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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Teachers

The power of the iPad in Kindergarten

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

By Kristi Meeuwse, ADE

Technology won’t replace teachers, but teachers who don’t teach with technology will be replaced. -unknown

Last week, our school iPads were replaced.  We were very excited to exchange our iPad 2’s for the new iPad Air.  Our old iPads served us well but were suffering from frequent app crashes. The replacement took about a week…no small feat when you are talking about over 800 iPads. The excitement over the idea of new iPads was suddenly replaced with the knowledge that we would be without iPads for a few days. My kids quickly realized this and asked, “Um, how will we do our work with no iPads?”  I responded, “I’m not sure…maybe we will do some worksheets.” Puzzled, the kids responded with, “What are worksheets?” You see, they had never completed one before.

It was definitely like going back in time and I’m certain I don’t ever want to teach again without having those devices. My students were used to having choices about their day and about demonstrating their learning. I was used to personalizing their learning and serving as a facilitator while they directed themselves. Student-centered and student-directed learning is one of the keys to educational change.

So, now we have our beautiful new devices and the kids immediately went to work. Their work. We have been working on number stories in their math journals. Even though I’m providing the number stories, there is still choice. For example, Sam had 7 buttons.  Some were blue and some were yellow.  How many of each were there?

Here are a couple of samples from my kids:

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IMG_0004One was being a wise-guy, but still got the right number of buttons. By making these number stories open-ended, students have the ability to use multiple pathways to get to the answer. Another student and a partner, worked together to create what we call an “incredible equation”. One of the students was stronger in math (clearly, as he is able to multiply and divide at age 5) and the other was working on grade level. Together they made this:

 

IMG_0005

By letting my students work where they are, and not where a worksheet forces them to be, the sky is the limit. The iPads give my students the freedom to move on, to move up, and to be in charge of their learning.

So, yes, I am thrilled to have our iPads back. We saw first hand the power of the iPad in our classroom. Even though we have only 22 school days remaining, we are going strong to the end!

Today we will do exciting new things. Let’s get to it!

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

Kristi Meeuwse teaches kindergarten in Charleston, South Carolina. In January, 2011, her kindergarten class started a 1:1 iPad pilot for the school district and the results so far have been very successful. You can read more about it on her blog iteachwithipads.net.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

A mother’s view on cell phones in the classroom

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Karen Bresnahan

In recent years, there has been a lot of chatter on the internet about why cell phones shouldn’t be allowed in classrooms. Some teachers and parents are dead set against the idea, while others think it could work.

Schools everywhere are busy making new rules about cell phones. Some schools allow students to carry their phones, but only use them at lunch or in between classes, while others have banned the phones altogether from the learning environment.

The debate, it seems, has centered more on the negative side of the argument which views cell phones as a distraction, a temptation, and a detriment to learning because students can use them to avoid paying attention in class by texting on social media or playing video games, or to cheat on tests, by looking up the answers on Google.

As a parent, I always try to use my common sense when thinking about what I should teach my children. It seems to me that cell phones can be a difficulty or a benefit, depending entirely on the attitude of the teacher. After all, they get to decide what happens in their classroom.

I know, as a mom, how important it is for my kids to know what good behavior and bad behavior is at home. At school, it is no different for the teacher who must show the students what is expected of them and to enforce the rules the same way a parent does. If my child uses a cell phone in the classroom to text their friends or play video games, I expect the teacher to do something about it.

But, cell phones don’t have to always be tied to the expectation of bad behavior or misconduct. There can be a positive side. There are many ways cell phones can actually help children learn. Our kids already use the phones every day and they enjoy using them.

Do we want to take technology away from them and punish them for using it, or should we motivate them to use it in good ways?

With or without technology, it is always important to make sure our children know how to learn. It is up to parents and teachers to show them how. The best teachers know all the different ways to motivate students to learn, so the attitude of the teacher is the most important thing when it comes to deciding about cell phones. There are many ways that cell phones can add to learning.

Students can use their phones to do Google searches about any subject. The cameras on phones make it possible for them to take photos and videos for a school project or record an important school event. Phones can be used in emergencies to call for help, or to text a parent about a problem. Phones can be used on field trips to find locations, or on a daily basis, to make communication easier between students and teachers. Cell phones are a way for teachers to make learning applicable to real life and to let students have fun while learning.

Teachers are already finding helpful ways to use technology in the classroom and cell phones are just another way for students to use the internet to connect them to educational resources. Cell phones have become like tiny computers in their hands because the phones are so much better than they used to be.

Computer applications and software are making it easier for students and teachers to share information. Things like Dropbox, Evernote, Schooltown, Socrative, Wiffiti, and Polleverywhere are helpful online resources that many teachers are using now. Cell phone use supports the popular concepts of flipped classrooms and blended learning.

We live in a technology abundant world and cell phones have become a way of life for families. Most children already use cell phones long before they come to school. As adults, we rely upon technology every day, and it makes no sense to discourage our children from using it productively at school.

As a parent, I expect my children to behave at home and I support what the teacher does in the classroom. If a teacher wants to use cell phone technology as a tool for learning in the classroom, I am all for it. But if a teacher wants to take my child’s phone away when he uses it to misbehave, I am in favor of that too.

I want school to be a fun and active learning environment for my children, where technology allows them to quickly access information, and stimulates them to find exciting new ways to learn anything they want to learn. As long as what they are doing in the classroom peaks their individual interests, I am happy.

Cell phones are just another form of technology that can be used to help students become better and faster at learning. Phones can also be used for group sharing and hands on learning that has been shown to have a 90 percent retention rate.

To me, the argument is not about why we shouldn’t use phones in the classroom, but how can we best use technology as a tool to make learning more exciting and more fun, so that students can learn and grow to be self-motivated learners for the rest of their lives.

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Karen Bresnahan is a professional writer, photographer and artist from Boise, Idaho. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Idaho and is the mother of three children. She is a small business owner of Romantic Idaho Weddings, KBLifelines Positive Quotes, and Idaho Naturals Desertscapes artwork. She enjoys writing about education, parenting, health and fitness and positive thinking. Her goal is to motivate, educate and inspire others through her writing and photography. You can connect with her through email at [email protected] or on Twitter @idaho1111

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Matthew Lynch published in Diversity, Equity

Study: Narrowing achievement gap would add $10 trillion to GDP by 2050

One study after another has shown a wide educational achievement gap between the poorest and wealthiest children in the United States. This prompted researchers at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a group focused on narrowing inequality, to study and conclude that if America could improve education performance for the average student, everyone would benefit.

The U.S.  ranks behind more than 33 advanced industrialized countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development when it comes to math and science scores. The study used scores from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, a test used around the world to measure and compare achievement.

America ranks behind countries such as Korea, Poland and Slovenia in the 24th spot.

Elimination of the achievement gap in the U.S. will boost the economy — but this requires raising the country’s average score to 1,080.  The average combined score for the U.S. is 978, and the O.E.C.D average is 995.

If the U.S. could move up a few notches to number 19 – so the average American score would match the O.E.C.D. average – it would add 1.7 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product over the next 35 years, according to estimates by the Washington Center. This could lead to approximately $900 billion in higher government revenue.

If the U.S. scores matched Canada, number 7 of the O.E.C.D. scale, America’s gross domestic product would increase by 6.7 percent. After taking inflation into account, this is a cumulative increase of $10 trillion by 2050.

The achievement gap in America is a pressing issue, and it is certainly something we have to hone in on to eliminate. I hope to see our country’s O.E.C.D. ranking improve in the near future so we can narrow, and eventually close, the achievement gap and benefit from the boost in the economy too.

Click here to read all our posts concerning the Achievement Gap.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

How LRM is transforming teaching and learning

Behind every successful adult is at least one person who pushed him or her to greatness. If you ask some of the world’s highest achievers what motivated them to keep going, they usually mention a specific person who inspired them along the way – a parent, a teacher, a mentor, a coach.

Think about the people in your own life who made a positive impact when you were young. If you are an educator, it was probably a teacher of your own who inspired you to take that next step and answer the call to teach. There were likely other less-direct influences on your career choice, and others who influenced other parts of the positive parts of your adult life.

Now imagine what it would look like if all of those mentors – those teachers, those coaches – had been able to combine their efforts for a singular purpose: guiding you on the road to successful adulthood. It’s a pretty amazing thought, right? But most of those people were probably from different circles of your life with you (a kid) being the only connection between them. Technology is changing that though, by better aligning the important relationships in a student’s life.

More specifically, Learning Relationship Management is delving deeper into how mentors like teachers and coaches help guide all students to success — both academically, and in other areas of life. The Learning Relationship Management Alliance is a leader in this student-friendly technology that can also be applied to other groups that benefit from mentor support, like senior citizens in assisted living.

The LRM Alliance created this infographic to summarize exactly what the vision is for this relationship technology, including a need to cultivate authentic relationships, personalize learning, streamline content, and connect networks in a student’s life. Take a look:

 

So how is the LRM Alliance progressing these ideas in a coherent way that any district can implement? By combining the strengths of several leading companies to raise awareness about the many benefits to this learning setup. This group of edtech innovators is changing the way students succeed through electronic means that extend beyond academic pursuits. The five companies that make up the LRM Alliance are:

Through community-enabled mentorship, the strengths of a variety of people associated with each student is tapped. This includes, and is not limited to, parents, teachers, sports coaches, and more. Even older siblings can be included in the community to help encourage, monitor and ultimately guide the student to positive learning outcomes.

When it comes to personalized and blended learning, LRM allows K-20 brick and mortar schools and online schools to move from small pilot programs to large, full-scale implementation. Teachers and administrators have more information on how students are progressing and can tailor lessons to better fit their needs and learning styles. Personalized learning paths are in turn supported through learning relationship management and strengthened by the mentors outside the classroom who are in the student’s network. Learning Relationship Management does not just setup personalized and blended learning lesson plans; it gives students the tools to execute those plans.

Learning Relationship Management is not just about prescriptive methods, though, or simply handing out assignments. The students themselves are an integral part of the process of goal-setting, intervention planning and the communication that takes place about them. Every student can benefit from LRM tools because it does not dictate what people must take part. If a student lives with grandparents, or has a drama teacher but no sports coaches, or even has a trusted teacher he wants to keep in the system even when class has ended, LRM technology makes all of that possible.

Learning Relationship Management has the potential to combine what schools are already doing right with a stronger support group outside the classroom. There can be numerous people (invited by the student and overseen by the lead adult administrator) who weigh in on the goals, benchmarks and activities of the student. There is a lot of power in the community-enabled coaching model and the more people who can contribute to the success of a student — in a streamlined, productive way — the better that student will fare in school, and in life.

You can learn more about the Learning Relationship Management Alliance and its member companies at the organization’s site.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

The positive connection between games and online learning

By Mitch Weisburgh, cofounder of Games4Ed

Game-based learning has the potential to drastically improve the way children are taught.

Games have peculiar qualities that let them engage hard-to-reach students in a way lessons cannot. Researchers have begun to explore the intrinsic qualities of games that make them promising learning tools, and anecdotal evidence is available everywhere.

I personally know a student who struggled in history until Assassin’s Creed sparked his interest in the French revolution; he is now an honors history student. I know many students who spend hours playing Minecraft and many hours more learning new skills and techniques on YouTube, which they then apply to Minecraft. Clearly, a good game is a powerful motivator for learning. It engages the mind and the passions simultaneously, with obvious results. But why, and how, does this work, and how can we harness it in schools?

Who uses games? 99% of boys, 94% of girls, and 62% of teachers play video games.

Games foster ideal conditions for learning

There is a sweet spot for learning that lies between what a person can do without help, and what they can only accomplish with help. Lev Vygotsky coined the term zone of proximal development to describe this spot. In the zone of proximal development, the lesson is neither so easy that the student is bored, nor so difficult that he gives up.

Teachers use their training and skill to create lessons that fall into their students’ zone of proximal development, but Plass, Homer, and Kinzer show in Playful Learning: An Integrated Design Framework that successful games tend to aim toward this same zone. The tantalizing opportunity provided by games is a lesson that measures player skill, and then delivers an appropriate response automatically.

Gamers beware, however. According to Tobias et al, when the game mechanics become complex, the zone of proximal development is overshot and learning can be inhibited. Game designers “need to be mindful of the cognitive load imposed on players” to learn to play.

Games encourage growth

Games relate to another key aspect of learning. Carol Dweck pioneered the idea is that individuals who see themselves as evolving through hard work and dedication will grow their abilities, while those who see their talents as fixed traits will not. She called this the growth mindset paradigm, laid out in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Games reinforce the growth mindset through their treatment of failure.

Games that support a growth mindset allow for “graceful failure” by embedding low-stakes failure into the game mechanics. These games encourage balanced risk-taking and exploration. A player who fails at a well-made game immediately tries again, and when the player eventually succeeds, the idea of growth through practice is reinforced. Kris Mueller, an eighth grade teacher writing for Edutopia, wrote: “A well-designed game leads players through carefully-leveled tasks that prepare them to succeed in bigger challenges.”

Games improve spatial skills

There are literally hundreds of research and pseudo-research papers on games. A meta-analysis of more than 100 studies, Effects of video-game play on information processing: a meta-analytic investigation, found that studies generally agreed: games improve visual processing, visual-spatial manipulation of images, and auditory processing. The analysis, undertaken by Powers, Brooks, Aldreich, Palladino, and Alfieri, attributed much of the improvement to video games demanding that players interpret, mentally transform, manipulate, and relate dynamic changing images.

Games have significant value for education because the skills cultivated by games are widely applicable outside of games. Tobias, Fletcher, and Chen showed this in a review of 95 studies, Digital Games as Educational Technology: Promise and Challenges in the Use of Games to Teach (to be published later in 2015). They found “evidence of near and far transfer in applying learning from games to external tasks.”

Specifically, action games, often called First Person Shooter (FPS) games, improve attention, mental rotation, task switching, speed of processing, sensitivity to inputs from the environment, resistance to distraction, and flexibility in allocating cognitive as well as perceptual resources. Not only did people learn these skills from video games, there was a significant ability to transfer that learning to other activities.

Games are linked to STEM achievement and greater creativity

Spatial skills “can be trained with video games (primarily action games) in a relatively brief period” and that these skills “last over an extended period of time.” More excitingly, the improvement in visual-spatial skills is related to other, more scholarly, improvements. The Benefits of Playing Video Games (Granic, Lobel, and Egels in American Psychologist, January, 2014) noted that those learning these skills from video games show increased efficiency of neural processing. Improvements in spatial skills predict achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

There are also links between playing video games and enhanced creativity, although we do not yet know the exact nature of the connection. Perhaps games enhance players’ creativity, or creative people tend to play video games, or some combination is at work.

Games foster engagement

One of the most important factors related to learning is time on task. It is highly related to proficiency and can be used to predict math proficiency to the nearest tenth of a grade placement. Yet, students are found to be thinking about topics entirely unrelated to academics a full 40% of the time while in classrooms. In fact, on average, high school students are less engaged while in classrooms than anywhere else.

In the Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools, Shernoff and Chikszentmihalyi make two points that relate directly to the need for increased engagement. They found that enjoyment and interest during high school classes are significant predictors of student success in college, and that this engagement is a rarity in US schools.

High engagement is observed when students focus on mastering a task according to self-set standards or a self-imposed desire for improvement. You’ll remember that those standards are linked to the growth mindset outlined by Dweck. Engagement (enjoyment and interest) is represented by heightened concentration and effort in skill-building activities along with spontaneous enjoyment from intrinsic interest and continued motivation.

This relationship between time spent and skill applies to video games as well. The more time spent playing educational games, the greater the gain in skills and knowledge. Unlike class time, however, video games are great at capturing and holding attention. The average gamer spends 13 hours a week playing games.

It is not clear whether the positive effects of game-based learning stem from greater time spent learning, or increased efficiency in learning, or both. It is clear, however, that more time is spent learning when educational games are used than when they are not. Tobias et al report that those who learn using games, “tend to spend more time on them than do comparison groups.”

What makes an optimal learning environment?

Shernoff and Chikszentmihalyi propose conditions for an optimal learning environment which match strikingly with the benefits of educational gaming. An optimal learning environment:

  1. presents challenging and relevant activities that allow students to feel confident and in control
  2. promotes both concentration and enjoyment
  3. is intrinsically satisfying in the short term while building a foundation of skills and interests
  4. involves both intellect and feeling
  5. requires effort and yet feels like play

Their research shows that video games may foster this environment. Students using a video game approach made considerably greater learning gains than those in a traditional classroom, and were linked to a higher level of engagement.

Shernoff provides an example: a full semester college course, Dynamic Systems and Control.

A college course was designed around a video game in which students race a virtual car around a track for homework and lab exercises. The students reported a higher level of interest, engagement, and flow, and the video game was able to maintain “the high level of rigor inherent to the challenging engineering course while adding the perception of feeling active, creative, and in control characteristic of flow activities. The students who interacted with the video game also demonstrated greater depth of knowledge and better performance in the course.”

SRI, in research on GlassLab STEM games for K12, found that, for the average students, learning achievement increases by 12 percent when game based learning augments traditional instruction, and if the “game” is a simulation, achievement increases by 25 percent.

The research so far points to the tremendous value of games in education, and marks signposts for differentiating “good” and “bad” games. Yet there is still little knowledge on the most effective ways to produce games “the reliably yield pre-specified instructional objectives.” Also, it’s hard to know in advance if students will master a specific standard through X hours playing any one game.

A combination of games and other instructional methods has been shown to be especially effective. “Integrating games into the curriculum improves transfer from games to school learning tasks.”

Games, combined with other instructional strategies, may be the solution to Bloom’s two-sigma problem.

References:

Effects of video-game play on information processing: A meta-analytic investigation Powers, Brooks, Aldreich, Palladino, Alfieri; Psychonomic Society, 22 March, 2013

Digital Games as Educational Technology: Promise and Challenges in the Use of Games to Teach Tobias, Fletcher, Chen; Educational Technology, due in September or October 2015

Playful Learning: An Integrated Design Framework Plass, Homer, Kinzer; Games for Learning Institute; December, 2014

Flow in Schools Revisited Shernoff, Chikszentmihalyi, Handbook of Positive Psychology in Schools, Second Edition, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Engagement and Positive Youth Development: Creating Optimal Learning Environments David J Shernoff, APA Educational Psychology Handbook, Chapter 8

Independent Research and Evaluation on GlassLab Games and Assessments, SRI, 2012, http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/27/games-in-the-classroom-what-the-research-says/

The Benefits of Playing Video Games, Granic, Lobel, Engels; American Psychologist, January, 2014

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Mitch Weisburgh is the cofounder of Games4Ed.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

Edtech aims to save time, combine resources

It’s no secret that teachers spend a lot of non-instructional time on paperwork. It seems as data tracking with students has improved, the amount of it that teachers are asked to do has risen. Grading assignments and filling out report cards are just a drop in the bucket of keeping up with the data needed for individual students, schools, districts and states. The data is well-intended of course and meant to ensure that students are on track, both academically and otherwise.

It just takes time. A lot of it. Technology has made it easier to track student achievements and development but in most cases, has not streamlined that data in the best way possible. Even digital systems often overlap with each other and require the same data to be entered more than once.

Just this week, MIDAS Education released its EEM (Education Enterprise Management) solution intended to bring all student data together in one spot. EEM is an edtech-wide movement that favors integration of information systems, rather than having a need for separate ones. Customized instruction is the aim of the MIDAS system that gives real-time access to teachers, parents, students and administrators through a user-friendly Web interface. MIDAS is not just a curation tool that gives users a single sign on —  it actually replaces all of these systems with a single platform powered by one massive database.

MIDAS encompasses the functionality of up to 13 different software packages in one EEM solution, with a single log-in and an intuitive user interface.

I really like the idea of housing everything in one spot and making it accessible to everyone who needs the information. This not only saves time for the educator and administrators, but ultimately benefits the students. More streamlined policies on data strengthen the help kids can receive throughout their P-20 careers.

For more information, please visit MIDASEducation.com.

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation

4 Keys to Getting Reluctant Readers from ‘No’ to ‘Wow’

Interactive, multimedia environments can turn reading into something that students actually enjoy.

By Ted Levine

Reading is the most fundamental skill an early learner can develop to start on a path towards success, both as a student and as a young citizen. But I hear from educators all the time about how hard it is to engage reluctant readers, especially at the elementary level when development is most crucial. So the question then becomes: What tactics can we use as educators to encourage those reluctant readers to turn the corner, and ultimately to get them excited about reading and learning?

Just like any other skill, reading is something everyone needs to work at. It requires time, effort, and repetition in order to be properly developed. While educators have the important task of working with young learners to develop their reading skills, student also need support and encouragement at home. No tactics or “shortcuts” will help reluctant readers make progress unless there is time carved out in class and at home to focus on their reading. Having said that, there are some key tactics that educators can use to help drive reluctant readers down the path towards reading proficiency—and even enjoyment.

1) Invite young learners to engage in multimedia learning environments. A multimedia learning environment may consist of reading texts, photographs, videos, audio, and even some interactive elements, all mashed up into one single experience. Technology is often overlooked when it comes to reading, but multimedia learning environments can provide an incredible springboard for students who are reluctant to pick up a book.

Young learners are often drawn into the excitement and movement of multimedia elements, particularly video and interactive content. By contrast, huge chunks of text and reading environments that lack any visually engaging components are daunting for reluctant readers.

We recently held a webinar with Dr. Kimberly Greene, an associate professor of education at Brandman University. Dr. Greene had strong opinions about the importance of shorter passages, approachable fonts, and digital reading environments that deliver an inviting experience. Another of her strong opinions is the second tactic I will share:

2) Don’t send reluctant readers into environments that are too “childish.” This point struck a particularly strong chord with the webinar’s attendees, who were mostly upper elementary and middle school educators.

For example, let’s take a 6th-grade student who currently reads at a 3rd-grade level. The print or digital reading environments available at that reading level often have a childish design. Reading something obviously designed for young kids can be a source of embarrassment for the student to read in front of his or her peers, and oftentimes is counterproductive to achieving the desired outcomes for this type of student. Instead, every student in this example 6th-grade class should be able to experience an interactive reading environment like Kids Discover Online, where every student in class has the same rich reading experience, but at slightly different levels.

3) Start small. For a reluctant reader, sitting down to read for a full hour might feel overwhelming. Aim to have them start with just 15 minutes of reading. You can even begin with five or 10 minutes. No marathon runner kicks off their training season with a 26-mile run. The point is to break down the walls of intimidation and frustration, and to gradually build up your learner’s skills.

4) Create “wow” moments. Getting kids to read is one thing; getting them excited about reading is another. I believe that giving students a reading experience filled with iconic photographs, beautiful illustrations, short-form video, and interactive elements that support the text will create the “wow” moments that every educator so desperately seeks to deliver to his or her students. Having these inspiring moments when they “get it” will lead students to approach reading with feelings of excitement instead of apprehension. Rather than seeing reading as a chore, they will look forward to it and engage on a deeper level with the content.

If we can instill that love of reading in our students, we are giving them a huge head start on the road to academic success.

Ted Levine is the president and CEO of Kids Discover, follow him on twitter, @KIDS_Discover

 

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Matthew Lynch published in EdTech & Innovation, Matthew Lynch

Classroom Technology: Does it Really Make a Difference?

Public school teachers have a lot on their plate when it comes to measuring achievement. Student success is determined through assessments, graded materials and even technological savvy. The general consensus seems to be that in order to give K-12 students a fighting chance in the real world, teachers and administrators must stay on top of any and all technology trends. Is it worth the effort though?

The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2009 that 97 percent of K-12 teachers had computers in their classrooms every day. In addition, 54 percent were able to bring a computer into the classroom. The overall ratio of students to classroom computers was 5.3 to 1.

Well that was then and this is now. Since 2009, teachers have made the shift to include mobile devices like tablets and Smartphones as part of the classroom culture. Computers are still there, but are quickly playing second fiddle to smaller, faster and just-plain-cooler pieces of technology. While the inclusion of cutting-edge technology certainly grabs the attention of students, does it actually make a difference in academic success?

Does technology really provide more opportunities?

The problem with answering these questions is that not enough time has passed since the influx of Internet-based learning has stormed K-12 classrooms. At a technology summit in early 2012, Troy Williams of Macmillan New Ventures told a packed conference room that companies like his do not “have the outcomes yet to say what leads to a true learning moment.” He added that it would still be another three to five years before those numbers can truly be analyzed. Matthew Pittinsky, a co-founder of the popular Blackboard software, agreed with Williams, saying that “these are really early days” when it comes to truly integrated technology intended to improve student success in K-12 and higher education settings.

In its widest definition, though, technology has always been associated with the creation of a level playing field for students. Bernard John Poole of the University of Pittsburgh wrote ten pillars of technology integration in K-12 schools and his final point reads: Recognize that technology is for all, and involves all, in the process of lifelong learning. Poole talks about the way that teachers must receive ongoing training, and parents must be equally involved, in order to promote student achievement through technological advances. While his points sound good on paper, it leads one to wonder if he truly believes that technology is necessity of learning, or if it is only a means to capturing an ever-waning student body attention span.

At the public school level, all students have equal access to classroom computers and mobile devices. Even if these youngsters have no electronic access at home, upon entering a classroom they are able to interact with technology and keep up with their peers. That is all well and good – but does it matter? If all public K-12 classrooms got rid of computers and banned Internet-based learning, would it negatively impact academic success through college years? Would it affect graduation rates? Would American kids fall behind the rest of the world?

I think that truly depends on how you look at it. Does the technology itself provide heightened learning experiences? I’d argue that it does not. Instead, the implementation of the technology is a necessary move to keep students interested in the subject matter. I am not saying that I am against rapid adjustment to cutting-edge technology in learning and practice; I think there is no way to avoid embracing it and still turn out high numbers of world-ready graduates. I just think that there is a danger in relying on the technology to convey learning materials in a vacuum. Look at how much technology has changed since the 2009 report I referenced above. Does this mean that the students growing up in public school atmospheres in 2013 will be better prepared for life than those of 2009? What about the students of 2017, and so on?

What do you think? Does technology improve learning?

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Matthew Lynch published in Higher Education, Teachers

6 Fun Careers To Keep Students Excited about School

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest post by Anita Ginsburg

Some kids love school, where others struggle a bit more to find excitement and motivation. With a vast and varied career world, one of the best ways to keep kids interested and excited about school is to talk to them about some of the fun careers waiting for them when they finish.

Animator

For the artistic minded creative student the idea of drawing and creating for a living will likely get them excited. If you have a student that seems to spend more time doodling in the margins of their papers than taking notes, take the time to talk with them about enhancing their skills and becoming an animator. They could be working for their favorite tv show, software company, or publisher.

Event Planner

To the social kid that likes to plan parties, talk with them about considering a career in event planning. Whether they enter the wedding business, high end parties, kids events, or something else, they could make a career of planning parties for the rest of their lives.

Meteorologist

Many kids are fascinated with how the world around them works. Talk to your students about the weather and the many fun science based careers. One of the easiest to get kids excited about is meteorology because it is quick and easy to take them outside for a day and explore how the weather around us works.

Mechanical Engineer

To the kid that likes to tinker with objects and loves to figure out how things work, a career in mechanical engineering may be exactly what they are looking for. Encourage students that may have a knack for engineering based careers to embrace their desire to figure out how things work and practice with things such as models, puzzles and logic games. They should be excited about the many career options available with an engineering management master’s degree. 

Toy Designer

Most kids love to play with toys, so the idea of coming up with ideas and designing them as they grow is a dream come true. Encourage students to think about the toys they like to play with and the kinds they wish they had. They may just design the next big thing.

Zoologist

For all the animal lovers, a career in zoology may be just perfect. Zoologists work directly with the animals, as well as in conservation and educational settings. Visit the zoo with your students and let them meet with zoologists to find out more about this exciting career.

Even the most studious of kids will have times that they struggle to stay focused and thrilled about their studies. It can be very challenging to keep kids excited and working hard throughout school, but giving them something to motivate them through the tough times can be exactly what they need.

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Matthew Lynch published in HBCU's, Higher Education

How should we measure the size of a university’s endowment?

Sarah Waldeck, Seton Hall University

Congress is rattling its saber at colleges and universities with endowments worth U$1 billion or more. Committees from the House and Senate have sent a joint letter to 56 private colleges and universities, asking for comprehensive information about endowment spending and management policies.

Thomas W. Reed, representative for New York’s 23rd Congressional District, is talking about legislation that would require colleges and universities with endowments of $1 billion or more to spend 25 percent of their endowment earnings on financial aid or forfeit their tax-exempt status.

But what is so significant about the $1 billion mark? Are all endowments with $1 billion so huge that Congress should treat them differently than endowments with less than $1 billion? And are all endowments less than $1 billion so small that Congress should ignore them?

From my perspective as a professor who has studied endowments, the only real significance of $1 billion is that it shocks the public because it sounds like so much money.

What really matters is how much buying power a school needs and how much buying power an endowment has. The bigger a school’s budget, the more endowment is necessary. To figure out which colleges and universities have large endowments, you have to consider a school’s expenses.

How do endowments work?

An endowment is like a savings account that exists to support college or university operations. The assets in an endowment usually come from donations. The funds in an endowment are invested; each year a school spends a portion of these returns and then puts the remainder back into the endowment.

In good financial times, an endowment allows a school to spend more on priorities like financial aid, research budgets or professor salaries. In bad financial times, an endowment acts like a rainy day fund to ensure that schools will not have to dramatically reduce spending in important areas.

Because an endowment’s primary purpose is to support institutional operations, the strength of a $1 billion endowment is relative to the size of an institution’s expenses.

How does an endowment work?
Philip Taylor, CC BY-SA

To illustrate, I want to take a closer look at three of the schools that received the congressional request for information because they have endowments of $1 billion or more. In the context of this discussion, there’s nothing particularly special about these three schools except that they demonstrate why expenses are relevant to endowment size.

Each year, the National Association of College and University Business Officers ranks endowments by their absolute value. In 2015, Harvard was at the top of the heap with an eye-popping $36.4 billion endowment. Vanderbilt University was in 23rd place, with $4.1 billion. Grinnell College was considerably farther back, coming in 50th with an endowment of almost $1.8 billion.

Now let’s add a fourth school to the mix: Colgate University. As before, in the context of this discussion there’s nothing special about Colgate except that it helps illustrate why endowments and expenses need to be considered simultaneously.

When measured only by absolute endowment value, Colgate is way behind Harvard, Vanderbilt and Grinnell. Colgate comes in 103rd place, with an $892 million endowment. And Colgate was spared the congressional letter because its endowment did not exceed the $1 billion threshold.

Expenses matter

Now consider these same schools, this time in light of both absolute endowment value and all expenses – the costs incurred to fulfill the school’s educational mission, to administer the institution and to fundraise. Unsurprisingly, these four schools have wildly different expenses. Harvard and Vanderbilt are large research universities, while Grinnell and Colgate are small liberal arts colleges.

In 2013 (the most recent year for which data is readily available), Harvard had expenses of $4.4 billion; Vanderbilt, $3.8 billion; Grinnell, $97.6 million; and Colgate, $172.2 million. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether colleges and universities are doing enough to control costs. But to measure the strength of an endowment, we can assume that current institutional expenses are representative of future institutional expenses.

An endowment helps fund scholarships and research budgets.
kylebaker, CC BY-NC-SA

Grinnell’s endowment is so enormous that it can pay for a whopping 18 years of expenses, until today’s infants are ready to matriculate. Harvard’s endowment is large enough to cover eight years. And Colgate – which does not exceed the $1 billion threshold – can pay for five years.

But Vanderbilt, with its $4.1 billion endowment, cannot cover even two years’ worth of expenses.

Some academics have argued that endowments are excessively large once the endowment can cover more than two years of expenses. Others have suggested that an endowment is much bigger than a school needs when it can pay for more than five years of expenses.

At some point, an endowment may become vastly larger than what a college or university needs to ensure its success. No school really needs an endowment that is large enough to cover a half-decade or more of expenses. But to determine whether an endowment is so large that it warrants different treatment than others, Congress must consider the endowment in relation to institutional costs. It cannot simply use $1 billion as some kind of magical threshold.

Modifying endowment tax policy

Favorable tax policy is one of the reasons that endowments can accumulate $1 billion or that a school can have an endowment large enough to cover 18 years of expenses. The government collects fewer tax dollars than it otherwise would because donations to endowments qualify for the charitable deduction, and endowments do not have to pay taxes on their investment returns.

In my view, schools like Harvard and Grinnell are going to fight tooth and nail to hang on to this preferential tax treatment. But when a college or university has an endowment that is large enough to cover its expenses for years and years into the future, I believe lawmakers should conclude that the forgone tax dollars would be better spent elsewhere. At some point, an endowment has such ample funds that it no longer needs government subsidy. This means goodbye to tax-free investment returns and to the charitable deduction.

Eliminating the charitable deduction may mean that donors would give less, but they would not stop giving altogether. As I’ve described elsewhere, research has shown that the charitable deduction is only one of the reasons that donors give to colleges and universities. Some donors feel a responsibility to “give back” to their alma matter. Others desire the social status and public recognition that giving can provide, or want to influence institutional policy. Some people give simply because it makes them feel good. For many donors, a combination of all these factors motivates them to give.

But even if eliminating the charitable deduction means that some donors would choose to direct their giving elsewhere, chances are that the recipient organization would need the donation more than a school with a very large endowment.

Although schools are unlikely to see it this way, less preferential tax treatment would actually be a sign of success: it means that donors have been so generous and the endowment has been so well-managed that the school now requires less public assistance than others do.

So, legislators should stop fixating on the $1 billion mark and instead evaluate endowments in their larger institutional context.

Before Congress singles out certain endowments for less preferential tax treatment, it needs to distinguish between endowments that sound obscenely large and those that actually are.

The Conversation

Sarah Waldeck, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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