The Science of Learning Blog: Joseph DuLaney

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Robot Teachers and Video Games: Tech Tools for Students with Autism

May 21, 2013 by Joseph DuLaney

tech tools for students An increase in the incidence of autism is changing the landscape of our classrooms and challenging our knowledge of how best to educate all students. Fortunately, recent technology is providing some ways to help - a cast of characters including robot teachers and video games is helping unravel the mystery of how best to reach students with autism.

At the most basic level, autism is defined as a childhood-onset developmental disorder. Deficits can include social reciprocity, communication, over-focused interests, and repetitive behaviors, and can occur at differing levels of severity. The social reciprocity and communication challenges lay the foundation for what can become a challenging school environment for some.

Robots Teachers

Some schools have started using tech tools in creative ways to break down the communication barriers with students with autism. In Birmingham, England, a program in which students with autism learn from robot teachers has shown promise. The instructors and researchers believe the robot teachers are less threatening than human teachers—possibly due to the robots’ lack of emotion and much smaller size. Whatever the reason, students are showing a desire to connect with the robots, and once that connection has been developed, learning in different forms can begin to take place.

Video Game Technology

The use of video games with autistic learners is also gaining traction, reaching students on their own terms via a fun and familiar technology. Researchers have found that video games create an environment that is less threatening than the real world—much like robots—and one that is more predictable, allowing the students to feel more at ease. As a result, breakthroughs can sometimes be made more quickly with video games, as in the case of a student who finally moved his arms up and down together while playing XBOX—after a therapist had worked with him on the movement for months without success.

Video games enable the delivery of educational content—from math and language arts instruction to behavioral modeling and physical coordination exercises—while keeping students engaged, a combination that can be harder to achieve with more traditional methods of instruction.

The Way Forward

These two applications of technology in the classroom are paving the way for additional research into how our education systems can better interact with students on the autism spectrum. Robots and video games are most definitely not the full answer, but if they give us a glimpse into a solution, then they are a great start.

There are a lot of questions still to explore, but like a mystery novel with an unknown ending, we must follow the clues and solve the riddles to open our eyes.

Improving Auditory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The majority of children on the autism spectrum have weaknesses in the underlying skills needed to develop language and literacy. Fast ForWord addresses these foundational skills directly (auditory processing, memory, attention, sequencing) and has benefited hundreds of students with autism.

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Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning, Special Education

Tags: autism, digital natives, emotions in learning, how children learn, learning through play, motivating students, technology in education

Google in Education: Digging Deeper with Google Scholar and Google Sites

March 8, 2012 by Joseph DuLaney

Google in education

You have showed your students how using Google in the classroom can help them refine a search and maximize their time spent doing research.

There might be times, however, when students need to take the next step in their educational research and also present those findings. Google has two tools that can assist: Google Scholar and Google Sites.

Google Scholar provides a way to search and locate scholarly literature from a variety of sources such as articles, books and abstracts. Articles are generated from postings by academic publishers, professional groups, universities and other credible sources around the world.

A unique aspect of Google Scholar is that the documents are ranked. Because the rankings consider several aspects of the document including author, published location and other citations, the results are typically relevant and your students can trust that the highest ranked documents will provide credible information.

Google Scholar truly allows your students to access impactful resources for researching the broad range of topics covered in the classroom, free of charge.

Google Sites is a tool that will allow your students to collaborate or present the information they have gathered through their Google research.

With a wide range of templates available for education, students and teachers can quickly and easily build their own website or wiki via a simple user interface with no technical knowledge required. Widgets are available to give the site a custom look and feel.

Google Sites is a perfect place for students to present science projects or student research wikis, or for teachers to keep parents up to date on all the things happening in the classroom. With 10 GB of site storage included, there’s no need to worry about space limitations.

So, whether researching a topic, presenting findings or simply collaborating with a group of fellow students, be sure to dig into what Google has to offer!

10 Big Benefits of Using iPads in Schools

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Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: digital natives, learning environment, teacher impact, technology in education

School District Technology: Plan or Blueprint?

January 12, 2012 by Joseph DuLaney

School district technology plan

You are looking to make changes to your school district’s technology infrastructure or offerings. You have a plan for what you would like. But is it a blueprint?

Many times our school systems are put in the very difficult position of “expanding technology” or “finding online solutions” because funding becomes available on short notice or parents of students are putting pressure on the school system to buy more technology. We get excited to go out and execute a plan.

Immediately talks happen to purchase tablets, desktops, interactive white boards, servers or maybe run new wire. A plan is underway.

The challenge from this is that many times expenditures come in higher than expected and we end up purchasing technology that does not ultimately serve as a solution to a specific problem, like declining test scores. We have teachers with tablets in hand or interactive white boards on the wall, but with no direction on how to use either and for what.

Free Download
District Technology Blueprint
Template

We do not have a blueprint.

A blueprint ensures that your technology purchases have a measurable impact on a problem your school or school system faces.

So, how do you build a blueprint that will ensure that technology expenditures are building a measurable, core foundation in your schools and ultimately providing a solution to a specific problem like lagging reading scores?

Here are a few things to consider when building a blueprint:

Start with the end result in mind. What result must be realized from this purchase? (For example. As a district, we would like to have a five point gain in writing scores in seventh grade from this purchase.)
Know the scale of your purchase. Does this need to truly serve every student or is a smaller scale a smarter direction? There is no harm in starting small, piloting and expanding within your comfort level.
Understand what supporting technology (software) will be needed to achieve the desired results. Do your homework and pull research and results studies.
Know the specs of the supporting technology so that you can implement with fidelity. The first time. Does a school need a dedicated server? Can the software run via web and if so what kind of pipeline will be needed to run it smoothly? What processes need to be in place to install?
Locate existing technology already in use to determine conflicts and/or updates needed.
Put a training program in place for each site. For virtual training, you will want to be able to monitor online participation to ensure that your expenditures are being used by the staff and not sit idle.
Finally, build a multiyear blueprint for update. You want to insure that you are looking out into the future for possible expenditures a planning ahead.

Technology is changing, fast.

Statistics show that currently there are four students for each piece of instructional technology, which is significantly different from just a decade ago when it was twelve to one. Even though students have more access now than ever, know that this number will change even more in the next five years.

Are you prepared? Do you have a blueprint in place to make sure it is not just technology for every student, but technology that provides a solution to a specific set of problems?

Position the technology with a blueprint and engineer your way to results you can measure.

Using Data Effectively in School Districts: Tips for School Administrators

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Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: innovation, school leader effectiveness, teacher effectiveness, teacher impact, technology in education

Facebook in Schools: Tool or Taboo?

December 1, 2011 by Joseph DuLaney

When it comes to opinions on the use of Facebook in education, there’s a pretty clear dividing line: one side believes that when used in the right way, Facebook can be a tool, while the other thinks it is a distraction that should be kept away from schools.

Statistics show that 85 - 95% of American high school and college students are on Facebook, with a majority accessing Facebook via smartphone. When so many students access Facebook on their phones, it would be easy to take the position that Facebook could siphon time from classwork and create distraction. The clear remedy would be to ban cell phone use and block Facebook access on campus.

One question, though, begs to be asked those who have taken this approach: How is this working out for you?

This question is not a criticism of school or district policy, as the appropriate use of technology in education is a legitimate concern and there are challenges that arise from open access to Facebook in schools. However, when our students are using Facebook via smartphone as a primary means of communication, should we be communicating with them as “digital natives” on their terms?

There may be constructive alternatives to banning one of the most powerful tools our students have access to today. Let’s take a look at a few simple ways to use Facebook as an education tool and eliminate some of the taboo that comes along with it.

1) Create a private, closed group page for a class and invite students to join. Teachers can use a group page like this to invite students to connect in a safe manner that does not connect them to personal pages. In addition, teachers can add or remove students at any time, thus keeping the group intact and current their current class.

2) Post a daily topic of discussion. Have the students view the page daily to see what the next day’s class discussion topic will be. Via the comments section, allow students to ask questions and post thoughts that can be used to guide the next day’s lesson. This is also a great way to see where your students’ base knowledge of a subject lies. If you’re worried about inappropriate comments, set clear guidelines up front and let students know that access will be permanently removed for any student who violates the rules. Chances are, students will see it as more important to be able to access Facebook and use the tool than to test the boundaries and be banned.

3) Post links to articles, resources and websites for your students. Your Facebook group page is a quick and easy place for you to share other learning tools you have found that could help them.

4) Once a week, have a student create a daily topic of discussion. Open up discussion to topics your students find relevant in their world. A topic may not be within your exact curriculum, but use it as a chance to understand their world and have a meaningful line of communication.

5) Review the comments monthly with your students. As the year goes on, the level and depth of discussion should grow. Use this as an opportunity to motivate your class by going back and reviewing the comments with your students. Assess the growth as a group, having the class highlight comments they felt led to higher level thinking and challenged them. Support the conversation by recognizing discussions you feel had a strong impact on the group as a whole.

Whether you are in favor of using Facebook in schools or not, there’s no denying that our students today learn, communicate and socialize in ways that we never imagined. It is a challenge for us to reach them sometimes, and every once in a while we will have to take a leap and try something new.

Opening the Classroom Through Online Collaboration: 21^st Century Learning Environments

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Categories: Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: creativity, curriculum, digital natives, innovation, learning environment, motivating students, technology in education

Using Google in the Classroom: Two Simple Tips to Refine Your Search

October 13, 2011 by Joseph DuLaney

Using Google in the classroom

Today is research day.

Your students are excited as they head to the computer lab to begin looking at ideas for their National History Day Projects.

They arrive. Sit at their computer. Open Google and begin typing their topic into the search bar.

Just then a bit of panic sets in as you realize Google Search can return all kinds of results, and your students are pouring over literally millions of target locations that possibly have no relevance to the research they are attempting to conduct. Even worse in your mind is that you have possibly just wasted thirty minutes of valuable time—time that could have been much more productive if you just knew a couple of things about Google Search.

Google Basic Search is how most of us use Google. It gives you the simple task of typing your search topic in the Google Search Bar and accepting the results it hands back.

It is valuable to know that Google compiles those results in many different ways, and not always in the specific way in which we are looking. For example, when I search for the Great Divide (or Continental Divide), which was a major factor in United States Westward Expansion, I get these top three results:

Great Divide Brewing Co. This may be a fine microbrewery but definitely wasn’t a hangout for the Westward Explorers.
Great Divide Snow Sports. I do not recall the explorers using snowboards so I believe we can rule this site out as well
The Great Divide Band, of which none of the members were even born during the time period, once again provides nothing in the way of help in research on the topic of the Great Divide.

Now, take a look at some simple tools that will provide a powerful and impactful search for your students and maximize their time performing research. These tools are called Google Search Operators, and two common Operators are Site: and Source:.

Site:, when typed after a search topic, allows a searcher to find information on Google from specific sites or domain extensions (.com, .net, .edu) thus narrowing the search only to websites that are considered relevant and appropriate, such as educational institutions, media, government sites, etc. For educational institutions you would use their domain extension, site:edu, to generate only results that come from the educational community such as universities. For media or other websites you use their site and extension—some examples include site:cnn.com which would generate searches specifically from CNN.com or site:apple.com which would generate searches only from the Apple website. Give it a try. Type in Google Search [Steve Jobs site:CNN.com] or [Steve Jobs site:apple.com].

Source: is a very focused search operator that, when placed after a search topic, allows a searcher to find information from a specific news source such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or a local newspaper. To perform a search with source: you would follow the same steps as you would with site:, instead just typing the source in which you are looking to gain information. Try this search: [Election source:New York Times], which prioritizes results on the topic of elections that have been published in The New York Times.

There are many other advanced search operators for use with Google, but these two simple operators are a great start to help your students focus their time on performing credible research. If you would like to learn about these and other options, you can visit Google’s web search support page for more information.

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