geek.teacher

I did a podcast with TeacherCast. We talked about iPads. Do I really sound like that?

I had a second grade class I had in the lab today.

This week I have a metric crapload* of classes coming to the computer lab to do an online assessment for the Symphony Math program. On the scale of online assessments I’ve seen over the past 14 months since I started as a Technology Specialist, I award it the highest praise yet: it’s quick. It takes about 20 minutes.

Before the students started in the assessment, their teacher gave some of the standard boilerplate about trying their best to show off what they really know. She told them to take their time answering each question to make sure they got it right.

Diligent students being diligent students, they did.

Here’s the interesting part, though: at one point in the assessment, students receive the instructions to answer the following questions as quick as you can.

This, of course, provides a fascinating bit of cognitive dissonance to watch play out. Fully 1/4 of the class raised their hand when they got to that point to clarify the teacher’s expectations of them.

Is it wrong that this really worries me?

*as opposed to an imperial crapload, naturally

What I remember from my Research in Special Education research class: There’s a lot of crappy, useless educational research. Michael Goldstein provides a possible way forward.

Teachers don’t trust research, and understandably so. There’s a lot of shoddy research that supports fads. Experienced teachers remember that “this year’s method” directly contradicts the approach from three years ago. So they’d rather go it alone. Newer teachers pick up on the skepticism about research from the veterans.

Unlike medical research, teacher research rarely examines possible side effects, and whether they are short-term aggravations or can be expected to persist.

via Studying Teacher Moves : Education Next.

To be honest, I see programs like ADE and GCT as a part of this campaign. The article is mostly about Apple.

The demand for technology in classrooms has given rise to a slick and fast-growing sales force. Makers of computers and other gear vigorously court educators as they vie for billions of dollars in school financing. Sometimes inviting criticism of their zealous marketing, they pitch via e-mail, make cold calls, arrange luncheons and hold community meetings.

via Silicon Valley Wows Educators, and Woos Them – NYtimes.com.