Lessons From the Time to Know Program, Article Critique Example

Intertwining Digital Content and a One-To-One Laptop Environment in Teaching and Learning: Lessons from the Time To Know Program

Introduction

This paper presents a critique of an article intertwining digital content and a one to one laptop environment in teaching and learning: lessons from the time to know program. Education sector is dynamic and keeps on changing as technology intensifies. Traditional methods of teaching are facing challenges and are being phased out slowly. with the current increase in the population of students in schools, who have been brought up during this era of intranet connection, smart phones, and videogame, failing to integrate technology into classroom study will be failing to grow technological knowledge and to sound too traditions and conservative. Therefore, adoption of intertwining technology with one-on-one laptop environment in teaching is impressive in passing knowledge. However, the real adoption of the system failed to match initial expectation at all. the adoption failed to achieve the main purpose of the education system which is to leverage the learning science and present technologies to learning experiences which are authentic, engaging and personal.

The prevalence of technology rich learning environments in the classroom are in the rise across the globe and have been uses severally as intellectual partners for active participation of knowledge. However, research studies have shown mixed effects with finding revealing that teachers and students use technology peripherally. Mostly, technology is implemented to replace traditional practice of teaching, while there is no proper laid down techniques to teach, learn and assess the students in technology rich environment. In some cases, designers and educators through enthusiasm take technology centered approach in implementing the cutting edge technology without remaining sensitive on how people loran. This approach has led dragged behind technology development and embracing in many elementary schools in the US and the world at large. On the other hand, other designers and educators take the learner- centered approach whereby, they begin by first understanding processes of learning and later attempting to incorporate technology to assist in student understanding or learning. This approach is the best because it acknowledger what process are to be learnt and how best technology would be uses to assist in student learning of those processes.

This is a great advancement in education systems and for this to be achieved; school systems must be changed to accommodate the effects of technology. New objectives must be set up, new curriculum, development of digital instructional new materials which corresponded to learning standards, designing mew learning and environments, training teachers and creating environments in schools that is conducive for technology. Intertwining technology in education system and combining it with teacher professionalism introduces new approaches towards learning math’s, sciences technology and assessment. This new approaches greatly enhances student learning skills and knowledge.

Although technology adoption in schools is a step ahead towards advanced learning methods, studying its effects is very important so that we note the impacts of paradigm-change-oriented educational technology of teaching program. This will help education experts and designers to realize the impact of digital age instruction. Technology interwoven with constructivist one-on-one laptop computing environment indeed plays a major role in promoting, empowering and engaging learners to be active, creative, knowledgeable and constructive participants in a world with global network. Technology is capable of transforming education in the US and not in US alone but globally. The only concern is how it is adopted and embedded with the traditional teaching and learning method to ensure there is a balance between knowledge and skills acquisition.

Adoption of technology in school systems provides a wider approach to more flexible learning facilitators who include teachers, parents, and mentors outside classroom. Through technology learning can be individualized, and twisted to fit each student’s interests and prior experience of the student. Learning environments which support technology promote achievement of social-constructivist learning objectives such as learning motivation, team work and correct thinking skills unlike traditional educational setups.

Time to know program is a program which combined an interactive core curriculum with digital teaching platform meant for computing classrooms. This program is still available in fourth and fifth grade math and English programs. This program has been [proved to be workable and practical in learning and assisting students in achieving knowledge. this program is yet to be extended to science studies and to other grade levels. Technology enhances online platform of teaching and learning, which promotes teacher-driven student-centric program which is adjoined with a curriculum that meets education standards and engages students in learning. The adoption of time to know program will see the education systems advance technologically and create a blended. Teacher –driven, student-centered computing learning environment. This program is very crucial in enhancing student learning and technology embracing. However, this program is only implemented on few grades and it incorporates only two subjects , math and English. Proponents of this program argue that the adoption and implementation of this system will promote student understanding of math, science, and technology. the program has got five major identifying components namely;

Infrastructure: the system has one-to-on laptop environment with a workstation for the teacher. This component provides the students with one on one interaction with the teacher instructions as technology as well.

Interactive year long curriculum: this curriculum comprise of recommended sequence of learning activities which are interactive and aligned with the state standards. Teachers are at discretion to upload best practices to enhance the flow of the lesson.

Digital teaching platform (DTP): this platform allows the teachers to plan and conduct the lessons and arrange for both summative and formative assessment reports during and after the lessons.

Pedagogical support: teachers under this program are provided with courses which enhance professional development and ongoing guidance from a tutor who is specialized in the field of ICT I which teacher is working.

Technical support: technical support is offered in all the school where the program is implemented.

Time to know program enhances technology blending with the pedagogical methods of classroom study. This program promotes teaching and student learning skills however, embracing this program is costly and time consuming. a lot of resources are needed to train the teachers , install infrastructure and provide technical support every time the programs in use.This makes education very expensive and unaffordable by majority of the students who hail from poor family background. Therefore, before implementation of this program designers and educators must plan properly to ensure that the program enhances students learning in the long run. A research study was conducted to investigate the impact of the program in schools where it was implemented in comparison with schools where the program had not yet implemented.

The selection of the research study questions was done precisely and to the point. Through the research questions the researchers were able to collect relevant data concerning the impact of the program on student learning skills. For any research work its success id determined with proper selection of the research questions. Which aligns and direct the researchers on the research objectives?

In this article the author highlights the method used in collecting data from the respondents the employment of the mixed methods design which used standardized assessment scores, school attendance, and discipline, student questionnaire, and observations in experimental and control classes provided a wide avenue of collecting data on the impact of technology in schools. The mixed methods provided variety of data for comparison and incase one method was biases; the biased is corrected by other methods. Many research methods ensure triangulation of results and promote accuracy of data collection and compilation.

The selection of the respondents and research participants was done correctly although much more participants could provide more information for comparison. Selecting of students from fourth grade and fifth grade plus their teachers from four elementary schools provides a wide population from different setups. This selection of participants from different schools within the same district with gender balance enables data analysis and interpretation easy and accurate. The total population sample of 476 participants is a good representation of the whole population and can allow for generalization of results. The inclusion of the control group in the research study provides a platform of comparison of the research subjects to note the differences for analysis.

The research study employed tools and measures with multi-measure quantitative and qualitative tools to give a deeper look on the constructivist one-to-one- computing program effects on teaching and learning practices and student’s achievement. The use of such tools improves the quality and quantity of data collected. The use of questionnaire, observations, learning achievements, unexcused abscesses and discipline and instructional modalities ensured that both qualitative and quantitative data was collected without biasness

Results presentation

The present of results is procedural and logical. The author begins by recording the achievement of the program to both grade four and grade five. The results reveal that the students under the program in both grade outperformed their counter parts control group. The results are summarized in tables which make it easy to analyze, interpreted or discuss them, the impact of the program on each stakeholder in education is arranged sequentially in subtopics. The arrangement of the results provides the reader with easy of understanding them. The discussion of the results is done precisely with main focus on the research results. All the findings are discussed with recommendations provided for improvement.

In general, in can be concluded that this research study achieved its research objectives. Technology impacts on education positively and it encourages student participation, engagement, and corporation in knowledge and skills acquisition. Knowledge is not transferable from teacher to student as many people clam but it occurs through cooperation between the teachers and the students. This research study provides that effective educational practices based on blended teacher,-driven, student-centered educational technology in one-to-one computing settings enhance student learning and competences in all aspects of learning.