Steps Towards Personalized Learning Using Online Asynchronous Technology

241 Pages·2017·2.94 MB·English

Lesley University
Running head: PERSONALIZED LEARNING AND THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
PERSONALIZED LEARNING AND THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

Steps Toward Personalized Learning Using Online Asynchronous Technology:
th th th
A Study of 7 , 10 , and 12 graders at a Small Rural School in Massachusetts

by
Michael R. Farmer

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Lesley University
April 12, 2016.
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PERSONALIZED LEARNING AND THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

Abstract
Adolescents’ use of technology is an integral part of their lives. They use it for
communicating, archiving, socialization, identity exploration, and a range of other purposes. As
a tool for adolescent academic learning, contemporary technologies target the brain’s
recognition, strategic, and affective networks. Synthesizing adolescents’ affinity for technology
with proven educational practices, knowledge of the brain’s workings, and an understanding of
contemporary technologies’ capabilities, leads to the conclusion that technology-enabled
personalized learning approaches can result in successful outcomes for students.
This dissertation outlines findings from a 6-week mixed-methods study of 7th-, 10th-,
and 12th-grade students attending a small rural school in Massachusetts . The purpose of this
mixed-methods study involving 73 students was to discern from their perspective the efficacy of
technology in facilitating more meaningful personalized learning experiences for students . This
purpose was accomplished within the framework of standards -based learning by exposing
students to an asynchronous learning platform designed to support student learning.
High adolescent affinity for technology translates into a desire for greater amounts of it in
their learning experiences. Being in control of learning resonates affectively with adolescents,
increasing their buy-in to their own learning. Technology features such as multimodality, online
tools, feedback mechanisms, and the simple safety of an environment in which to experiment,
provide enhanced learning experiences for many students. In addition to content interaction,
adolescents require interaction with teachers and peers, albeit to varying extents. Because
students have different preferences across all the aforementioned dimensions, we need to adopt
increasingly personalized approaches to learning, probably within blended learning
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environments. Technology can and must play a substantive role in delivering personalized
learning experiences for all adolescents.

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Acknowledgements
To the members of my doctoral committee, I extend my genuine appreciation for your
support. Sometimes support meant giving advice, sometimes holding firm to a view or idea.
Sometimes support meant standing back, and sometimes support meant digging into the details. I
could not have asked for a better doctoral committee – thank you for being the right kind of
support at the right time:
Dr. Linda-Mensing Triplett – Senior Advisor
Dr. Billie-Jo Grant – Committee Member
Dr. Jo-Anne Hart – Committee Member
To Dr. Dalia Khalil, it’s amazing how coffee shops in Cairo or Connecticut are equally
good places to swap ideas and suggestions, thank you for your time and ideas. Dr. Paul Jablon, I
benefitted greatly from those hours in Massachusetts coffee shops as well. Thanks for sharing
your knowledge and experience with me.

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Preface
In 2010, I had been teaching middle and high school students for about seven years. I had
acquired an M. Ed. during that period and thought that as a reflective practitioner, I would
eventually get this teaching thing figured out. Then I read the book The Shallows: What the
Internet is Doing to Our Brains (Carr, 2010). I began to speculate about some of the project-
based, inquiry-driven, group-work oriented activities employed in my classroom. I wondered
why they were not producing the learning results I believed students were capable of producing.
Of course, the answer was clear! Whether I liked it or not, technology had changed young people
somehow, and new ways of learning and teaching were needed—technology-based learning for a
technology-oriented generation (Prensky, 2001 ). I felt that if I learned a little more about how the
adolescent brain worked, and if I und erstood a little more about contemporary technology, I
could create a learning model that was in tune with the “how and what ” that adolescents wanted .
Then I would be able to help them achieve the learning outcomes I desired for them. I had a
sense that te chnology was occupying a deeply emotional place in the hearts and minds of
adolescents , that somehow it was a part of their lives in ways that no other medium ha d been in
generations past. Fast forward to 201 6: The journey taught me that m y initial hypothesis was at
best a little naïve.
In general , the adolescent generation embraces technology. They are adventurous with it,
keen to use it, and in many ways have become highly dependent upon it (Boyd, 2014 ; Davies &
Eynon, 2013; Sprenger, 2010). They use technology largely for entertainment, communication,
photo albums, games, social networking, music, calendar applications, and location assistance. I
have coined the term narcissistic technology to refer to this group of uses. Two questions arise,
however: Does the current generation’s comfort and adeptness with narcissistic technology
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extend in some way to academic learning? Can they learn to use technology to develop as life-
long learners?
In my classroom three years ago, I took the first step on a research journey. With the
administration’s support , I reconfigured classes and created three heterogeneous seventh-grade
social studies classes. Each of these classes was normally distributed with similar means based
on pretest information. For a 12-month period, each of these classes was exposed to a different
learning model. One class operated under an essential-question, inquiry-driven philosophy in
which students interacted freely with little restriction on information sources and stude nt
behaviors. The second class operated under a technology-driven/enabled model in which student
instruction was largely based on a one -to-one relationship with the computer, accompanied by
teacher interaction as required. The third model was a more traditional, teacher-driven classroom
model. Although the individual sample sizes were too small to establish statistical significance
using paired-samples t tests, the descriptive statistics were compelling. The technology-oriented
class produced the highest learning gains for students, and the interactive essential-question class
produced the highest student satisfaction ratings. One thing was clear: The traditional classroom
was not the best model to use. Also noteworthy was the fact that the greatest improvement in
overall student satisfaction occurred for special needs students. Of the three special needs
subgroups, students using technology made the greatest learning gains as well. My takeaway
from this research was that using technology materially improved the learning experience for
students with special needs, and as a result, their overall satisfaction with school improved as
well.
The following year, all classes in seventh-grade social studies worked a minimum of 50%
of the time with technology. This was a blended learning model. Using my own district-
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determined measure (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2013), I was able to establish the
academic efficacy of this learning model by comparing improvement results on a standardized
pretest/posttest model with the same results from the prior year’s traditional classroom group.
Although students enjoyed their online blogs containing all of their work, as opposed to the
traditional classroom workbook or binder, I realized that the activities they engaged in were
comparatively simple, limited-interaction, computerized versions of class exercises done in prior
years. It did not help me to push the limits of my understanding about technology as a learning
enabler for students.
When I conducted a comparative study of several alternative schooling systems in the
United States about 18 months ago, I was exposed to a number of state-of-the-art online learning
platforms. I decided that a logical next step in my learning growth was to test the efficacy of an
online platform within the context of its contribution toward better learning experiences for
students. This study represents a specific step toward what I now see as personalized learning.

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Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v
Preface............................................................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... xiii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xv
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1
Background and Context.................................................................................................. 1
Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 2: Literature Review ..................................................................................................... 12
Overview of the Literature Review ................................................................................. 12
The Brain-Based, Biological Basis of Learning ............................................................. .15
Learning ........................................................................................................................ .21
The Role of Motivation and Emotion in Learning.......................................................... .26
Motivation to learn ............................................................................................. .26
Emotional and social needs ofa dolescents. ......................................................... 28
Personalized Learning .................................................................................................... 31
Universal Design and Technology for Personalized Learnin g........................................ 36
Universal design................................................................................................. 36
Technology. ....................................................................................................... 39
Adolescent social and emotional uses of technology .......................................... 43
Delivering Personalized Learning................................................................................... 51
Online Learning ............................................................................................................. 55
Synchronous and asynchronous ......................................................................... 56
Motivation and interaction ................................................................................. 58
Gender and academic/technological efficacy ...................................................... 60
Grade level/age .................................................................................................. 63
Online learning and traditional classrooms, a blended learning solutio .n............ 64
Challenges in Implementing Technology-Based Learning Experiences .......................... 68
The role of the teacher ........................................................................................ 69
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