Technology and the 21st Century School Psychologist, Speech and Language Pathologist, Special Educator, Etc....

If you work in a school setting, you've probably heard a lot of buzz about technology and "21st Century Learning".  The purpostie of this post is to provide readers with a list of links that are worth taking the time to read.  I also encourage readers to participate in the discussion about "21st Century Schools" with their colleagues - within their respective fields, and with their regular-education work-mates.


Much of the effort towards the 21st Century Schools movement is focused on providing pathways to ramp up the skills of regular education teachers so they can harness new technologies and more effective pedagogical practices to ensure they prepare their students for life in an increasingly technological society.     How will these changes impact current models that are proving to be effective, such as school-wide systems like Response to Intervention (RTI), Problem-Solving Teams, School-Wide Positive Behavioral Supports, and so forth?


Many teachers may not be aware of the range of technologies available to their students, and there are many questions that need to be addressed:

• What are the emerging technologies we need to know about? 
• How do we determine the effectiveness of emerging technologies with "at-risk" and special needs students, especially when there is little research in this area?
• How do we incorporate emerging technologies into the way we approach Universal Design for Learning?
• What sorts of emerging technologies can be viewed as a form of assistive technology?
• How can assistive technologies be used in a prevention/intervention model, such as RTI?
• What sort of information do we need to make "evidence-based" decisions regarding the interventions we recommend for regular education (and special needs) students, given the move towards using more technology and collaborative learning strategies in regular education classrooms?     

One of my concerns is that higher functioning students with autism-spectrum disorders who have the skills to work well in traditional classrooms may need additional support to participate in collaborative group activities. How will this play out in middle and high school settings that are moving towards inclusion/co-teaching models of instruction?


More questions: 
One of my schools recently received a multiuser, multi-touch SMARTTable, something that I think would be great for "21st Century" psycho-educational and language assessments.  Are the test publishers thinking about this sort of thing?     Has anyone developed an assessment for measuring cooperative and collaborative skills that goes beyond a checklist or rating scale?


Those are just a few thoughts. Below are some links related to "21st Century" schools. At the end of this post is a slide presentation about Response to Intervention (RTI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Below this section are links to information about using technology for  RTI (Response to Intervntion) and UDL (Universal Design for Learning).  My next post includes information about AT (Assistive Technology), and a framework called TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) that has been extended to incorporate assistive technology.


RESOURCES AND LINKS
Transforming American Education:  Learning Powered by Technology: Draft National Educational Technology Plan 2010. (pdf)  Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Dept. of Education


Partnership for 21st Century Skills


Joan Ganz Cooney Center: 
"The Joan Ganz Cooney Center will focus new attention on the challenges children face today, asking the 21st century equivalent of her original question, "How can emerging media help children learn?"

Wallis, C. The Impacts of Media Multitasking on Children’s Learning & Development The Joan Ganz Cooney Center - Meeting Report - 2010 (pdf)
Shuler, C.  iLearn: A Content Analysis of the iTunes App Store’s Education Section The Joan Ganz Cooney Center - Report - 2009 (pdf)
Wellings, J., Levine, M.H. The Digital Promise: Transforming Learning with Innovative Uses of Technology The Joan Ganz Cooney Center - White Paper - 2009 (pdf)
Thai, A. M., Lowenstein, D., Ching, D., and Rejeski, D. Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children's Learning and Health The Joan Ganz Cooney Center - Policy Brief - 2009 (pdf)
Shuler, C. (2009) Pockets of Potential:  Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children's Learning.
Gee, J.P.: (2008) Getting Over the Slump: Innovation Strategies to Promote Children's Learning. 
Shore, R. (2008) The Power of "Pow! Wham!": Children, Digital Media, & Our Nation's Future-Three Challenges for the Coming Decade. (pdf)
Chiong, C. (2009) Can Video Games Promote Intergenerational Play & Literacy Learning?(pdf)
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds The Kaiser Family Foundation - Report - 2010

There are a number of  articles published by CISCO and/or the Metiri Group:
Lemke, C., Coughlin, E., Reifsneider, D. (2009). Technology in the Schools: What Does the Research Say? (pdf)
Lemke, C. (2009) Multitimodal Learning through Media:  What the Research Says (pdf)
Williams, S.M.  The Impact of Collaborative, Scaffolded Learning in K-12 Schools: A Meta-Analysis (pdf)

MORE
1:1 Laptop Initiatives
One-to-One Information Resources
One Laptop Per Child Wiki

A Complete Guide to One-to-One Computing in the K-12 Environment (pdf) 2008, e.Republic/ mpc| Gateway;  Center for Digital Education
Weston, M.E., and Bain, A.  The End of Techno-Critique: The Naked Truth about 1:1 Laptop Initiatives and Educational Change. Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment. V 9, 6, February 2010. (Special Edition:  Educational Outcomes & Research from 1:1 Computing Settings)




Shapley, K.S., Sheehan, D., Maloney, C., & Caranikas-Walker, F. (2010). Evaluating the Implementation Fidelity of Technology Immersion and its Relationship with
Student Achievement. Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, 9(4). (pdf)
Interactive Whiteboards
Marzano, R.J.  Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards. (Nov. 2009) 67,3 pp 80-82 Educational Leadership ASCD 
Wolpert-Gawron, H.  Technology Combined with Good Teaching Leads to Success. Edutopia What Works in Public Education. (3/17/09)
Beeland, W.D.  Student Engagement, Visual Learning and Technology: Can Interactive Whiteboards Help?
Rudd, T. Interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Futurelab (2007)
Futurelab Reports
Williamson, B.  Computer games, school, and young people: A report for educators on using games for learning. (2009). Futurelab (pdf)
Hauge, C., Williamson, B. (2009) Digital participation, digital literacy, and school subjects: A review of the policies, literature and evidence.  Futurelab (pdf)
Grant, L. (2009). Children's role in home-school relationships and the role of digital technologies. Futurelab. (pdf)
Williamson, B.(2009) Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum Futurelab (pdf)

RTI AND TECHNOLOGY

Using Technology Effectively With RTI


UPDATE:
The last half of this post did not format properly, and is now part of my next post.