1.
Technology trends for
language teaching: looking
back and to the future.
Prof Steve Higgins,
School of Education,
Durham University,
s.e.higgins@durham.ac.uk
@stig_01
Learning and Teaching English
in the Digital Age: Policy and
Practice in Europe
4th December, 2013
Barcelona

2.
Overview
 Technology and
learning in the last
century
 What hasn’t worked
 The importance of
pedagogy
 A look towards the
future
In 1935, at New York University, Professor
C. C. Clark conducted a class remotely
using shortwave radio.
Short Wave Craft April 1935
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/05/predictions-for-educational-tv-in-the-1930s/

3.
A short history of educational
technology: nihil sub sole novum?
 Film
 Radio
 Television
 Tape recorders and language labs
 Podcasts and blogs
 Tablets and iPads
 LMS, VLEs, MOOCs, mobile devices
 Augmented Reality, Voice recognition, Cloud

4.
1913: Film
(Thomas Edison, reported in
The New York Dramatic Mirror in July 1913)
“Books,” declared the inventor with decision,
“will soon be obsolete in the public schools.
Scholars will be instructed through the eye. It is
possible to teach every branch of human
knowledge with the motion picture. Our school
system will be completely changed inside of
ten years.”
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/02/15/books-obsolete/ Picture source: Google Images

5.
1930s
Radio
http://dhayton.haverford.edu/blog/2013/03/http://www.pinterest.com/caturani/paleofuture-education-technology/

6.
1930s
prediction
for
educational
TV
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/05/predictions-for-educational-tv-in-the-1930s/

7.
1968
Proto-Skype
‘Picturephone’…
http://www.pinterest.com/caturani/paleofuture-education-technology/

8.
1960s language lab
Source: Google Images

9.
1900s prediction of schools in 2000
http://www.pinterest.com/caturani/paleofuture-education-technology/

10.
1958 vision of future education
http://www.pinterest.com/caturani/paleofuture-education-technology/

11.
1950s Programmed Instruction
Source: Google Images

12.
Technology and formal learning
 Education is:
 Universal AND
 Problematic
 Belief it can be improved
 Technology provides promise

13.
The UK context
 Huge investments in ICT in schools from
1980s
 World leader on IWB uptake
 Learning platforms/ VLEs common in schools
 Gaming approaches promoted with (past)
government support
 New computing curriculum
 Tablet mania

14.
Research
evidence
 What’s ‘worked’ in
the past
 What hasn’t worked
 The importance of
pedagogy
 A look towards the
future
http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/

15.
Evidence from correlational studies
 “Studies linking provision and use of
technology in schools ...find small positive
associations with educational outcomes but it
is not clear that this is always a causal link” (e.g.
Harrison et al. 2004)
 Good schools may invest more in technology (Moseley et
al. 1999)
 When socio-economic factors are controlled for -
no effect (Fuchs and Woessmann 2004)
 The link is not a simple linear one – optimal use
may be a better concept (e.g. OECD 2006)

16.
Experimental studies
 “Evidence from experimental and quasi-
experimental designs indicates consistent
moderate benefit” (e.g. Sipe and Curlette 1997; Pearson, 2005)
 Comparison with other researched
interventions suggests technology-based
interventions tend to produce average gains
(e.g. Hattie, 2009; Higgins et al. 2012)

17.
Digital
technologies in
the Sutton
Trust/EEF
Teaching and
Learning Toolkit
http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/

18.
Key question
 Are you convinced, as a result of new
technologies, learners are now learning
English
 Faster?
 More easily?
 More fluently?
 Better?

19.
Six myths about digital technology
1. The ‘Future Facing’ Fallacy
“New technologies are being developed all the time, the past
history of the impact of technology is irrelevant to what we
have now or will be available tomorrow.”
2. The ‘Different Learners’ Myth
“Today’s children are digital natives and the ‘net generation –
they learn differently from older people”.
3. A Confusion of ‘Information’ and ‘Knowledge’
“Learning has changed now we have access to knowledge
through the internet, today’s children don’t need to know
stuff, they just need to know where to find it.”

20.
Six myths about digital technology
4. The ‘Motivation Mistake’
“Students are motivated by technology so they must learn
better when they use it.”
5. The ‘Mount Everest’ Fallacy
“We must use technology because it is there!”
6. The ‘More is Better’ Mythology
“If some technology is a good thing, then more must be
better.”

21.
Evidence from digital technology
meta-analyses
 Collaborative use (pairs/ small groups)
more effective than individual use
 Effective as short but focussed
interventions
 Remedial / tutorial use can be particularly
effective as catch-up
 Greater gains when it supplements rather
than replaces normal teaching.
 Training and professional development
are essential
http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/apply-for-funding/digital-technology-round/impact-of-digital-technology-on-learning-report

22.
What hasn’t ‘worked’…
 LOGO
 Integrated learning systems
 One-to-one laptops
 Talking books
 Interactive whiteboards
 No ‘magic bullets’
Source: Google Images

23.
Getting the most from technology
 Innovators & early adopters
choose digital technology to do
something differently – as a
solution to a problem
 When adopted by the majority,
focus is on the technology, but
not as a solution
 The laggards use the technology
to replicate what they were
already doing without ICT
Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. Simon and Schuster.

24.
Issues
 How well you use it is more important than
whether you use it or not
 Pedagogy trumps technology
 Consider cost effectiveness?
So…should we beware of geeks bearing gifts?
Source: Google Images

25.
Quality matters…
 Good teaching and learning activities
 At the right level of challenge
 With opportunities for feedback
 Provide opportunities for self-regulation
 Help learners to plan, monitor and evaluate their
own learning (meta-cognition)
 Move the learner on
 From the task (skills, knowledge, understanding)
 In their learning (attitudes, dispositions, meta-cognition)

26.
kinect
e-learning
Why will these be any different?
Wii
iPads / tablets
Raspberry Pi
Source: Google Images

27.
Tomorrow’s promise?
Augmented reality
 Aural or text
 Contextual
 Mainly input
 Mobile
Voice recognition
 Encourages production
 Technical accuracy
Source: Google Images

28.
A multi-touch classroom in 2012

29.
SynergyNet Network Flick!

30.
NumberNet

31.
Developing adaptive expertise?
NumberNet
‘Make up some questions’
task
Add to each of the other
groups attempts (3x)
Organise the correct
expressions

32.
NumberNet

33.
NumberNet

34.
Teacher control
 From iPad
 Timing/rotate tables
 Freeze the action
 Disable keys ‘on the fly’
 Feedback on correct and incorrect expressions
(by group, by individual, by target number)
 Show/hide correct/incorrect expressions
 Show/hide totals (competitive)

35.
Live feedback to
the teacher

36.
Jack: Who done... Who's green? Jiminy…
That's quite smart! [the calculations have a colour border
indicating the table where they were created, so Jack is asking
which is the green table, and so who was responsible for the
calculation]
Adam: Oh look at that! 10 times 10 that
equals 100, add 50! Now that's clever,
whoever did that! I'm doing that…

37.
Once the teacher turns on the number pads,
Jack goes on to adapt the calculations he has
seen, creating the calculations 10*10+51-1, and
drawing Adam’s attention to it:
Jack: Haha! Adam, look at the size of that!
Adam: Oh yes, did it... 1... 5...
Jack: ‘Cause 10 times 10 is 100, add 51 is 151
and take away 1 is 150... bingo!
Adam: Bingo!

38.
What was effective?
 High level of (accepted) challenge
 Feedback from table, from peers, from
teacher (and to teacher via iPad)
 Supported group regulation
 Intra-group collaboration
 Inter-group competition
 Learning across groups
 Indirectly (from ‘inherited’ calculations)
 Directly (through whole class demonstration and discussion

39.
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Effectsize
Approaches
Average Effects
EEF Tookit approaches ranked by impact

40.
Toolkit
Toolkit
best ‘buys’...
New entry

41.
Digital technology and learning
 Adopt technology as a solution to a teaching
and learning challenge or problem
 Check that technical or basic skills issues
won’t get in the way of the learning
 Should help learners accept challenge
 Look for evidence of improvement
 Evaluate the impact
 Goldilocks’ Principle – have to get it ‘just right’

42.
What solutions can digital
technology offer?

43.
Key questions
What are the teaching and learning challenges
digital technologies can help you solve?
What will the technology replace?
What will you stop doing?
How will you know it is better?
Will the teacher be more effective/efficient?
Will the pupils learn quicker, for longer, more deeply,
think harder?
Will you see more feedback, more self-regualtion,
more meta-cognition?

44.
Local ecology
 Start from where you are
 Needs infrastructure
 Technical support
 Wifi access
 Needs support
 Skills training AND
 CDP for pedagogy

45.
For every complex
problem there is a
solution that is simple,
neat…
and WRONG!
H.L. Mencken 1880-1956

46.
References and links
EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/
SynergyNet videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLD9v6UP5vU
Digital technologies report: http://bit.ly/1hxVEKP
Pictures from Google Images and Pinterest (thanks to Juan Antonio
Ortiz)http://www.pinterest.com/caturani/paleofuture-education-technology/