Ok, I usually think of Wired as being a source of up-to-the-minute, trendy info. Imagine my surprise when one of today’s articles is on the use of concept mapping in schools. Now there’s a news scoop!
Actually, it is an interesting article, if for no other reason than it discusses a free concept-mapping software package called Cmaps. It looks like an interesting package that I’m going to need to try out.
Another article on overseas tutoring appeared today in the Christian Science Monitor. It gives more detail on the practice and some of the companies involved and briefly profiles one student that works live with tutors in India. Because it is offshore, the service costs half that of services based here in the U.S.
The more I think about it, the more reasonable it becomes. Parents spending their money for after-school tutoring are looking for something effective and affordable. If it happens that means working with bright, articulate folks from India (or China or elsewhere) for a lot less money than stateside tutors, then you can be sure it’s going to happen.
An article today in eSchool News reports on a study correlating participation in online field trips with increased reading scores. The study used a sample of 400 students, which is somewhat small (though better than many educational studies.) What I particularly liked was the emphasis on the context of the online field trips. The researchers make a strong point that the effect is dependent on having appropriate activities and instructional resources to make the field trip an interative experience within a larger instructional program. (No silver bullets here. I never trust silver bullets, anyway.)
In any event, it’s nice to see some more research connecting technology to student achievement. Another arrow for the quiver.
It probably shouldn’t be surprising that several online tutoring companies are starting to use tutors from overseas. Some of the more controversial aspects of this practice are discussed in an article from last month in the Times Union. One issue that I hadn’t thought about is that a company using math tutors in India might be providing NCLB-required supplemental services, meaning that federal dollars are in essence being used to hire foreign workers to aid our students. Whether that is good or bad is a matter of debate, but it sure seems outside the box.
Two tech levies here in Washington were defeated yesterday. Liberty School District in the eastern part of the state was able to generate a 55% yes vote, but still short of the 60% supermajority required. Bainbridge Island here in the Puget Sound region only had a 46% yes vote for their levy. I hope these results don’t signify any sort of trend.
An article in the online Kansas City Star discusses new means of high-tech cheating. Beyond the usual things we think of, students are also trying things like printing fake candy or gum wrappers that list test items in the tiny text where the ingredients would go. (That is creative!) As calculators get more sophisticated, they can store text information as well.
At some point in time we’ll need to start rethinking what cheating is. It used to be that using a calculator was cheating. Our kids are going to grow up in a world where they have constant, ubiquitous access to information. If that’s the world they will live and work in, what is the point of testing them on their ability to memorize a lot of information? One of my college chemistry professors shocked me when he announced that all tests would be open book. Why? “Because,” he said, “when you grow up to be chemists and get your first job, when your boss comes in to give you an assignment, he won’t grab all your books and walk back out the door.”
If you didn’t see this already, there was a research study recently released that indicates email damages IQ more than marijuana.
It seems the constant interruptions to which we subject ourselves (email, cellphones, text messages, etc.) interfere with our ability to concentrate. While this is one of those “well, duh” kind of statements, the severity of the impact was pretty startling. The total effect over the course of a workday compulsively reading and answering email was an average of 10 IQ points for the 80 participants in the study.
Even knowing that, how many people will choose to limit their use of email? And one more reason to limit using email with students, especially with one-to-one computing efforts.
IBM has announced a new wireless broadband networking technology designed specifically for school districts. It’s being rolled out in the Syracuse School District, and the system allows for all data, videoconferencing and phone service (Internet-based phones, or “voice over IP”/VOIP) to be handled wirelessly. The article referenced above is a press release, so it’s long on hyperbole and short on detail, but it’s still intriguing. The cost of installing and maintaining the miles of wires necessary to run a network is enormous, so there’s a lot of economic promise here. It also could make a huge difference in little things like classroom flexibility - how many teachers have you met who can’t use their computer in the front of the room because the architect put the network jacks in the back?
The big bugaboo is, of course, security. How do they make sure that only authorized users get into this wireless network? I guess that’s what early adopters are for. We’ll see what interesting experiences the Syracues School District has over the next couple of years.