[elearning] Query on iPad research ....

Wed Sep 5 08:13:51 EST 2012

Hi Folks,

Really interesting discussion. You make a great point Ziad.

The barometer I guess for many years has been John Hattie with his extensive
work on "effect size" with 2 groups holding everything else as constant as
possible except the one difference. 

Quoting : The most prominent meta-meta-analyst in education is probably
<http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/staff/j.hattie> John
Hattie, whose work draws on "a total of about 800 meta-analyses, which
encompassed 52,637 studies, and provided 146,142 effect sizes [...] these
studies are based on many millions of students" (Hattie, 2009; 15) -
http://www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/what_works.htm 

Actually I recently compiled a long list of resources trying to separate
digitization from eLearning - see http://delicious.com/kkrozian 

I would be interested to hear further about what learning actually takes
place rather than what application is used. The paper mentioned by Trudy is
really worthwhile and I recommend people have a look at it as it does try to
balance all the views. 

I would also be very interested to hear from schools who have gone iPad 7 -
12 and how they have managed delivery of those studies that require more
than what iPads have delivered to date such as VCE IT, media and existing
web based flash based resources such as in LOTE, Maths, that have not been
upgraded to date. 

Are any schools using remote desktop from the student iPads to teach any of
these classes ?

Kind Regards

Kevork Krozian

Edulists Creator Administrator

www.edulists.com.au

tel: 0419 356 034

From: elearning-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:elearning-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Ziad Baroudi
Sent: Tuesday, 4 September 2012 10:51 PM
To: elearning Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [elearning] Query on iPad research ....

Many argue that validity in the sense used by scientists cannot exist in
most areas of educational research. I once read something written by Seymour
Papert in which he says that something such as  "using a computer" is not a
single variable we can study while keeping all else constant. The whole
point of using a computer is that it changes everything. 

Even when iPads have been around for a long time and meta-research is
available on their "effect", we will be looking at an average "effective
size" that brings together all kinds of different uses of the device. Two
studies, one hugely successful and one hugely unsuccessful, may result in an
average effect size that is close to zero. It would be more useful to look
into the details of the successful study to see what practices we can adopt.

Sincerely,

Ziad.

On 4 September 2012 21:33, Hutchison, Geoffrey G
<hutchison.geoffrey.g at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:

Good luck Kevork on finding valid education research. Very little is valid
in the sense that double blind trials are almost non-existent and the use of
control groups rare.

Virtually all education research is anecdotal in terms of evidence, and thus
invalid in terms of true research.

Geoff Hutchison,
McGuire College

On 4/09/12 6:24 PM, "Kevork Krozian" <kevork at edulists.com.au> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
>    If I may ask a very broad question, is anyone across recent research
> covering the impact of iPads and apps in learning
> achievement/improvement at any level ( primary, secondary, tertiary ) ?
>
> Specifically, I am wondering if there is a control group of any type such
> as alternate tablets, mobile devices,  netbooks, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro
> etc etc.
>
> Additionally I am wondering if a baseline is used in the study such as "
> Both groups, control and iPad users entered the study at VELS level x. At
> the end of the study the control group was at y and the iPad users were at
> z on the VELS or any other measurement used".
>
> Generalized findings such as students showed improvement in confidence
> with the use of technology or could read better ( than what ? not having
> any technology or having a laptop or working in labs ? ) will not be as
> useful IMHO.
>
> It is a topic that has come up in discussion and I am looking for both
> research as well as anecdotal evidence from schools on the iPad journey if
> I may please.
>
> Kind Regards
> Kevork
>
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