TQ#2 - Good and Bad Aspects of Australian Tech Studies

I looked first at the report on Netbook potential in education at the Queensland schools. Netbooks are the latest craze now and I was interested in how these might be used in education, as a low cost alternative to laptops (as the report states). My general impression was that the study possesses some major methodological/conceptual flaws.
I liked the way the report laid out the general goals of the study (three of them) and also pointed out the ways laptops have already been used to educational benefit. I also liked that the study employed multiple vehicles for getting data (quantitative and qualitative methods –see p. 9). I also liked the ways certain controls were put in place upfront—for example, all participants were on the same page when it came to being up to speed on ICT Pedagogical Licenses and were provided with orienting training before participating in the study. I also liked that pictures and specification information was provided for the computers used in this study. The study size seemed a bit small, but in the introduction section the point was made that netbooks might only work with the lower grades. However, when I read down to p. 10, I realized that only a total of 8 students were included in this study, a very odd fact and one that probably invalidates this study from the start. The timeframe looked at was 2 terms, which I thought was sufficient. On pages 15 to 19, some exciting trends were seen in student achievement and positive comments made from teachers, but some insuperable obstacles were also presented when it came to using the netbook as replacement for the laptop. I did not see any major mistakes in this study other than the absurdly small sample size.

I also looked at the Classmate PC 1:1 eLearning Project in Australia of Feb 2009. Here the study looked at whether student achievement could be improved through the lower cost mobile computing option. Again, what seems to have been done well is similar to the other netbook study: a sample that included schools in rural, regional city, and metropolitan locations and differing socio-economic levels, a use of multiple vehicles for measurement, a fairly clear laying out of the goals of the study, and collection of data from a range of stakeholders, and appreciation for the need for scalability. Negatives in the management of this study include the relatively small sample size (only 6 classes): not sure it is possible to proceed to generalization with such a small sample. There were some other aspects of the study that were just plain strange: why were such things as “delays in supplies of the laptops to teachers” or insufficient or non-existent wifi connectivity” considered to be impediments to the study? Are not these things that are under the control of the researchers—in other words, not a fault of the devices being studied? Some conclusions of the study also seemed to be so obvious as to prompt one to ask why they were related (e.g., teachers modified their room layout or workspace to accommodate technical requirements of the laptops or teachers modified their schedules when laptops were away for repair).

Generally, I found the study to be rather banal in what the researchers thought were important conclusions to relate and that there was little if any conclusions made about student achievement. Knowing that teachers need to be motivated about this technology and also knowing what pedagogies they favored was a helpful point to make, but there WAS still a good deal of other information provided that seemed to be entirely unnecessary (almost a forgone conclusion). Recommendations for future implementation that were provided were also rather banal or unnecessary—why does anyone need to know that opening firewalls for these devices to connect is important? The point is that this is a given before you even begin a study.

As future implementers of technology, the study did relate some helpful things in the category of follow-up and teacher training. As we think about rolling out a new technology, we should never forget the importance of teacher collegiality networks, fast access to helpdesk resources, the need to put on display models of best practices using the technology, and strategic and well thought out selection of the first participants for the study. Also admirable about the study was the way that teacher attitudes and total school culture was a key aspect for success with this or any technology.