Today was the first day of ULearn14, ULearn Mobile. It was a great day! More than made up for the early morning start with the thought of 40 percent of my holiday spent at conference!
So one of the things that came up today that I have been seeing a lot lately is the Effect Size. I know John Hattie's meta-analysis work has been around for a long time, I can remember him speaking to our cluster when I was a fresh beginner teacher, but it keeps coming up and I have seen other schools calculating their own effect sizes too.
I attended Mark Osborne's (Core Education) presentation on Effective BYOD Pedagogy and there were some awesome points raised for the importance of digital learning tools of some shape or form. Little facts like simply using word processors is enough to; get students writing more, have students write to a higher quality, improve student engagement and improve achievement rates - especially for low achievers. All that just from using a tool, then you add in the quality teaching.
An interesting fact was the comparison of effect size based on the size of the group sharing a device, with .40 being an average effect size. Large groups sharing a device ranked lowest with .39, next was individual use with .42, pairs of students step it up with .69 and lastly is small groups with a massive .96 effect size. So what does this mean? Different people will take it different ways. Some will say we shouldn't move to 1:1 environment. Personally I still value a 1:1 model. It offers choice. What I believe this shows is that as teachers we need to be thoughtful about task design and how we scaffold our students. The knowledge our students bring can be invaluable for the success of the class as a whole and tapping into that through collaboration is highly effective.
I come from an environment where I work with small group to device ratios and yes it is effective when students problem solve and collaborate around one device. But there are times where students need to reflect as an individual, or practice skills using an app by themselves or just write independently for a little bit. At these times there is no choice, we are limited by the technology. So 1:1 give options, options that as teachers we need to exercise for the benefit of our learners.
As a final plug for students having their own device... the comment was made today about why you implement a BYOD programme. One school that was discussed believed that the device was there not just to teach the children, but the benefits would help the families of these learners too. Isn't that what we are about... to give our learners the best opportunities possible? To build our communities into places of joy and excitement? To have a community that understands and supports the school and the children?
...I think so, and as I learnt today... Start your digital journey with the why... why are we doing what we do? Then build your programmes from there.
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