{"id":16386,"date":"2013-01-30T06:00:03","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T11:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=16386"},"modified":"2013-01-30T06:54:42","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T11:54:42","slug":"researchers-want-to-put-new-education-technology-to-the-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/30\/researchers-want-to-put-new-education-technology-to-the-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers Want To Put New Education Technology To The Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_16372\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/28\/what-to-expect-at-fetc-an-education-technology-conference\/1-29-smartboard\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16372\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16372\" title=\"1-29 SmartBoard\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-29-SmartBoard-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-29-SmartBoard-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-29-SmartBoard.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Dowbiggin \/ Flickr<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The growth of the education technology, such as interactive whiteboards, has also put more emphasis on researching which products work. Experts say the best reviews still come from classroom instructors.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/fetc.org\/Events\/Florida-Educational-Technology-Conference\/Home.aspx\">FETC, one of the nation\u2019s largest education technology conferences<\/a>, opens in Orlando this week. StateImpact Florida will take a look at how state schools are trying to meet requirements to integrate more technology in lessons.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">_______<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s status symbol in classroom technology is the interactive white board.<\/p>\n<p>For teachers who have one, it\u2019s a flashy way to rev up lesson plans and add content from throughout the Internet. Teachers who don\u2019t have one are envious.<\/p>\n<p>But Duke University business professor Aaron Chatterji asks whether interactive white boards actually improve instruction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother\u2019s a teacher,\u201d Chatterji said. \u201cShe has a smart board in her classroom and a lot of teachers have those across the country. To my knowledge, we don\u2019t have great data to know whether smart boards actually make a difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we invest all this money on new technology and new hardware, we ought to know if we\u2019re spending our money on the right things.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>That lack of information inspired Chatterji and his partner, Northwestern University\u2019s Ben Jones, to design Edu Star, a Consumer Reports-like site to rate education technology products.<\/p>\n<h4>A Business Opportunity<\/h4>\n<div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/29\/how-orange-county-schools-are-preparing-to-go-digital\/\">How Orange County Schools Are Preparing To Go Digital<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/28\/as-education-technology-deadline-nears-a-florida-teacher-lets-iphones-invade-her-classroom\/\">As Education Technology Deadline Nears, A Florida Teacher Lets iPhones Invade Her Classroom<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/24\/a-billion-dollar-education-budget-wishlist-teacher-raises-and-new-technology\/\">A Billion-Dollar Education Budget Wishlist: Teacher Raises And New Technology<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/08\/why-states-are-designing-two-tests-for-common-core-standards\/\">Why States Are Designing Two Tests For Common Core Standards<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><a href=\"\"><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>New technology is opening up the education market, just as with music, news and other industries.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, it was difficult for smaller businesses to compete with the large curriculum companies, Chatterji said. It was too expensive for small companies to hire a sales staff to sell to thousands of school districts across the country.<\/p>\n<p>New education standards approved by 45 states and the District of Columbia, known as Common Core State Standards, means a more uniform market and outlets, just like Apple&#8217;s App Store makes it easier for developers to sell their products.<\/p>\n<p>And in the same way Amazon\u2019s mp3 store allows customers to buy only the songs they want, schools and teachers will be able to pick and choose among lessons, texts and other resources.<\/p>\n<p>Florida has gotten in on the trend as well, creating the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.learning.com\/floridavcm\/\">Florida Virtual Curriculum Marketplace<\/a> to sell digital content. Other sites <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/articles\/2012-09-24\/how-a-teacher-made-1-million-selling-lesson-plans\">allow teachers to sell lesson plans to each other<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That means educators must sift through lots of new technology, hardware and software.<\/p>\n<p>Edu Star would have traditional scientific studies of products, which would include a control and test group. The site would also allow teachers to post user reviews.<\/p>\n<h4>Teachers: The Best Judge<\/h4>\n<div id=\"attachment_16419\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 150px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/30\/testing-education-technology\/1-30-aaronchatterji\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16419\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-16419\" title=\"1-30 AaronChatterji\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-30-AaronChatterji-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-30-AaronChatterji-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-30-AaronChatterji-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-30-AaronChatterji-60x60.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Duke University<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Duke University business professor Aaron Chatterji is working on a site to provide Consumer Reports-like ratings for education technology products.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Steve Schneider is the senior program director for science, math and technology at non-profit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wested.org\/cs\/we\/print\/docs\/we\/home.htm\">WestEd<\/a>. Schneider is also the principal science investigator for the <a href=\"http:\/\/ies.ed.gov\/ncee\/wwc\/\">What Works Clearinghouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Schneider is pleased to see Florida leading the way on requiring schools incorporate more technology in their lessons. As more teachers who grew up using cell phones, iPads and other devices move into the classroom, Schneider said, they\u2019re more likely to incorporate those devices into their lessons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think done properly, the capability can really enhance what happens for students,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n<p>Technology developers are moving faster than researchers can test the effectiveness of their products, Schneider said. But those in the classroom can tell which products are working and which ones aren\u2019t, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now I think the research is lagging behind at some level,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI think overall they leave it to the practitioners to say \u2018Is this working for my students?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like Schneider, Chatterji said educators are good judges of what works and what doesn\u2019t. But more research will help both those selling and buying the new products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I can\u2019t sell it to people and I can\u2019t prove to people it works to give myself some credibility,\u201d Chatterji said, \u201cI might as well go do something else with my time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FETC, one of the nation\u2019s largest education technology conferences, opens in Orlando this week. StateImpact Florida will take a look at how state schools are trying to meet requirements to integrate more technology in lessons. _______ Today&#8217;s status symbol in classroom technology is the interactive white board. For teachers who have one, it\u2019s a flashy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":16372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1157,680,791,1050],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16386"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}