EDU 6215 Journal Article Review #2

Citation:

Watters, Audrey (2014).  How will the ed-tech industry shape student reading? Knowledge Quest. Vol. 14 Issue 1, pages 16-21. Retrieved from Library Literature & Information Science database.  DOI:  97937358.

Review of How Will the Ed-Tech Industry Shape Student Reading?

Summary:

This article discusses two main ideas.  First, the author argues that thanks to pushes for Common Core by schools across the country, the ed-tech industry is booming.  The author states, “Focused on math and literacy standards, adoption of the CCSS will require schools to purchase newly and properly aligned materials.  The need for new materials is a huge boon to the ed-tech industry” (Watters, 2014).  That point is elaborated upon by explaining that the focus of using educational technology in school has shifted from preparing students for the workplace and improving school efficiency to preparing students to take standardized assessments that are now online or computer-based (Watters, 2014).  Because of this, Watters declares Common Core as a “big win” for the ed-tech industry (2014).   As she points out, “68 percent of school districts say they plan to purchase new instructional materials as they implement the new standards”, according to a recent survey (Watters, 2014).  This all means big money for technology businesses.   

Second, the author points out that a shift by schools to use Lexile rankings to measure the difficulty of texts is creating opportunities for ed-tech companies to make even more money (Watters, 2014).  The author argues that as more and more schools adopt the Lexile Framework, which is based on a computer-generated algorithm, more and more companies will create tech tools for schools that incorporate Lexile data, thus creating new, money-making opportunities for those companies (Watters, 2014).  Furthermore, schools are shifting away from fictional texts to more nonfiction, and they are starting to seek out digital, Lexiled texts over traditional print versions (Watters, 2014).  The reason for this is one of common sense; being digitized, computer programs aligned to the Lexile Framework can perform text-leveling work for teachers.

Recommendations:

The article is not really one that lends itself to blatantly recommending anything.  But, a takeaway of the article is that it would behoove districts to begin a transition to incorporate more educational technology, especially that which is directly related to Common Core and Lexile Framework, if they want to remain effective and competitive.  It seems as though the prevailing trend is one that is beginning to strongly favor the tech-savvy school.  This should have enough of an influence on students’ education to, hopefully, help them become more successful in this modern realm of education. 

Reflection/Applications:

This article does a good job of explaining how the ed-tech industry will benefit from Common Core and Lexile initiatives.  It also describes how technology will affect student reading.  Many of the curricular programs we use in my school are based upon Common Core standards, and many of these are web-based.  Also, I regulary use the Lexile Framework to find leveled historical nonfiction texts online that students can read and analyze.  Without such a thing, it would be much more difficult and time consuming for me to find leveled reading texts for students. 

In the school at which I work, I have seen a dramatic shift towards educational technology over the last decade.  When I first started teaching, each teacher had one desktop computer, a TV with VCR/DVD combo player, and an overhead projector.  The school had one computer lab that was shared by the entire school as needed.  Grades were done using software, but other than that we were not really provided with any other form of technology.  In contrast, today we rely heavily on ed-tech.  Each teacher has a laptop for planning purposes as well as at least one additional desktop computer for student use.  We now have three computer labs and another three rolling (laptop) labs.  Students are assessed using online assessments such as PARCC and MAP.  Teachers collect and analyze data with web-based programs like PowerSchool, Mastery Manager, and AIMSweb.  Even communication has changed, going from phone calls to emails and Skyping.  All of this begs the question:  what will education look like ten, twenty, or even thirty years from now?