze hypothetical teaching scenarios, interviews, and reflective writing in real work samples suggest that the simulation plays a role in helping candidates become more aware of, and able to perform, several critical skills necessary to effectively connect teacher actions to the learning of each student.

This report was generated in response to the enormous role technology is, and will increasingly be, playing in providing remote learning opportunities for students, whether in supporting part-time “school based” education or temporarily replacing it altogether.  

This National Center for Education Statistics report provides national data on the availability and use of educational technology among teachers in public elementary and secondary schools during the winter and spring of 2009. The data are the results of a national teacher-level survey that is one of a set that includes district, school, and teacher surveys on educational technology.

This paper is an examination of the current state of blended and online learning throughout
the K-12 world in the United States. 

This chapter synthesizes and categorizes current blended learning research, with recommendations for future directions. Issues addressed in HE blended learning and K-12 blended learning are identified, compared, and evaluated by reviewing major research on the topic.

This paper critically analyzes extant approaches to technology integration in teaching,
arguing that many current methods are technocentric, often omitting sufficient consideration
of the dynamic and complex relationships among content, technology, pedagogy, and
context.

Research indicates children generally fare better in traditional schools when parents are
involved. However, scant research exists in alternative settings such as blended and online
schooling

The Visible Learning research synthesizes findings from 1,400 meta-analyses of 80,000 studies involving 300 million students, into what works best in education.

Using qualitative interviews of eight virtual high school teachers, this study explored teachers' perceptions of their online teaching role. Teachers expressed a sense of disconnection from their students, the profession, and their peers as a result of limited interactions due to significant institutional barriers.

Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil.

The messy transition to remote learning in America’s K-12 education system as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by glaring disparities among schools, according to nationally representative surveys of U.S. teachers and school district leaders administered by the EdWeek Research Center.

This study will discuss a guiding definition for blended learning, benefits, team support, policy, management issues, rationale for expansion, professional development, purchasing, funding, evaluation, and lenses of the future and implications.

Online learning is sweeping across America. In the year 2000, roughly 45,000 K–12 students took an online course. In 2009, more than 3 million K–12 students did. What was originally a distance-learning phenomenon no longer is. Most of the growth is occurring in blended-learning environments, in which students learn online in an adult-supervised environment at least part of the time. As this happens, online learning has the potential to transform America’s education system by serving as the backbone of a system that offers more personalized learning approaches for all students.

this hands-on guide expands upon the blended learning ideas presented in
that book to provide practical implementation guidance for educators seeking to incorporate
online learning with traditional classroom time

Keep students engaged and actively learning with focused, relevant discussion. Second only to lecture as the most widely used instructional strategy, there's no better method than classroom discussion to actively engage students with course material. Most faculty are not aware that there is an extensive body of research on the topic from which instructors can learn to facilitate exceptional classroom discussion.

The purpose of the National Standards for Quality (NSQ) revision initiative is to provide the K-12 online and blended learning community with an updated set of openly licensed standards to help evaluate and improve online courses, online teaching and online programs.

An alternating treatments design with a best treatments phase was used to compare two active student response (ASR) conditions and one on-task (OT) condition on the acquisition and maintenance of social studies facts during computer-assisted instruction.

This study examines the effects on early reading skills of three different methods of
presenting material with computer-assisted instruction.

This study examined whether a personalized, adaptive blended learning approach can support reading development in ELs and non-ELs. 

This article describes the instructional design of field experiences in K-12 online learning environments. Couched in the theory of situated cognition and based on established K-12 online teaching standards, these field experiences are slowly gaining popularity in teacher education programs.

The authors introduce Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) as a way of representing what teachers need to know about technology and argue for the role of authentic design-based activities in the development of this knowledge.

To address the importance and challenges of implementing new pedagogies, this paper brings together leading experts to reflect on key areas of pedagogy. In particular, each chapter addresses a pedagogical dimension that together offers a conceptual framework for action

In this paper, a self-regulated flipped classroom approach is proposed to help students schedule their out-of-class time to effectively read and comprehend the learning content before class, such that they are capable of interacting with their peers and teachers in class for in-depth discussions.

Coaching with embedded video-analysis is a method for providing teacher consultation services utilizing technology to record teaching sessions, watch and analyze recordings, identify a target area for improvement, and use the information gained to improve practice. As general education teachers’ role in positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) grows and more students with severe and challenging behavior are educated in general education classrooms, coaching with video-analysis may be useful to improve implementation fidelity and sustainability of evidence-based classroom management practices.

This paper provides an overview of parental involvement in traditional education, discusses its role in K-12 virtual schooling, and describes a study that validates a parental involvement assessment with a virtual school population.

This chapter looks at the research methods used during the first ten years of research on
online teaching and learning

Computer-based instruction (CBI) was used to teach 3 sets of 20 spelling words to two 6th graders in a multiple baseline design. The CBI presented a voice recording of each spelling word and prompted the students to type the word. If they spelled the word incorrectly, a training procedure was initiated that included prompt fading and systematic review practice.

This note provides a brief review of work to address the challenges of measuring output and productivity in the education sector, with attention also to issues related to the increasing use of technology in the provision of education services.

This report provides a new perspective on the nation’s largest virtual school provider through a systematic review and analysis of student characteristics, school finance, and school performance of K12-operated schools.

This 2015 report is third in a series of annual reports on virtual education in the U.S.. It is organized in three major sections. 

This paper develops the concept of action learning in terms of holographic principles. It offers an approach to inquiry, learning, and organizational design in terms of minimum critical conditions which seek to enhance capacities for individual and collective self-organization.

Most studies on feedback compare elaborated feedback types presenting knowledge on the correct response (KCR) immediately together with further information to simple feedback types providing knowledge of result (KR) or KCR. This study uses bug-related tutoring feedback (BRT-feedback) offering strategic information for error correction, but no immediate KCR.

The report highlights the importance of bolstering students’ ability to navigate through digital texts. It also examines the relationship among computer access in schools, computer use in classrooms, and performance in the PISA assessment. 

Based on results from PISA 2012, this Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report examines how students’ access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students’ learning experiences.

The COVID pandemic has meant that large numbers of students are learning by Zoom instead of in classrooms, and schools are struggling to reach students who don't have sufficient access to the internet or computers. In all this disruption, there is still one constant: the importance of effective, skilled teachers.

For many students, school this year looks very different from the way it did in the past. The COVID pandemic has meant that large numbers of students are learning by Zoom instead of in classrooms, and schools are struggling to reach students who don’t have sufficient access to the internet or computers. In all this disruption, there is still one constant: the importance of effective, skilled teachers.

This paper discusses definitions of blended learning and explores ways in which blended learning is being developed by a number of schools

A survey of 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers finds that digital technologies have helped them in teaching their middle school and high school students in many ways. At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers.

Children across the country face unprecedented levels of missed instruction as a result of the pandemic. As millions of students and teachers continue remote learning, experiment with hybrid models, and ultimately return to their classrooms, our nation has a greater need than ever for teachers who have the skills to address the challenges ahead.

Reading is a crucial skill for students to develop, not only as they enter school but also as they continue throughout K-12 education. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is one means of providing supplemental support for students to build the foundational key areas of reading—so they can use reading to learn in later schooling years.

In this study, using mixed methods, we investigated the longer term effects of eCoaching through advanced online bug-in-ear (BIE) technology.

This study evaluated the efficacy of Accelerated Reader, a computer-based learning program, at improving student reading. 

Members of ISTE’s professional learning networks have been hard at work identifying key practices for successful online learning. Here are some of the best ideas from educators from around the world, many of whom have already been teaching during coronavirus closures. 

One-to-one computing and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives are helping to ensure that each student has a device with which to work. Although these technologies can support personalized learning, they haven’t yet transformed our schools into 21st-century utopias where students engage in interactive, individualized learning applications and access information in order to collaboratively solve problems while teachers roam the learning space, coaching and mentoring as their engaged and self-directed students happily work.

Blended learning is gaining considerable popularity in American classrooms, but the question remains: Is there strong evidence that the strategy helps K-12 students?

Which blended-learning model should they choose? Are Station Rotations the ideal, or Flex studios? Is Carpe Diem’s Individual Rotation the gold standard, FirstLine’s Lab Rotation, Summit’s Flex model, or Woodland Park’s Flipped Classroom?

This book provides a practical, streamlined approach for creating effective learning experiences by blending online activities and the best of face-to-face teaching.

The aim of the present meta-analysis was to examine the effects of feedback on learning from text in conventional readers. If feedback is provided during reading, no differences are found between the effects of different types of feedback. Additionally, computer-delivered feedback is more beneficial for learning from text than non-computer-delivered feedback. Implications for optimizing conditions to support learning from text are discussed.

This research study employs a second-order meta-analysis procedure to summarize 40 years of research activity addressing the question, does computer technology use affect student achievement in formal face-to-face classrooms as compared to classrooms that do not use technology? A study-level meta-analytic validation was also conducted for purposes of comparison.

Standards-based instruction and differentiated learning can be compatible approaches in today's classrooms.

This paper examines some of the challenges and strengths of virtual schools, it offers questions to consider when deciding whether or not a virtual school option would be ideal, and it draws conclusions, which provide an outlook for the future of virtual schools in k-12 education.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology created this guide to assist software developers, startups and entrepreneurs in gaining specialized knowledge and is designed to help apply technology in smart ways to solve persistent problems in education.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology published this brief that is intended to help policymakers and administrators understand how analytics and data mining have been—and can be—applied for educational improvement while rigorously protecting student privacy.

This report is the 2016 National Education Technology Plan. It is the latest policy document on educational technology from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology. It sets a national vision and plan for learning enabled by technology through building on the work of leading education researchers; district, school, and higher education leaders; classroom teachers; developers; entrepreneurs; and nonprofit organizations.

Category: 172, 173, 174, 175, 180, 189, 192, 194, 196

The Future Ready Schools: Building Technology Infrastructure for Learning guide provides practical, actionable information intended to help district leaders (superintendents, principals, and teacher leaders) navigate the many decisions required to deliver cutting-edge connectivity to students. It presents a variety of options for district leaders to consider when making technology infrastructure decisions, recognizing that circumstances and context vary greatly from district to district.

The U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collaborated in the development of the Early Learning and Educational Technology Policy Brief to promote developmentally appropriate use of technology in homes and early learning settings.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology published this report that details the results of exploratory research on how to design and manage online communities of practice for educators.

In this meta-analysis, we investigated the effects of methods for providing item-based feedback in a computer-based environment on students’ learning outcomes. Effect sizes were negatively affected by delayed feedback timing and by primary and high school. Although the results suggested that immediate feedback was more effective for lower order learning than delayed feedback and vice versa, no significant interaction was found.

In this book, we’ll briefly explore why we’re still only in the early stages of the educational technology revolution. Then we’ll look at how some innovative schools and other organizations are pioneering new methods of personalized learning built on new technology

In the context of trying to improve reading proficiency in elementary school students, this study investigated the use of digital technology as part of a blended learning program, Core5, in kindergarten and first grade classes. 

This overview presents a general definition of self-regulated academic learning and identifies the distinctive features of this capability for acquiring knowledge and skill.