The Role of Online Communications in Schools: A National Study

Overview

"The Role of Online Communications in Schools: A National Study" demonstrates that students with online access perform better. The study, conducted by CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology), an independent research and development organization, and sponsored by the Scholastic Network and Council of the Great City Schools, isolates the impact of online use and measures its effect on student learning in the classroom. The study compared the work of 500 students in fourth-grade and sixth-grade classes in 7 urban school districts (Chicago, Dayton, Detroit, Memphis, Miami, Oakland, and Washington DC) - half with online access and half without.

The results show significantly higher scores on measurements of information management, communication, and presentation of ideas for experimental groups with online access than for control groups with no online access. It offers evidence that using Scholastic Network and the Internet can help students become independent, critical thinkers, able to find information, organize and evaluate it, and then effectively express their new knowledge and ideas in compelling ways.

April 1994 | Volume 51 | Number 7
Realizing the Promise of Technology   Pages 4-10
Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow: What We've Learned
David Dwyer

Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow™ (ACOT); 1986; set out to investigate how routine use of technology by teachers and students would affect teaching and learning; ACOT began work in seven classrooms that represented a cross section of America's K–12 schools. We gave each participating student and teacher two computers, one for the home and one for the classroom.

Student deportment and attendance improved across all sites, and student attitude toward self and learning showed progress.

Our research showed that ACOT students wrote more, more effectively, and with greater fluidity.^{3 (}E. Hiebert, (1987), "Report on the Writing Program at ACOT's Cupertino Site," unpublished report, Berkeley, Calif.)

...student productivity increased.^{4 (}Similar results have since been reported in other projects with significant deployment of technology. When computers are routinely used in instruction, trends indicate 10–15 percent increases in achievement scores and 30 percent gains in student productivity. See J. A. Kulik and C-L Kulik, (1991), Effectiveness of Computer-Based Instruction: An Updated Analysis, (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan)...)

...teachers reported and were observed to interact differently with students—more as guides or mentors and less like lecturers. At times, students led classes, became peer tutors, and spontaneously organized collaborative work groups.

But more important, a four-year longitudinal study of these students showed their greatest difference to be the manner in which they organized for and accomplished their work. Routinely they employed inquiry, collaborative, technological, and problem-solving skills uncommon to graduates of traditional high school programs.^{8 (}R. J. Tierney, R. D. Kieffer, K. Whalin, L. Desai, and A. Gale, (1991), "Computer Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of the Influence of High Computer Access on Students' Thinking, Learning, and Interactions," unpublished report, Columbus, Ohio)