
Ask HN: Has technology benefited the classroom? - Snackchez
As a teacher, I&#x27;ve seen new technologies being pushed into the classroom as tools to help students: from the SmartBoard, iPads, being allowed to use cellphones in the classrooms, carts full of laptops, etc.<p>Is there any research out there that shows the benefits of technology being incorporated in the classroom? Does the opposite exist? If research does exist, are these studies independently funded or are they funded by the companies of these techonologies?
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runjake
> Is there any research out there that shows the benefits of technology being
> incorporated in the classroom?

Yes.

> Does the opposite exist?

Probably.

> If research does exist, are these studies independently funded or are they
> funded by the companies of these techonologies?

Both.

I think that educational technology is still at a point of "throw it at the
wall and see if it sticks". I also think a lot of technology is being deployed
without adequate professional development for teachers.

They have the technology, but haven't been gotten the proper level of training
nor had the proper resources to develop effective curriculum using technology.

Thus far, effective programs always seem to have a "rock star"
teacher/instructor at the center, going the many extra miles needed to
establish gravitas.

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cwt
Not sure if you are looking for specific data about "brick and mortar"
classrooms or if you are open to digital and blended classrooms, too. You can
see videos and papers about new educational technology here:
[https://www.imsglobal.org/2016-learning-impact-awards-
public...](https://www.imsglobal.org/2016-learning-impact-awards-public-
voting)

I haven't looked at all of them, but you should be able to see some
data/research by the participants supporting their educational technology.

Also, voting is open to the public until 2016-05-24 @ Noon.

~~~
Snackchez
Ah, I knew I had forgotten something. I'm specifically looking at "brick and
mortar" schools. The reason is that I've noticed in my school board that a lot
of new technologies seem to get implemented very quickly and without proper
reflection on choice. For example, almost all schools in my school board have
been equipped with SmartBoards. These are huge money pits: they break down
often and I see very little ROI as a teaching tool (especially within the
senior level courses). But somehow, their numbers keep proliferating... This
seems to be the general outlook on most technologies being implemented in the
classroom.

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jabv
My company is of the mind that many ed tech products are not impactful because
they don't take a rigorous approach to curriculum (notwithstanding the
absolute buzzword status of "rigor" in K12 education). Our approach is to use
tech as a lever to transplant a successful curriculum into areas that
otherwise wouldn't have this curriculum.[0]

SRI reviewed the research on our impact with fairly positive findings.[1]

[0] - detail on the approach in the International Journal of Artificial
Intelligence in Education:
[http://ijaied.org/pub/1368/](http://ijaied.org/pub/1368/)

[1] - [https://www.sri.com/work/publications/strength-research-
reas...](https://www.sri.com/work/publications/strength-research-reasoning-
mind)

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testing15
[http://rer.sagepub.com/content/68/3/322.short](http://rer.sagepub.com/content/68/3/322.short).
You can go through this research paper. I feel before implementing the
technology we really need to check all the pros and cons and then we should
decide.

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svisser
This may be relevant watching:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmuEWjHr5c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmuEWjHr5c)
('This Will Revolutionize Education').

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bobbylox
Here's a relevant article that just came up in my twitter feed:
[http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/02/15/what-does-research-
rea...](http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/02/15/what-does-research-really-say-
about-ipads-in-the-classroom/)

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wayn3
My mother is an elementary school teacher. She recently bought a set of ipads
to use in the classroom. She cant get them to work because the internet at the
place is set up improperly and they wont let me fix it for her either.

Schools suffer from bureaucracy, not a lack of tech.

~~~
bitJericho
Has she talked to the IT guy directly? As an IT guy I would bend over
backwards for this type of request.

~~~
wayn3
There is no such thing as an IT guy. The district contracted the work out to a
company. My mother talked to them, they told her what needs to be done and
wrote a proposal to the district administration. Those guys rejected it on the
basis of "because fuck you, thats why".

It's a small school. Not a big network. Basically your average household
internet with a $20 router and a bunch of cables. I could set the whole thing
up in an hour but that's not going to happen either.

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brudgers
To me, it seems that an academic literature search is closer to the daily
activities of one than to a random population of tech nerds particularly in
regard to questions of professional educational practice.

Good luck.

