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Guidance from Expert Panels

Expert Panel on Educational Technology

The work of the Expert Panel on Educational Technology provides direction about the kinds of learning for which educational technology is best suited.

The Expert Panel established and tested a model for defining the quality of programs that use educational technology. In reflecting on this work, Karen Sheingold (2002), one of the members of the panel, wrote:

What resulted from the Panel’s rigorous process is a framework that includes a set of criteria for quality programs, a model that explains the dynamic relationships among these criteria, and a set of rubrics that describe five different levels of performance on each criterion. (p. 5)

This framework—model, rubrics, criteria, and indicators for each criteria—is now available and of potential help to district leaders (Confrey, Sabellli, & Sheingold, 2002). We considered this model in creating the Standards-based Classroom Examples. In particular, we looked carefully at the two criteria of learning and equity.

	The Expert Panel's Framework

Learning is the central criterion of the model. The learning criterion states that an effective educational technology program “develops complex learning and thinking skills.” The indicators for this criterion emphasize the depth of student understanding, students’ habits of self-directed learning, and students as critical consumers and producers of educational technology (Confrey et al, p. 17-18). There is ample evidence of the importance of this criterion: for example, Stigler & Hiebert (1999), in their analysis of videotapes of mathematics teaching in the United States compared to teaching in Japan and Germany, point out that American teachers do not allow students sufficient time to struggle and learn from difficult problems, effectively denying students the opportunity to develop depth in their mathematical understanding. We aimed to capture “complexity of learning and thinking” in the classroom examples.

Equity is the second criterion that helped to shape our work. The equity criterion states that an effective educational technology program “contributes to educational excellence for all.” The rubric for this criterion emphasizes high expectations for all learners, responsiveness to the diverse needs of varied populations of learners, and increased participation or achievement of under-served learners. Studies of the use of educational technology in schools points to the fact that many teachers assume that technology is best reserved for use by the strongest students (e.g., Schofield and Davidson, 2002); in contrast, the Expert Panel urges district leaders to see the role of technology in meeting the learning needs of the full range of learners. This vision of equity informed the kinds of classroom learning that we portray in the classroom examples.

The model developed by the Expert Panel on Ed Technology merits consideration by district leaders as they map out how best to link technology to student learning in their districts. Two of the five criteria are outlined above. A third, organizational change, is also worth careful attention; while it was not directly relevant in developing our classroom examples, it is certainly relevant to districts in developing implementation strategies.

The Expert Panel views sustainable change as necessarily linked to organizational change; without such change, the innovation (e.g., the use of technology to support good practices in middle grades mathematics) will be merely another educational fad, short-lived and without lasting impact.

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