Increasing student engagement in learning

Three decades after the first computer was introduced into school classrooms, educational technology remains surprisingly controversial. This paper provides a forum for informed use of technology in the context of emergent research from the learning sciences. Today's schools cite a myriad of purposes for technology in schools, including improved teaching, leadership, and decision making, as well as the following student-focused purposes: ● Improving learning (e.g., higher standardized test scores) ● Increasing student engagement in learning ● Improving the economic viability of students (e.g., increasing students' abilities to succeed in a 21st century work environment through teaming, technology fluency, and high productivity) ● Increasing relevance and real-world application of academics ● Closing the digital divide by increasing technology literacy in all students As the rate of penetration of the Internet rapidly increases in countries across the globe, and the investment in technological infrastructure in schools, teacher training, and software reaches into the billions, many are questioning its value. The reality is that advocates have over-promised the ability of education to extract a learning return on technology investments in schools. The research studies now suggest that their error was not in citing the potential of technology to augment learning—for research now clearly indicates that the effective use of technology can result in higher levels of learning. This review of the past decade suggests four miscalculations on the part of educators: ● First, in being overly confident that they could easily accomplish the depth of school change required to realize the potential technology holds for learning—not an easy task ● Second, in their lack of effort in documenting the effect on student learning, teacher practices, and system efficiencies ● Third, in overestimating the time it would take to reach a sufficiency point for technology access ● Fourth, in underestimating the rate of change in technology, and the impact of such rapid, continuous change on staff time, budgeting, professional development, software upgrades, and curricular and lesson redesign As a result, the real potential of technology for improving learning remains largely untapped in schools today. Technology advocates suggest that just as technology is accelerating globalization, it will advance educational change. They contend that what students learn as well as when and how they learn will change. Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman, in his recent book The World Is Flat i , talks about the critical role of education in today's knowledge economy. " As we …