Computer systems are starting to help teachers achieve the dream of providing individualized education for every student.
New systems can tailor classroom experience and lesson plans to individuals. Even in the largest high schools, they can help make each student’s educational experience unique. Wisely used, computer systems can motivate the gifted and make sure that underachievers don’t fall through the cracks.
Around the world, nations are competing to improve their children’s education. The U.S. needs to bolster its competitiveness by taking advantage of its computer leadership.
Parents and students today are excited by the prospect of getting tablets to replace textbooks and notepads. But the focus on the devices is a little like getting excited about the glossiness of the paper in a history book rather than the content. The value of tablets is that they are a delivery system for flexible curricula. The important thing is the infrastructure behind the tablet screens that delivers the right lesson and keeps track of how each student is absorbing it.
Even the best teachers are often challenged by the task of keeping 25 wriggly fourth graders focused on a math lesson. Keeping track of which students get it and which are still puzzled is nearly impossible. With the advent of national high-stakes testing, many schools have opted for constant testing through the year in an effort to know who needs additional help. But the testing cuts into instructional time.
Computer aided instruction can supplement the teacher while limiting the need for constant tests. For example, programs from DreamBox Learning, which specializes in kindergarten-through -fifth-grade math, contain 1100 lessons. Using amusing games and virtual objects, the lessons cover most of the common core curriculum in number sense, arithmetic operations, place value, algebraic thinking and fractions. The system analyzes how quickly each student answers questions and adjusts the pacing of the material and the way it is presented.
The teacher’s dashboard displays a graph showing each student’s progress. That gives him or her an early opportunity to work with those who are struggling. The students are assessed on each small step as they move along, so they aren’t even aware that they are being tested. In a 2010 study of elementary school students in San Jose who were using the system, SRI International found that after 16 weeks of use, students rose 5.5% percentile points (for example from the 50 percentile to 55.5 percentile).
McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart program complements the company’s textbooks. Students answer questions related to chapters in the e-books on mobile tablets or phones. The system, used in a range of high school and college subjects, assesses the student knowledge and highlights content that will help them understand the subject better. Too many wrong answers and it calls a “time-out” for the student to reread the chapter. Students can even see how the rest of their class has done at answering questions and what national averages are.
Teachers get progress reports detailing how much of each module students have completed. It shows what topics a class is struggling with, giving teachers information on what is most productive to review in class.
Education technology research firm EdSurge, lists 16 different adaptive learning programs that are available today. The most common are aimed at learning elementary math, but several target literacy and some go further afield. Lentil, from Learnirvana, which was started by a founder of consumer-rating service Yelp Yelp, offers adaptive tutorials in geography, Japanese and Korean. Anyone can go to its web site and see how they work.
However, all these curricular options create another challenge. How can teachers, institutions, and even learners gain a broader view of their progress against common goals? All those dashboards and reports from smart curricular content can get overwhelming after while. Many institutions are deploying common data and learning platforms that can aggregate insight and provide a common view to teachers and students.
For our part, IBM has developed a partnership with Desire2Learn, a Canadian company that provides an integrated learning environment across a district, school or institution. We brought expertise in managing data, keeping it private and secure, while leveraging analytics or tools to provide insight from the data. This single view of the student enables teachers, administrators, or the learners themselves to gain insight on progress against goals. Learners that are at risk can be identified early and effective interventions taken.
Success is significant, and notable. Hamilton County School District has seen an 8% increase in graduation rates (to 80%) and a 25% reduction in the annual dropout rate through the focus on data and interventions. And it’s not just k-12 that can benefit; Wichita State University has employed predictive analytics models that have increased the accuracy of predictions about student success by 15 percent, to a staggering 96 percent.
Computers are a long way from replacing teachers in instructing students. In the best cases, they provide individual tutoring in the basics. Then teachers can engage the entire class to collaborate in discussing and understanding higher level concepts. The “flipped classroom” model allows students to access lectures and content at home, and the valuable classroom time to be spent on problem solving in individual or group work, with teachers providing coaching and support. Students not only learn the basics better, but they learn skills like team work, collaboration, and problem solving that are needed for 21st Century careers.
Devices like tablets promise to give students a window into the entire world of education. But they are only one piece of a smarter education approach that leverages flexible, personalized content, new classroom models, and integrated learning and data systems to improve outcomes. Smart educators are starting to take advantage of these approaches to deliver learning in ways that really boost educational achievement.