Computer Technology Integration and Student Learning: Barriers and Promise

Political and institutional support has enabled many institutions of learning to spend millions of dollars to acquire educational computing tools (Ficklen and Muscara, Am Educ 25(3):22–29, 2001) that have not been effectively integrated into the curriculum. While access to educational technology tools has remarkably improved in most schools, there is still concern about instructional integration of computer technology to support student learning. Appropriate integration of computer tools constitutes a major change in people’s lives; technology integration is a complex phenomenon that involves understanding teachers’ motivations, perceptions, and beliefs about learning and technology (Woodbridge, ). Although computer technology has a great potential to reform or even transform education, barriers come in the way of achieving success especially with student learning. This paper presents an overview of technology use in education with a focus on barriers to computer technology integration. Further, this paper provides suggestions to maximize the benefits of learning with computer technology.     

Measuring the Results of Performance Improvement Interventions

In this study, a web‐based questionnaire was used to measure attitudes of members of a professional performance improvement organization relative to adoption and implementation of Level 4 or results‐oriented evaluation. Participants were 274 members of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). It was expected that frequency of Level 4 evaluation use could be explained by innovation diffusion or change variables. Findings suggest that the adoption of effective performance improvement measurement systems and processes at the organizational level is relatively low compared to other types of evaluation. This level of adoption is impacted by a complex array of factors. Stakeholder participation in the adaptation of evaluation systems to increase their compatibility with current practices, and experimentation with this type of evaluation on a limited or trial basis may increase the rate of adoption. Management support of the development and adaptation of a results‐oriented evaluation system is seen as providing the opportunity for the change process to move forward. Implications for diffusion of this type of evaluation within organizations will be discussed within the context of a HPT Change framework.     

The effect of attentional focus cues on object control performance in elementary children

Background and purpose: Attentional focus cues have been shown to impact motor performance of adults and children. Specifically, an external focus of attention results in improved motor learning and performance as compared to adopting an internal focus of attention. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an internal and external attentional focus cue on children’s object control skill performance during a commonly used motor skill assessment.

Methods: Using a within-participant design, a total of 44 children (M_age?=?7.7 years, 20 boys and 24 girls) completed all three attentional focus conditions. The object control subscale of the Test of Gross Motor Development-2nd Edition (TGMD-2; Ulrich, 2000. Test of Gross Motor Development-2. Austin: Pro-Ed.) served as the motor skill assessment in present study. The TGMD-2 is a normed and criteria-referenced assessment frequently used to assess fundamental motor skill competence in children. The object control subtest of the TGMD-2 assesses a child’s ability to complete six fundamental motor skills – striking a stationary ball, stationary dribble, catch, kick, overhand throw, and underhand roll. All participants completed the object control subtest of the TGMD-2 under three different attentional focus conditions: baseline (i.e. neutral focus), internal, and external. The internal cue focused on movement performance and the external cue focused on movement outcome. In all three conditions, a video demonstration of proper skill performance was used to ensure no difference in visual demonstration, but the overlaying audio was changed to encompass each attentional focus condition. Children’s motor performance was recorded and later coded by a single researcher blinded to the study. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to determine if children’s motor scores changed among the three conditions.

Results: Findings demonstrated that children’s performance differed among the three conditions (F_(2,43)?=?3.5, p?Post hoc analysis revealed that children scored significantly better in the external cue condition compared to the baseline (difference?=?1.98, p?Conclusion: Children performed better when given a verbal instruction to focus their attention externally rather than a verbal instruction with no attentional focus cue. No significant differences exist between the internal and external focus condition or between the neutral and internal condition. Our findings align with the literature and support that external attentional focus cues have a positive effect on motor performance. From a teaching and learning standpoint, using consistent instructions appears to be essential for young learners. Slight changes in verbal cues can have a significant effect on how well children execute fundamental motor skills.     

Using invention to change how students tackle problems

Invention activities challenge students to tackle problems that superficially appear unrelated to the course material but illustrate underlying fundamental concepts that are fundamental to material that will be presented. During our invention activities in a first-year biology class, students were presented with problems that are parallel to those that living cells must solve, in weekly sessions over a 13-wk term. We compared students who participated in the invention activities sessions with students who participated in sessions of structured problem solving and with students who did not participate in either activity. When faced with developing a solution to a challenging and unfamiliar biology problem, invention activity students were much quicker to engage with the problem and routinely provided multiple reasonable hypotheses. In contrast the other students were significantly slower in beginning to work on the problem and routinely produced relatively few ideas. We suggest that the invention activities develop a highly valuable skill that operates at the initial stages of problem solving.     

Online Interactive Teaching Modules Enhance Quantitative Proficiency of Introductory Biology Students

There is widespread agreement within the scientific and education communities that undergraduate biology curricula fall short in providing students with the quantitative and interdisciplinary problem-solving skills they need to obtain a deep understanding of biological phenomena and be prepared fully to contribute to future scientific inquiry. MathBench Biology Modules were designed to address these needs through a series of interactive, Web-based modules that can be used to supplement existing course content across the biological sciences curriculum. The effect of the modules was assessed in an introductory biology course at the University of Maryland. Over the course of the semester, students showed significant increases in quantitative skills that were independent of previous math course work. Students also showed increased comfort with solving quantitative problems, whether or not they ultimately arrived at the correct answer. A survey of spring 2009 graduates indicated that those who had experienced MathBench in their course work had a greater appreciation for the role of mathematics in modern biology than those who had not used MathBench. MathBench modules allow students from diverse educational backgrounds to hone their quantitative skills, preparing them for more complex mathematical approaches in upper-division courses.     

CONSISTENCY AND MAGNITUDE OF DIFFERENCES IN READING CURRICULUM‐BASED MEASUREMENT SLOPES IN BENCHMARK VERSUS STRATEGIC MONITORING

Differences in oral reading curriculum‐based measurement (R‐CBM) slopes based on two commonly used progress monitoring practices in field‐based data were compared in this study. Semester‐specific R‐CBM slopes were calculated for 150 Grade 1 and 2 students who completed benchmark (i.e., 3 R‐CBM probes collected 3 times per year) and strategic (i.e., one R‐CBM probe collected monthly) assessments. Slopes based on two adjacent benchmark assessments were positively correlated with slopes based on three monthly strategic assessments in the spring semester of Grade 1 but not in either Grade 2 semester, and significant differences were found between the slopes in all semesters. Consistent with another study showing that slopes are overestimated when single probes are administered per occasion, slopes were larger when based on strategic versus benchmark data in the current study, and the average discrepancies between slopes were greater‐than‐expected growth rates in all semesters. The current findings, based on field‐based data, illustrate the impact of variations in commonly used progress monitoring procedures on the precision of calculated slope estimates.     

Shelf-ready: A cost-benefit analysis

Brigham Young University's Harold B. Lee Library conducted a time-task cost study to compare the cost and processing time of shelf-ready books to non-shelf-ready books to determine if it could better use its human resources and if it should expand the use of shelf-ready to include its approval books. The results showed that shelf-ready was, on average, 5.7% cheaper, took 47% less processing time, and arrived on the shelves 33 sooner than books processed in-house. Based on the results of the study, the library moved its approval books to the shelf-ready program and was able to reallocate catalogers tasks.     

Factors influencing technology planning in developing countries: A literature review

This article is a literature review concerning the factors that play an important role in the development of educational technology plans in the educational system of developing countries (DCs). Largely, the technology plans are influenced by factors that emanates from within the country (internal) and those outside of their borders (external). Internal factors include the high prices and low effectiveness of services provided by technology-related multinational corporations in DCs, the philosophical perspectives and priorities of organizations, foundations and development agencies promoting the implementation of ICTs in DCs, pilot programs without sustainability, uncoordinated pilot projects, selling of refurbished computers for use at a large scale, and dominance of the English language in the software. External factors include international summits and conferences, global partnerships and establishment of international organizations, and technology-related multinational corporations. To this end, this article is intended to stimulate reflections on the different factors that play an important role in the development and implementation of educational technology plans in Dcs.