Using Technology To Increase Student Learning

First released in the Spring of 1999, How People Learn has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This edition includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning. Like the original edition, this book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non-experts? What can teachers and schools do-with curricula, classroom settings, and teaching methods--to help children learn most effectively? New evidence from many branches of science has significantly added to our understanding of what it means to know, from the neural processes that occur during learning to the influence of culture on what people see and absorb. How People Learn examines these findings and their implications for what we teach, how we teach it, and how we assess what our children learn. The book uses exemplary teaching to illustrate how approaches based on what we now know result in in-depth learning. This new knowledge calls into question concepts and practices firmly entrenched in our current education system. Topics include: How learning actually changes the physical structure of the brain. How existing knowledge affects what people notice and how they learn. What the thought processes of experts tell us about how to teach. The amazing learning potential of infants. The relationship of classroom learning and everyday settings of community and workplace. Learning needs and opportunities for teachers. A realistic look at the role of technology in education.

Given the level of spending and hours devoted to technology-based activities in today's schools, educators and policymakers need to know which technologies have real, long-term payoffs for improving student learning. This volume interprets the research perspectives published in Evaluating Educational Technology: Effective Research Designs for Improving Learning to provide valuable insights for the successful use of technology in different classroom and curricular settings. This groundbreaking resource, used alone or with its companion research volume, will give you the tools you need to make research-based decisions concerning the use of educational technology.

This workbook offers teachers, superintendents, curriculum directors, and site principals step-by-step guidance to incorporate technology into the elementary school environment. The following chapters are included: (1) "The Challenge of Building a Quality Technology Program"; (2) "Creating a School Context for Technology Change"; (3) "Focusing the Curriculum with Concept-Based Instruction"; (4) "The Essential Components of a Quality Technology Plan"; (5) "Using Grade-Level Technology Skills to Enhance the Curriculum"; (6) "Acquiring Tools: Hardware and Software"; (7) "Using the Internet to Enhance Curriculum and Instruction"; (8) "Training School Staff through Collaborative Models"; and (9) "Management of the Technology Environment." Includes a list of World Wide Web sites and an Internet glossary. (Contains 24 references.) (MES)

This book examines recent changes in media education and in young people’s lives, and provides an accessible set of principles on which the media curriculum should be based, with a clear rationale for pedagogic practice. David Buckingham is one of the leading international experts in the field - he has more than twenty years’ experience in media education as a teacher and researcher. This book takes account of recent changes both in the media and in young people’s lives, and provides an accessible and cogent set of principles on which the media curriculum should be based. Introduces the aims and methods of media education or 'media literacy'. Includes descriptions of teaching strategies and summaries of relevant research on classroom practice. Covers issues relating to contemporary social, political and technological developments.

Many school districts are discovering that providing computer technology and using technology to improve student learning are two very different things. In this book, national experts use concrete examples to describe specific knowledge, beliefs, and strategies that will enable teachers and district leaders to support meaningful learning using technology. Chapters examine the intersection between course content, types of technology, and the supports and professional development required to effectively implement technology in the K–12 classroom. This authoritative volume: explores how technology can contribute to meaningful learning, achieving deep understanding of complex ideas that are relevant to students' lives; chronicles the effectiveness of specific technology-based curricula in the sciences and social studies, with a focus on history; and suggests models and approaches for teacher professional development, including a - Meaningful Learning Toolbox- where teachers can co-author web-based curriculum units.

Many critics of American education see technology as an important tool in bringing about the kind of revolutionary changes called for in new reform efforts. Consequently, support for the use of technology to promote fundamental reform appears to be reaching a new high. Following an introduction describing elements of school reform, Chapter 2 describes how technology can support the kinds of student learning described in a model of reform presented in Chapter 1. Chapter 3 describes the ways that technology can support student learning as defined by education reformers, and Chapter 4 describes ways in which technology can support teacher efforts to promote student learning. Chapter 5 reviews the literature on the effects of technology on student learning outcomes. The final chapter deals with issues of implementation for projects attempting education reform supported by technology. Three tables and two figures summarize information about technology and reform. (Contains 192 references.) (SLD)

Learn how to improve instruction by * Collecting the right data--the right way. * Incorporating relevant data into everyone's daily life. * Resisting the impulse to set brand-new goals every year. * Never settling for "good enough." * Anticipating changes--big and small, local and federal. * Collaborating and avoiding privatized practice. * Involving all stakeholders in identifying problems, setting goals, and analyzing data. * Agreeing on what constitutes high-quality instruction and feedback. The challenge is to understand that data--not intuition or anecdotal reports--are tools to be used in getting better at teaching students. And teaching students effectively is what schools are all about. Following the guidance in this book, overcome uncertainty and concerns about data as you learn to collect and analyze both soft and hard data and use their secrets for instructional improvement in your school.

This volume identifies promising learning, teaching, and assessment strategies for the use and assessment of technology in educational settings, specifically: *educational context (e.g., organizational and structural factors that contribute to the effective use of technology in school settings); *promising learning and teaching strategies; *promising technology-based assessment procedures and methods; *policy implementation issues; and *a summary of current research on the effective use of technology in education. Chapter authors represent a variety of perspectives and disciplines, from computer science, cognitive and educational psychology, and educational administration. Authors represent government, business, and university communities from within and outside the U.S. These multiple perspectives contribute to the overall understanding of current technology use in education and help in identifying future research needs. Technology Applications in Education: A Learning View explores the state of the art of technology in K-16 education from a learning perspective rather than a hardware/software view. It is designed for professionals and graduate students in the educational technology, training, assessment/evaluation, school administration, military psychology, and educational psychology communities. This book is characterized in the following montage of factors: *the primacy of learning as a focus for technology implementation; *a focus on technology uses in K-16 education; *a focus on the assessment of both individuals and teams; *a broad variety of methodological approaches from qualitative to instructional design to quantitative (e.g., structural equation modeling); *a need to support the development of technology-based curriculum and tools; and *a need for theory-driven and evaluation studies to increase our knowledge.