Prof. em. Harry Cuban over geloof/aanname dat nieuwe ICT-technologieën in onderwijs belangrijk zijn : we weten absoluut nog niet of het effectief is , maar toch wordt er al veel in geïnvesteerd
(Uit: The Lack of Evidence-Based PracticeThe Case of Classroom Technology -Part 2)
1. Evidence of this electronic innovation transforming teaching is not only sparse but also unpersuasive even when some studies show a small effect size.
...Politically smart state and local policymakers believethat buying new tablets loaded with software, deploying them to K-12 classrooms, and watching how the devices engage both teachers and students will work; it is considered best practice because, well, we believe in it. . The problem, of course is that evidence of this electronic innovation transforming teaching and achievement growth is not only sparse but also unpersuasive even when some studies show a small effect size.
2. Three reasons spurring decision-makers to allocate scarce dollars for new technologies.
*First, keeping up with the rest of the changing world. Call it modernization or recasting schools as less like museums and more like fast-paced companies using technology in daily work. No more jokes about educators being technological slow-pokes. Use of new technologies is considered modern, being with-it, even an unadulterated good that all children and youth in age-graded schools should embrace.
*Second, because new technologies are highly valued in the culture, school boards and their superintendents feel strong pressures to keep up with other sectorsboth public and privateundergoing technological changes.
*And there is a less obvious third reason for school leaders to purchase new technologies: increase efficiency in testing and scoring results. Schools have to have computers because eventually U.S. students will be taking state tests online. The Los Angeles Unified School Districts recent fiasco with iPads was triggered by demands to implement the standardized testing required by adoption of the Common Core standards. Just as the move from quill pens to pencils to computer-adaptive-testing required no research studies but were done on grounds of cost-saving efficiency, so it was when the LAUSD School Board and Superintendent authorized buying iPads.
Note that the three reasons I offer are politicalnot in any negative sensebut ones that are practical and realistic in the world that policymakers inhabit. Research findings to support the promises that school leaders make for the good that high-tech purchases will achieve, are simply not there. And that pattern of pursuing innovations without much evidence or data to support the decisions that school boards and superintendents make is plain to see
