Computer+Technology

**Computer Technology ** This project was designed to compare the impact of technology in the class room used to deliver instruction as opposed to a more, traditional and non-technological approach, i.e. reading chapters in a book and taking a paper test, and how the method of delivery impacts assessment results.

Both first and second year Computer Technology students participated in this semester-long project. Second-year students participated in some of the instruction and also advised first-year students. This also allowed for comparison of the second-year students’ assessment grades from last year.

This project came about as a result of research for successful methods to increase student motivation and engagement in the class. I found an interview with Dr. Robert Marzano where he had just concluded research on the use of technology in the class room and found that it had actually raised student performance by 17 percentile points as compared to more traditional methods.

Some of the traditional tools used were a printed textbook, paper study sheets, and paper tests. Some of the technological tools used are a net-book (mini laptop) with PDF version of the same textbook used in the traditional delivery, a Promethean interactive white board, interactive classroom full text responders (Expressions), and assessments given on a computer using Exam View.

Observations: During the “traditional” time the students seemed to have more difficulty staying focused on the class lecture as well as answering random questions asked during the lecture. The study sheets seemed to be the larger area of difficulty with most of the students. The test results were roughly the same. While most students passed, their grades were in the 70's and 80's.

Upon questioning the students as to what they thought the problems were they were unanimous in commenting that the content did not hold their attention no matter how interested they were in the subject. They felt that the information just didn’t seem to “sink in”. As for “How can we fix this problem?” the students didn't have any suggestions other than spending less time on assignments.

During the technological time the students were more engaged and attentive. They were drawn into the lesson with the content on the Promethean board and responded well to the questioning delivered to the Expressions. They seemed engaged and to truly be enjoying the learning process as a whole. The “study sheets” the students used were presented to them using the board and they showed a marked increase in achievement. The same with the tests delivered with exam view. Where students scored mostly 70's and some 80's on traditional, they scored mostly high 80's and 90's using technology.

Upon questioning the students on any problems they had with the technological delivery, there were very few negative responses. Most felt that the technological delivery helped them feel more excited and interested and more able to learn the material. The biggest problem to some was that they still had to read material from a textbook even it if was a ‘digital textbook’.

When the students were given total freedom to come up with a way to sum up the differences between the traditional delivery and technological delivery they came up with the idea of a video contrasting the two methods. In the first part of the video shows an exaggerated view of traditional delivery then the transition to the technological method of lesson delivery. They were very involved in this and had lots of fun. Click on the link below to view our video:

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Click here to view graphs of the assessment date: