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TECHNOLOGY Monday 28 august 2017

Can computers enhance the work of teachers? The debate is on

By MARIA DANILOVA Under the Obama admin- ing, and teachers then
Associated Press istration, the Education used that data to develop
WASHINGTON (AP) — In Department poured $500 individual learning plans. In
middle school, Junior Al- million into personalized English class, for example,
varado often struggled with learning programs in 68 students reading below
multiplication and earned school districts serving close grade level would be as-
poor grades in math, so to a half million students in signed the same books or
when he started his fresh- 13 states plus the District of articles as their peers, but
man year at Washington Columbia. Large organiza- complicated vocabulary
Leadership Academy, a tions such as the Melinda in the text would be anno-
charter high school in the and Bill Gates Foundation tated on their screen.
nation’s capital, he fretted have also invested heav- “The digital tool tells us: We
that he would lag behind. ily in digital tools and other have a problem to fix with
But his teachers used tech- student-centered practic- these kids right here and
nology to identify his weak es. we can do it right then
spots, customize a learning The International Associa- and there; we don’t have Britney Wray, a math teacher at Washington Leadership Acad-
plan just for him and coach tion for K-12 Online Learn- to wait for the problem to emy, helps sophomore Kevin Baker, 15, with a math problem
him through it. This past ing estimates that up to 10 come to us,” said Joseph during class in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017.
Associated Press
week, as Alvarado started percent of all America’s Webb, founding princi-
sophomore geometry, he public schools have adopt- pal at the school, which Gates,” remembers feel- A recent study by the
was more confident in his ed some form of personal- opened last year. ing so bored and unchal- Rand Corporation found
skills. ized learning. Webb, dressed in a green T- lenged in fourth grade that personalized learn-
“For me personalized learn- Rhode Island plans to shirt reading “super school that she stopped doing ing produced modest im-
ing is having classes set at spend $2 million to become builder,” greeted students homework and her grades provements: a 3 percentile
your level,” Alvarado, 15, the first state to make in- Wednesday with high-fives, slipped. increase in math and a
said in between lessons. struction in every one of its hugs and humor. “Red box- At the academy, “I don’t smaller, statistically insig-
“They explain the problem schools individualized. Edu- ers are not part of our uni- get bored ‘cause I guess I nificant increase for read-
step by step, it wouldn’t cation Secretary Betsy De- form!” he shouted to one am pushed so much,” said ing compared with schools
be as fast, it will be at your Vos also embraces person- student, who responded by McNatt, a sophomore. “It that used more traditional
pace.” alized learning as part of pulling up his pants. makes you like you need approaches. Some stu-
As schools struggle to raise her broader push for school The school serves some to do more, you need to dents also complained that
high school graduation choice. 200 predominantly African- know more.” collaboration with class-
rates and close the persis- Supporters say the tradi- American students from In math class, McNatt mates suffered because
tent achievement gap for tional education model, in high-poverty and high- quickly worked through everybody was working on
minority and low-income which a teacher lectures risk neighborhoods. Flags quadratic equations on her a different task.
students, many educators at the blackboard and of prestigious universities laptop. When she finished, “I would not advise for ev-
tout digital technology in then tests all students at the hang from the ceiling and the system spitted out ad- erybody to drop what they
the classroom as a way same time, is obsolete and a “You are a leader” post- ditional, more challenging are doing and adopt per-
forward. But experts cau- doesn’t reflect the modern er is taped to a classroom problems. sonalized learning,” said
tion that this approach still world. door. Her math teacher, Britney John Pane, a co-author of
needs more scrutiny and “The economy needs kids Based on a national assess- Wray, says that in her pre- the report. “A more cau-
warn schools and parents who are creative problem ment last year, the school vious school she was torn tious approach is neces-
against being overly reliant solvers, who synthesize in- ranked in the 96th per- between advanced learn- sary.”
on computers. formation, formulate and centile for improvement in ers and those who lagged The new opportunities also
The use of technology in express a point of view,” math and in the 99th per- significantly. pose new challenges. Pe-
schools is part of a broader said Rhode Island Educa- centile in reading com- She says often she wouldn’t diatricians warn that too
concept of personalized tion Commissioner Ken pared with schools whose know if a student was fail- much screen time can
learning that has been Wagner. students scored similarly at ing a specific unit until she come at the expense of
gaining popularity in re- “That’s the model we are the beginning of the year. started a new one. face-to-face social inter-
cent years. trying to move toward.” It was one of 10 schools In comparison, the acade- action, hands-on explo-
It’s a pedagogical philoso- At Washington Leadership to win a $10 million grant my’s technology now gives ration and physical ac-
phy centered around the Academy, educators rely in a national competi- Wray instant feedback on tivity. Some studies also
interests and needs of each on software and data to tion aimed at reinventing which students need help have shown that students
individual child as opposed track student progress and American high schools that and where. may learn better from
to universal standards. Oth- adapt teaching to enable is funded by Lauren Pow- “We like to see the prob- books than from comput-
er features include flexible students to master topics at ell Jobs, widow of Apple lem and fix the problem im- er screens, while another
learning environments, cus- their own speed. founder Steve Jobs. mediately,” she said. found that keeping chil-
tomized education paths This past week, sophomores Naia McNatt, a lively Still, most researchers say it dren away from comput-
and letting students have a used special computer 15-year-old who hopes is too early to tell if person- ers for five days in a row
say in what and how they programs to take diagnos- to become “the African- alized learning works better improved their emotional
want to learn. tic tests in math and read- American and female Bill than traditional teaching. intelligence.q