Caveats: NONE
This paper gives a good general outline of the methodology for a formal
study involving laptops. There are others but most are multi-year
http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/resources/PublicationsArchives/StudiesWhitep
apers/LaptopStudyReport-2006.pdf
However, few schools will have the resources to engage in a meaningful
scientific study. Most schools run pilots as a means of testing out the
logistics, classroom management, and technical issues of introducing
1-to-1 programs before rolling it out to the entire school. It also
serves political purposes in gradually easing staff and anxious students
into a slightly altered paradigm. A control group would not be
necessary under such a methodology.
Which begs the question, what would you hope to learn from such an
experiment? Implicit in a pilot and control group is a hypothesis you
are trying to prove or disprove. The frequent hypothesis is, "Do
laptops enhance student performance". That is a question which you are
unlikely to have the resources to answer in a way that would be truly
meaningful (controlling for different teachers, income levels, base-line
student performance, parents level of education, etc.). Which could put
you in an awkward spot of having study results, that are perceived as
scientific, when in fact, they are more anecdotal.
There is a greater push in many areas, not just education, to make
"evidenced based" decisions. This is not all bad, but too often the
"evidence" is not as complete or rigorous as we might think. If you
would like a laugh, the British Medical Journal published the following
a few years ago poking fun at the lack of evidence based proof of the
effectiveness of parachutes. It is certainly not a universal opinion,
but I see the need for 1-to-1 programs in 6th grade and higher as being
as obvious as the need for a parachute to avoid major trauma related to
gravitational challenges. Read the article and you will see what I
mean, and maybe get a laugh as well.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7429/1459
_Jason
___________________________________
Jason Johnson - Program Director
Web Services Branch - Walter Reed Army Medical Center Ingenium (ISO
9001:2000 certified)
Office: 202-782-1047
Cell: 202-262-0516
jason.johnson@ingenium.net
jason.p.johnson2@us.army.mil=20
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Jennifer Voorhees
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:40 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: 1 to 1 question: did anyone use a control group when piloting?
We are planning a pilot 1:1 program and a teacher has proposed we
consider a pilot group and a control group. Did anyone try this
(scientific) method when testing out your 1:1 programs? If so, what was
your methodology?
Jenni
Jenni Swanson Voorhees
Director, Lower School Technology=20
Coordinator, All-School Academic Technology
Sidwell Friends School
202-537-6994
voorheesj@sidwell.edu
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons,
attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED=20
Caveats: NONE
[ For info on ISED-L see http://www.gds.org/ISED-L ]
Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution, non-commercial, share-alike license.
RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
