Key Success Factors of Educational Technologies

A team of researchers from the project "Revolution in Education" ( Project RED ), with close ties to the institution of the Individual Training ( One-to-One Institute ), has recently published a report on best practices implementation of educational technologies in schools. From this we can see how technology affect the performance of pupils and reducing costs.
The report contains seven main conclusions. The first is that the positive impact of technology on the educational process is determined primarily by the following nine factors:
1. Technology is integrated into all classes of early intervention;
2. Director and other school leaders allocate appropriate time for training and joint work of teachers in the use of new technologies;
3. Students use technology to share learning,
4. Lessons from the use of embedded technologies are included in the basic training schedule at least once a week or more,
5. In examining the material, at least once a week, conducted an online evaluation of acquired knowledge and skills ;
6. The lower the number of students per computer, the better
7. Virtual travel are held monthly,
8. Students use search engines daily,
9. Director held training sessions on the following topics: how to support teachers of technology, best practices implementation of educational technologies, changes in the educational process, occurring as a result of the introduction of technology.

According to that report, about one percent of schools surveyed have implemented all nine points. School of individual learning, which made it significantly outperformed all other schools, including other schools of individual learning, which have adopted, not all key factors.

"The presence of computers in schools - this original action, which does not guarantee improvements in the learning of materials" - the report says. "Best practice implementation of technology is as important as the technology itself."

The report also noted a positive relationship between the right embedded technology and lower costs. According to these estimates, in the case of the widespread implementation in secondary schools in the U.S. system of education management, saving only copy on a national scale could be worth $ 739 million. On the other hand, the savings comes from reducing redundancy in data storage and software, reducing the cost of tracking and identifying the best educational materials for specific groups of students and reduce the number of expelled students.

The report says that gaining support from influential people in the school, for example, the director, is the key to successful implementation of technology, use of technology in the classroom early intervention improves the results shown in the tests and the level of assimilation of course material, reduces the number of expelled students. The report found that online interaction between students increase their productivity and engagement in the learning process, and the best results were achieved with daily use of educational technology.

Data were obtained from the study of the situation of almost a thousand schools in Washington and various cities in forty-nine states. The report states that during the study examined the state of affairs in specific schools, rather than the situation in the field of education in the region. This approach has allowed researchers to better understand the needs of students, teachers and school administrators.

I think that you're familiar with the names of some of the people running the project "Revolution in Education". This is Leslie Wilson ( Leslie Wilson ), the executive director of the Institute for Individual Training, Thomas Greaves ( Thomas Greaves ) of the Greaves Group, and Jane Hayes ( Hayes Jeanne ) of the Hayes Connection, and others .