Building upon a rich history of collaboration and research partnerships, Boston College is proud to be continuing to support Newton Public Schools in their evolution of technology, teaching, and learning.
Beginning in 2001, Newton Public Schools was one of 22 participating school districts in the Use, Support, and Effect of Instructional Technology (USEIT) Study. This 3-year, federally funded investigation documented how teachers and schools were accessing and using the emerging computer technologies of the era. Numerous Boston College researchers including Mike Russell, Laura O’Dwyer, and Damian Bebell explored this rich data set documenting teachers’ emerging use of the internet, teacher computers, student computer labs, and projection systems/interactive white boards, in papers such as Teachers’ Uses of Technology Vary by Tenure and Longevity and Identifying Teacher, School and District Characteristics Associated with Elementary Teachers’ Use of Technology: A Multilevel Perspective.
USEIT Study (2001/2003): Factors Influencing Instructional Technology
In the first decade of the 2000s, U.S. schools began investigating the potential and practice of 1:1 student computing programs, wherein each student had access to a computing device in class. In 2009/2010, Boston College researchers worked with Newton leadership to design and conduct a rich empirical research study to support Newton’s first deployment of 1:1 student computers: Cloud Computing: Short Term Impacts of 1:1 Computing in the Sixth Grade.
Newton Public Schools 21st Century Pilot Study (2001/2004): Original study homepage
Indeed, the Newton Public Schools’ 21st Century Classroom 2009/2010 Pilot Program (NPS21 Program) provided a significant opportunity to better understand how traditional teaching and learning can be improved with the adoption of 1:1 student laptops and other digital learning devices in school. Led by Damian Bebell, Boston College researchers examined how the integration of student and teacher wireless laptops, as well as additional digital tools (such as interactive white boards), impacted teaching and learning. Two 6th grade classrooms (the pilot cohort) received the technology while two additional 6th grade classrooms received no new technology (the comparison cohort). Researchers based their findings on the analysis of classroom observations, student and teacher surveys, student drawings, and student achievement (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results) as part of this pre/post matched comparison group study.
Example student classroom drawing collected during Newton Public Schools 21st Century Pilot Study (2001/2004) Study:
The mixed-methods pre/post comparison study documented that, with planning, teachers and students used 1:1 computing resources to engage in constructive learning activities across the core curriculum. Teacher surveys and classroom observations found that students in the 1:1 pilot setting increased the frequency and quality of their social interactions in class. By the end of the year-long study, the comparison teachers reported a little more than half the percentage of students working on task as pilot teachers. Examined collectively, there was strong evidence suggesting that there were real and measurable shifts in teaching and learning practices in the pilot classrooms that were not observed in the comparison classrooms.
Pre/post surveys and classroom observation data all indicated that the technology-enhanced pilot setting had higher levels of engagement than observed in the conventional classrooms. The shifts in teaching and learning practices that were consistently observed in the pilot classrooms were associated with many of the espoused goals and student objectives of the NPS Strategic Plan. Overall, students and teachers felt overwhelmingly positive towards using technology as a serious learning tool in school in both pre- and post-laptop surveys. Specifically, both pilot and comparison student cohorts were found to be quite favorable in their attitudes and beliefs towards the educational opportunities afforded through computers and digital technology. Over the course of the year, as pilot students increased their use of educational technology, their beliefs and attitudes towards these technologies grew to be more positive.
Pilot students also achieved larger average achievement gains on standardized English Language Arts (ELA) state tests than their fellow 6th graders. Students in the pilot cohort clearly outperformed students from the comparison cohort (based on the analysis of 2010 MCAS results). The dramatic increases observed in student growth percentiles, particularly on the ELA examinations, suggest that conditions in the technology-rich, pilot classrooms were conducive to improving student achievement. This research was published in the Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations In Practice (Bebell, Clarkson, and Burraston, 2014).
The research carried out in Newton also contributed, more generally, to increasing awareness and opportunity for the study of educational technology programs and university/public school partnerships to support research: Concerns, Considerations, and New Ideas for Data Collection and Research in Educational Technology Studies.
References and Resources
Bebell, D., Clarkson, A., & Burraston, J. (2014). Cloud computing: Short term impacts of 1:1 computing in the sixth grade. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, 13, 129-151.
Bebell, D. & Burraston, J. (2014). Procedures and examples for examining a wide range of student outcomes from 1:1 student computing settings. Revista de curriculum y formacion del profesorado 8 (3). Retrieved from http://www.ugr.es/local/recfpro/rev183ART8en.pdf
Bebell, D., Russell, M., & O’Dwyer, L.M. (2010). Measuring teachers’ technology uses: Why multiple-measures are more revealing. In L. Schrum (Ed.), Considerations on Technology and Teachers: The Best of Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
Bebell, D. & O’Dwyer, L. M. (2010). Educational outcomes and research from 1:1 computing settings. Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, 9(1).
O’Dwyer, L.M., Russell, M., Bebell, D., & Tucker-Seeley, K. (2008). Examining the relationship between students’ mathematics test scores and computer use at home and at school. Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment. 6(5).
Russell M., O’Dwyer L. M., Bebell, D., & Tao, W. (2007) How teachers’ uses of technology vary by tenure and longevity. Journal of Educational Computing Research. 37(4), 393-417.
O’Dwyer, L.M., Russell, M., & Bebell, D. (2006) Identifying teacher, school and district characteristics associated with middle and high school teachers’ use of technology: A multilevel perspective. Journal of Educational Computing Research. (24), 369-393.
O’Dwyer, L. M., Russell, M., & Bebell, D. (2004). Identifying teacher, school and district characteristics associated with elementary teachers’ use of technology: A multilevel perspective. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(48). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n48/