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Summary from the original page here.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

The study, authored by Silvernail and Aaron Gritter, is the first in a series in which educators aim to evaluate Maine’s first-in-the-nation laptop program.

The program, which seeks to eliminate the so-called “digital divide” between wealthy and poor students, kicked off with distribution of about 36,000 computers to each seventh- and eighth-grader in Maine public schools in 2002 and 2003.

The study focused on eighth-graders’ scores on the Maine Educational Assessment to see if the standardized test results backed up the perception of both students and teachers alike that laptops have led to better writing skills. (See “Maine laptop program gets high marks in mid-year survey”.)

State Education Commissioner Sue Gendron said the study represents the first concrete evidence that backs up what most educators already believe: that the laptop program, known as the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, is working.

“It’s about enhancing learning opportunities, and the evidence and the data we’ve received in this report substantiates that this is the right approach,” she said.

Maine Education Assessment scores indicate 49 percent of eighth-graders were proficient in 2005 in writing, compared with 29 percent in 2000.

And it wasn’t just a function of taking the writing portion of the test using a computer and keyboard. Students who used pen and paper, and those who used a computer keyboard, showed similar improvements on the test, Silvernail said.

During the same period, math scores were unchanged and science scores improved by 2 points, while reading scores actually dropped 3 points, Silvernail said. Writing showed the biggest improvement of 7 points, from 530 to 537, he said.

Silvernail said it’s unrealistic to expect big increases on standardized test scores that are tied to laptops, but writing is the exception.

Laptops make it easier for students to edit their copy and make changes without getting writer’s cramp, he said. As a result, students are writing and revising their work more frequently, which leads to better results. And it’s important, Silvernail said, that those skills translated when the test was taken with pen and paper, too.

Virginia Rebar, principal at Piscataquis Community Middle School, said she was not surprised by the results, because language skills are being developed every time the computers are used, in social studies and other subjects beyond language arts.

“It’s just a lot easier to edit, to self-critique. Our teachers engage students in a lot of peer editing. Not only are they helping themselves, but they’re helping each other as they get to their final projects,” Rebar said.

Links:

Maine Learning Technology Initiative
Maine Education Policy Research Institute
Study: “Maine’s Middle School Laptop Program: Creating Better Writers”

Full Article

After seeing the video, as student posted this “inversion” of the video.  It’s very telling, and combined with what we see in the video drives home the reality that something is broken here.

It these walls could talk …

What would they say?

If lecturers are rewarded more for their research than their teaching

Why do they lecture at all?

The information is up here.

Follow along.

Follow.

Of course, bookshelves cannot talk.

But lecturers can.

What is it like being a lecturer today?

66% of my students

Bother to come to the lectures

I spend all Sunday carefully preparing.

I spent five days researching and preparing.

A carefully considered reading list

Of which my students read

20% of the items.

I spent the summer

Creating an online learning environment

Full of amazing study resources

That only 30% of my students visit

I will read 80 books this year

Review three in my spare time

Unpaid

I will read 200 academic journal articles

Review four in my spare time

Unpaid

I will read 2300 web pages

And many of my students’ Facebook profiles

Especially the ones with tasteless pictures

Because word gets around.

I will spend six weeks

Finalising 2 research council funding applications

That stand a 75% chance of being rejected

Even if they are world class.

My family’s future depends on

The next Research Assessment Exercise.

I will write 72 pages of text

For each module I teach this semester

And over 700 emails

And attend 36 meetings

And spend 30 hours on the phone

And fill in 75 forms

I get 6 1/2 hours of sleep each night

I spend 1 ½ hours watching TV each night.

I spend 6 hours a day online

Twice a week

I read my children their bedtime stories

Over the phone

I work 48 hours a week

Sometimes including weekends

I’m a multitasker.

I have to be.

I have a second job

To help pay the bills

Because UK lecturers earn 2/3

Of what school teachers earn

I spent 5 years writing my last book

Which was well reviewed

And got me interviewed on TV

But I only made £50 in royalties

So you have to ask

Why I do this job?

And my answer is

Because I believe

all that stands between civilization and barbarism

is education.

Discuss.

Posted in Smatterings, Vision of Students

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Gendron said the report shows promise for the future of technology in supporting the learning of 21st century skills.

“The days are gone when our kids could learn math and reading and go out into the world and be successful,” Gendron said. “Whether going on to a four-year college, or to a job in an automotive shop, our students need problem-solving skills, the ability to research, experience working in teams, and other critical 21st century skills. This study shows one way in which students are improving learning through the use of technology.”

Gov. John Baldacci, who has supported the laptop program, as well as the effort to expand the program into high school grades, said the report validates the anecdotal evidence we have been hearing from teachers, principals, students and others.

“Since the implementation of the laptops initiative, we have all wanted to know what kind of impact they would have on student learning and achievement,” Baldacci said.  “Until now, we have had only anecdotal evidence of success. For the first time we have proof that laptops make a difference in learning, and we also have quantifiable support for students’ and teachers’ belief that laptops make a difference in teaching and learning.”

The report by Dr. David Silvernail will undoubtedly be viewed closely both here in Maine and nationally as other states continue to watch Maine closely because of its nation-leading efforts in the implementation of 1-to-1 laptop use and Maine’s incorporation of laptops into the middle school curriculum.

MEPRI plans to conduct additional research on the impact of laptops in the future.

Here are some of the key findings of the report:

• Use of laptops and a technology instructional program contributed to significant improvement in writing scores for eighth graders from 2000 to 2005 (laptops introduced in 2002).

• An average student in 2005 scored better than approximately two thirds of all students in 2000.

• In 2000, only 29.1 percent of eighth-grade students scored at the proficiency level. In 2005, the percentage increased to 41.4 percent of eighth-grade students meeting the MEA writing proficiency.

• Students who used the laptops in all phases of the writing process scored the highest on the MEA writing test. In fact, twice as many students in the highest-use group as in the lowest-use group met proficiency (43.7% compared to 21%).

• Writing scores improved for all students – regardless of the MEA test medium, i.e., online versus longhand.  Laptops in classrooms helped students become better writers in general, not just better writers while using laptops.

• Over 80 percent of the teachers report that the quality of their students’ work has improved since the implementation of the laptop program.

The MEPRI report can be accessed online at: [ http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare ]www.usm.maine.edu/cepare.

Richard Florida is the author of the groundbreaking book, The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure Community and Everyday Life, published by Basic Books in June 2002. The book has been widely acclaimed in the New York Times and other major media for showing how the most profound changes in our workplace, culture and everyday lives come from the rise of creativity as an economic force. Currently in its eighth printing, the book has stimulated a national debate about the causes and consequences of economic growth and development.

He is the H. John Heinz III Professor of Economic Development at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is founder and co-director of the Software Industry Center. He has been a visiting professor at MIT and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Richard is co-author of five other books, including Industrializing Knowledge published by MIT Press; Beyond Mass Production published by Oxford University Press and The Breakthrough Illusion published by Basic Books, and more than 100 articles in academic journals.

He is a founder and principal of Catalytix, a strategy-consulting firm that works with regions, governments and corporations around the world.

He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College and his PhD from Columbia University.