Posted on November 15, 2011
Reaching the Tipping Point? Eight Years of MLTI Research
PC Computing Blueprints
by James Rosso
The latest report from the University of Southern Maine documents the impact of the nation's most comprehensive statewide 1:1 initiative.
A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience, written by David L. Silvernail and other researchers at the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) of the University of Southern Maine, provides an overview of many years of research about Maine’s middle school one-to-one initiative. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), which has provided all 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers with their own laptop computers for 24/7 use, was originally authorized in 1999 by then-governor Angus King. By the fall of the 2002-03 school year, MLTI entered its first phase, involving over 17,000 seventh grade students and their teachers in over 240 schools throughout the state. The program expanded to grade eight the next year and has continued providing laptops to all 7th and 8th graders, accompanied by professional development for faculty, ever since.
From the beginning, MTLI was committed to program evaluation. The Maine Commissioner of Education contracted with MEPRI to conduct ongoing research into the impact of the initiative using a variety of methods including online surveys, test data analysis, site visits, and observations. What follows is a summary of the key findings reported in MEPRI’s current research overview.
Section 1: Evidence on Laptop Use
The latest evidence comes from a survey of 1,690 middle school teachers conducted in the spring of 2010. The goal was to assess how often and in what ways the computers were being used. In middle schools where laptops have been readily available for so many years, has teacher use of technology reached what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as the tipping point—"the point where something that began as unique becomes common"? In some areas, the answer appears to be a cautious "yes." For example, over an 8-year period (2003 - 2010), teacher use of the laptops to communicate with parents, students, and colleagues and to manage student information has doubled, rising from approximately 40% to over 80%.
A closer look reveals the ways in which the laptops are most frequently used. After asking the teachers to classify their use on a 6-point scale ranging from "never" to "often during the day," the researchers identified the following as the most common uses (ie., rated as 4, 5, or 6):
To communicate with colleagues inside and outside the school (93%)
To look up quick facts to inform teaching (88%)
To manage student information (87%)
To develop instructional materials (83%)
To conduct research for lesson plans and curriculum design (78%)
To record grades (76%)
To communicate with parents and students (75%)
As a tool during instruction (75%)
To differentiate instruction (75%)
For summative assessment (60%)
For formative assessment (53%)
And what about student use? According to student surveys, instructional use was most common in language arts, social studies and science. In these three areas, approximately 40% of the students indicated they use their laptops four hours or more each week. In mathematics, on the other hand, only 14% of the students reported using the laptops 4 or more hours per week and only 10% of art and music classes used them that often. Types of uses reported by students as occurring at least a few times a week included:
Researching information (69%)
Editing papers (44%)
Taking notes (42%)
Organizing information (38%)
Writing first drafts (32%)
Creating presentations (26%)
Working on short-term assignments (26%)
Working with spreadsheets (17%)
Section 2: Factors Relating to Use Levels
It is hard to answer the question of why there are differences in adoption levels by different teachers involved in the same program. Computer use does not appear to be a product of age, gender, teaching experience, or education level. However, as indicated above, usage was more common in certain subject areas than in others. Beyond that, one of the main factors affecting teachers’ use of the computers is teaching philosophy.
Based on survey answers, researchers were able to classify teachers as either constructivist (student-centered) or traditional (teacher-centered) in their teaching philosophy. Among constructivist teachers, 57% used the laptop frequently with students, whereas for the traditional teachers laptop usage was at 32%. It also seems that the usage of the computer in the classroom is shifting some of the teachers from the traditional to the constructivist end of the spectrum; MLTI is helping teachers become more student-centered.
Section 3: Benefits of the Laptop Program
Survey data show that teachers feel that they benefit from working with laptops. Some of the main benefits they identified:
Ability to explore topics in greater depth (87%)
Ability to teach some types of content and skills more effectively (86%)
Ability to individualize curriculum to fit student needs (82%)
Ability to differentiate instruction more effectively (76%)
Ability to teach students to be critical thinkers (66%)
Teachers also reported being better able to complete administrative tasks quickly, cover more material, track student learning, and let student data inform their teaching. In addition, teachers believe that the laptops make their students better learners. With laptops, the majority of teachers say, students work harder at their assignments, learn some content faster, express ideas more effectively, and are generally more involved with their learning.
Likewise, students are aware of the benefits to them. In the survey, the students indicated that, when working with a laptop, they are more likely to edit their work, stay better organized, get more work done with a higher quality, understand the material better, and feel more involved.
Section 4: Impacts on Student Learning: A Summary of Findings
To determine gains in specific curriculum areas the MEPRI research team has conducted a series of reports over several years. In all four of these already-published studies, summarized in A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience, students participating in the laptop program outscored a control group in significant ways:
Creating Better Writers
Using Laptops to Facilitate Middle School Science Learning: The Results of Hard Fun
Maine’s Impact Study of Technology in Mathematics
21st Century Skills
Section 5: Costs of the Laptop Program
This section of the report strives to answer one question: Is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative cost effective? For this research, the comparison was made with other 1:1 programs around the country. State costs include the laptops, software, network costs, and state level personnel costs as shown in the chart below.
2009-10 State MLTI Costs
Item
Units
Cost
Middle School Student
29,570 @ $242 per unit
$7,155,940
Middle School Staff
4,468 @ $242 per unit
$1,081,256
School Network Fee
225@ $7,817 per school
$1,758,825
MLTI Staff
Ten full and part-time staff
$471,905
Total Costs
$10,467,926
Cost per Unit
$308 per Unit
Local costs were also taken into consideration. The researchers found that the costs of the MLTI program sit in the average range when compared to similar programs or, as the authors reported: "Although much of the evidence in this area must be used cautiously, it appears Maine’s one-to-one laptop program costs are in line with the average costs found in other one-to- one laptop programs. Maine’s per unit costs were very similar to the average found in four other cost studies, and the incremental costs appear to be moderate."
Section 6: Summary and future Research
Teachers report benefits from the laptop program in both instruction and management while student achievement has definitely increased. As the writers of the report indicate: "The evidence presented in this report indicates that the MTLI program has had a significant impact on curriculum, instruction, and learning in Maine’s middle schools. In the areas of curriculum and instruction, the evidence indicates many teachers have reached the tipping point in the adoption and integration of the laptop into their teaching."
Further research is needed, however, to arrive at a better understanding of why certain advances have not been as fast or as great as program planners might have liked. In particular: Why do the teachers make so little use of the laptops to provide differentiated instruction or formative assessment? Why isn’t more time being devoted to using the laptops to develop 21st century skills?
Finally, the researchers are hoping to look more closely at the role of MLTI in the shift from teacher- to student-centered instruction. To what degree has it happened? And for whom? "Finding answers to these questions," say the MEPRI researchers, is important for identifying strategies for further promotion of this shift for more teachers."
Source: A Middle School One-to-One Laptop Program: The Maine Experience
