Re-write 1

Critical Inquiry: Week 6, Chapter 8

What does research say about the effectiveness of holding classes more often for shorter periods of time versus less often for longer periods of time? How does this relate to massed practice versus distributed practice?

I have thought about students and what the difference may be if students took a class for longer periods, like block scheduling, during the day instead of the 50 min periods. Students definitely seem to get overwhelmed by material by the end of a 50 min class, and I have seen teachers have to reduce the amount of information that they are teaching. This seems to clearly relate to massed and distributed learning, so it made me wonder about more systematic research on this. What about college classes that are offered Tuesday-Thursday versus Monday-Wednesday-Friday? Or high schools that use block scheduling, so that each period meets three times per week instead of five? I’m sure the results vary based on subject, time of day, etc., but I wonder what the general findings are and how this should guide schools in determining course schedules. I have heard of some local high schools implementing block scheduling but have not seen results on if it is successful. I would guess that the 50 min periods are in place because high school students are only able to sit still for so long and may check out mentally if forced to sit for so long. However, when it comes to learning the material, students may retain more if they study the information longer than the 50 min.

With the roll out of chromebooks in almost every classroom in my district, teachers were required to take mandatory paid professional development seminars to learn how to implement these in the classroom with their students. Los Angeles county gave every student an Ipad with educational software and wasted $1.3 billion. Which approach is better and why?

I understand that the students we are teaching today are bombarded with media and technology everywhere. Today’s students can use technology better than most adults and sadly putting chromebooks in every classroom does not mean that the students are being taught better than without them. I have seen chromebooks being implemented and used to help students expand their knowledge and keep them on task. The teachers that have used these chromebooks in the classroom all had to attend seminars and teacher “best practices” professional development days and this has made all the difference. The teachers received all the training prior to receiving their chromebooks. Students were not given IPADS to take home, instead, teachers were given class sets to be utilized in the classroom. Classrooms were set up before to withstand the internet connectivity that would be used by the students and teachers.

In contrast, in Los Angeles county there was a major breakdown in the planning and execution of the initiative. They launched the “IPAD in every hand” program in 2013 and saw it as a way to help the city’s low income students. LAUSD is exploring a possible lawsuit against Apple and Pearson for possible ethics violations. The main issue was poor planning and not realistic. Internet connectivity did not work at most schools, teachers were not trained, and many students learned how to bypass security features and surfed the Internet.

When it comes to comparing the two scenarios, one can easily see that the more preparation the teachers have and the districts have, the better the technology will be used. In cost, Google Chromebooks can cost as little as $200; however, LAUSD paid $768 for each IPAD. LAUSD did not plan out the program and was not prepared for what was needed in order to make the program successful. The Los Angeles Times labeled the mega-technology project “ill-conceived and half-baked.”(Newcombe, 2015)

References

McCown, R., Snowman, J. (2013). ED PSYCH. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Newcombe, T. (2015, May, 14) What went wrong with LA Unified's IPad program [Web log post]. Retrieved July 15, 2017, from www.govtech.com/education/What-Went-Wrong-with-LA-Unifieds-iPad-Program.html