Eight years of 1:1 computing research in Maine

Posted on November 15, 2011
Reaching the Tipping Point? Eight Years of MLTI Research
From PC Computing
by James Rosso

The latest report from the University of Southern Maine documents the impact of the nation's most comprehensive statewide 1:1 initiative.
A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience, written by David L. Silvernail and other researchers at the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) of the University of Southern Maine, provides an overview of many years of research about Maine’s middle school one-to-one initiative. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), which has provided all 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers with their own laptop computers for 24/7 use, was originally authorized in 1999 by then-governor Angus King. By the fall of the 2002-03 school year, MLTI entered its first phase, involving over 17,000 seventh grade students and their teachers in over 240 schools throughout the state. The program expanded to grade eight the next year and has continued providing laptops to all 7th and 8th graders, accompanied by professional development for faculty, ever since.

From the beginning, MTLI was committed to program evaluation. The Maine Commissioner of Education contracted with MEPRI to conduct ongoing research into the impact of the initiative using a variety of methods including online surveys, test data analysis, site visits, and observations. What follows is a summary of the key findings reported in MEPRI’s current research overview.

Section 1: Evidence on Laptop Use

The latest evidence comes from a survey of 1,690 middle school teachers conducted in the spring of 2010. The goal was to assess how often and in what ways the computers were being used. In middle schools where laptops have been readily available for so many years, has teacher use of technology reached what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as the tipping point—"the point where something that began as unique becomes common"? In some areas, the answer appears to be a cautious "yes." For example, over an 8-year period (2003 - 2010), teacher use of the laptops to communicate with parents, students, and colleagues and to manage student information has doubled, rising from approximately 40% to over 80%.

A closer look reveals the ways in which the laptops are most frequently used. After asking the teachers to classify their use on a 6-point scale ranging from "never" to "often during the day," the researchers identified the following as the most common uses (ie., rated as 4, 5, or 6):

To communicate with colleagues inside and outside the school (93%)

To look up quick facts to inform teaching (88%)

To manage student information (87%)

To develop instructional materials (83%)

To conduct research for lesson plans and curriculum design (78%)

To record grades (76%)

To communicate with parents and students (75%)

As a tool during instruction (75%)

To differentiate instruction (75%)

For summative assessment (60%)

For formative assessment (53%)
And what about student use? According to student surveys, instructional use was most common in language arts, social studies and science. In these three areas, approximately 40% of the students indicated they use their laptops four hours or more each week. In mathematics, on the other hand, only 14% of the students reported using the laptops 4 or more hours per week and only 10% of art and music classes used them that often. Types of uses reported by students as occurring at least a few times a week included:

Researching information (69%)

Editing papers (44%)

Taking notes (42%)

Organizing information (38%)

Writing first drafts (32%)

Creating presentations (26%)

Working on short-term assignments (26%)

Working with spreadsheets (17%)
Section 2: Factors Relating to Use Levels

It is hard to answer the question of why there are differences in adoption levels by different teachers involved in the same program. Computer use does not appear to be a product of age, gender, teaching experience, or education level. However, as indicated above, usage was more common in certain subject areas than in others. Beyond that, one of the main factors affecting teachers’ use of the computers is teaching philosophy.

Based on survey answers, researchers were able to classify teachers as either constructivist (student-centered) or traditional (teacher-centered) in their teaching philosophy. Among constructivist teachers, 57% used the laptop frequently with students, whereas for the traditional teachers laptop usage was at 32%. It also seems that the usage of the computer in the classroom is shifting some of the teachers from the traditional to the constructivist end of the spectrum; MLTI is helping teachers become more student-centered.

Section 3: Benefits of the Laptop Program

Survey data show that teachers feel that they benefit from working with laptops. Some of the main benefits they identified:

Ability to explore topics in greater depth (87%)

Ability to teach some types of content and skills more effectively (86%)

Ability to individualize curriculum to fit student needs (82%)

Ability to differentiate instruction more effectively (76%)

Ability to teach students to be critical thinkers (66%)
Teachers also reported being better able to complete administrative tasks quickly, cover more material, track student learning, and let student data inform their teaching. In addition, teachers believe that the laptops make their students better learners. With laptops, the majority of teachers say, students work harder at their assignments, learn some content faster, express ideas more effectively, and are generally more involved with their learning.

Likewise, students are aware of the benefits to them. In the survey, the students indicated that, when working with a laptop, they are more likely to edit their work, stay better organized, get more work done with a higher quality, understand the material better, and feel more involved.

Section 4: Impacts on Student Learning: A Summary of Findings

To determine gains in specific curriculum areas the MEPRI research team has conducted a series of reports over several years. In all four of these already-published studies, summarized in A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience, students participating in the laptop program outscored a control group in significant ways:

Creating Better Writers

Using Laptops to Facilitate Middle School Science Learning: The Results of Hard Fun

Maine’s Impact Study of Technology in Mathematics

21st Century Skills
Section 5: Costs of the Laptop Program

This section of the report strives to answer one question: Is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative cost effective? For this research, the comparison was made with other 1:1 programs around the country. State costs include the laptops, software, network costs, and state level personnel costs as shown in the chart below.


2009-10 State MLTI Costs
Item

Units

Cost

Middle School Student

29,570 @ $242 per unit

$7,155,940

Middle School Staff

4,468 @ $242 per unit

$1,081,256

School Network Fee

225@ $7,817 per school

$1,758,825

MLTI Staff

Ten full and part-time staff

$471,905

 

Total Costs

$10,467,926

 

Cost per Unit

$308 per Unit

Local costs were also taken into consideration. The researchers found that the costs of the MLTI program sit in the average range when compared to similar programs or, as the authors reported: "Although much of the evidence in this area must be used cautiously, it appears Maine’s one-to-one laptop program costs are in line with the average costs found in other one-to- one laptop programs. Maine’s per unit costs were very similar to the average found in four other cost studies, and the incremental costs appear to be moderate."

Section 6: Summary and future Research

Teachers report benefits from the laptop program in both instruction and management while student achievement has definitely increased. As the writers of the report indicate: "The evidence presented in this report indicates that the MTLI program has had a significant impact on curriculum, instruction, and learning in Maine’s middle schools. In the areas of curriculum and instruction, the evidence indicates many teachers have reached the tipping point in the adoption and integration of the laptop into their teaching."

Further research is needed, however, to arrive at a better understanding of why certain advances have not been as fast or as great as program planners might have liked. In particular: Why do the teachers make so little use of the laptops to provide differentiated instruction or formative assessment? Why isn’t more time being devoted to using the laptops to develop 21st century skills?

Finally, the researchers are hoping to look more closely at the role of MLTI in the shift from teacher- to student-centered instruction. To what degree has it happened? And for whom? "Finding answers to these questions," say the MEPRI researchers, is important for identifying strategies for further promotion of this shift for more teachers."

Source: A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience

A New Understanding of the Digital Divide

By Mary Beth Hertz Edutopia Blog
10/24/11

Mary Beth Hertz (@mbteach on Twitter) is an elementary computer teacher in Philadelphia, PA and a regular blogger on Edutopia. You can read more of her work on her own blog at Philly-teacher.

As an urban teacher whose students are often lacking access to a computer and the Internet at home, I have strong opinions and experiences with the digital divide. I decided to do some research to see where my students fit into the current trends.
What is the digital divide?

If you ask most people to define the digital divide, most of them would answer that it has to do with those who have access to technology and those who don't. Ten years ago, they would have been right. However, over the last ten years access to technology has become more and more ubiquitous. In fact, in a 2010 Pew study (Technology Trends Among People of Color), laptop ownership among African Americans and whites broke about even and the percentage of Hispanic and African American Internet users, which was 11 percent in 2000, rose to 21 percent in 2010. A 2011 study showed that 83 percent of American adults own a cell phone (Americans and Their Cell Phones). Recent advances in cell phone technology mean that more and more people are using their phones to access the internet. As a result, many previously unconnected populations are connected through their phones. In fact, another Pew study ("For minorities, new 'digital divide' seen") reported that 51 percent of Hispanics, 46 percent of African Americans, and only 33 percent of whites used their phones to access the Internet.
So what does this all mean?

We are looking at a completely different kind of divide. While access has increased substantially, the kind of access varies. Most minorities in the Pew studies reported using their phone for accessing email and the Internet. In 2010 only 56 percent of African American households reported having broadband access compared to 67 percent of white households (Home Broadband 2010). This creates an entertainment vs. empowerment divide. As one of the Pew studies suggests, you can't fill out a job application through a cell phone or update your résumé on a game console (another way that many minorities report they access the Internet). The divide has shifted from an access issue to a kind of access divide.

Another group that is often left out of the conversation are Americans with disabilities. The divide for these citizens has always been there, and assistive technologies have definitely made access easier (if the people who need them can afford them), there are no laws stating that websites need to be accessible to people with disabilities. Even something as simple as a Captcha can prove to be a nightmare for someone with a disability. There are groups right now working on making navigation of important sites more accessible to Americans with disabilities.

Most of the reports about the digital divide center around racial and socio-economic differences (a 2010 study confirmed that household income is the greatest predictor of Internet use). However, for those families in rural areas, access is still the number one issue. In a study of groups and organizations and their use of tech, farm organizations were one of 3 reported groups for whom tech doesn't dominate at all. In addition, there are still 4 percent of teens reporting that they have no Internet or computer at home.
What are some solutions?

As the studies suggest, the problem isn't access, it's the kind of access. Families, particularly minority families, are lacking in home broadband access. Just recently, Comcast launched Internet Essentials, a low-cost Internet service for families receiving free school lunches that is available wherever Comcast provides services. In addition, communities need to ensure that libraries stay open, schools can provide access to their labs after school, and organizations need to plan their communication strategies around the connection style of the populations they serve.

States also need to invest in broadband infrastructure to bring broadband services to rural households. Companies like Comcast could provide mobile labs that could visit communities in the same way bookmobiles used to travel the country.

Sadly, the dichotomy of haves and have-nots is not going away any time soon, but as long as we understand what this divide looks like and how it evolves and changes, we can better address the underlying causes and provide resources for all US citizens, regardless of ethnicity, geography or socio-economic status.