How Can Children Optimize Their Online Learning Experiences With Educational Technology?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Recent school closures have forced an increasing reliance on educational technology to support formal teaching and learning. These historic disruptions to schooling have underlined the importance of effective online learning strategies when there are no in-school alternatives. Yet, questions remain regarding how children and teachers can most effectively implement technology to support educational goals and how the technology can be designed to be flexibly used across instructional contexts (e.g., in-school vs. remote). In this symposium, we explore the factors that improve online learning with educational technology, with a particular focus on how implementation factors and the instructional context interact to affect learning. We include four presentations that feature digital learning interventions across the K-8 continuum.

The first project discusses the implementation and impact of a game-based online social skills training program before and after COVID-19 school closures depending on schools’ infrastructure and preparations. The second project highlights a K-2nd grade science program, designed to engage students through transmedia playlists that uses authentic characters in a television show and a variety of activities to inspire and deepen active science learning. The third presentation features a replication study of 63 schools that examines the efficacy and implementation of online homework support for promoting middle school math learning achievement. The fourth project explores how an educational technology designed for preK-2nd graders was implemented during the COVID pandemic, and what patterns of use show most promise for supporting young students’ learning with technology in remote contexts.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Chairs

• Linlin Li, WestEd

• Bryan Matlen, WestEd

Individual Presentations

• Positive Impacts of a Digital Social and Emotional Learning Platform Amidst COVID-19 School Closures - Presenting Author: Kylie Flynn, WestEd; Non-Presenting Author: Linlin Li, WestEd; Non-Presenting Author: Melissa E Derosier, 3C Institute

• Impacts of a K-2nd Virtual Science Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Momo Hayakawa, Twin Cities PBS; Non-Presenting Author: Linlin Li, WestEd; Non-Presenting Author: Joan Freese, Twin Cities PBS

• Boosting Middle School Math Learning With Online Homework - Presenting Author: Mingyu Feng, WestEd; Non-Presenting Author: Neil Heffernan, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Non-Presenting Author: Haiwen Wang, SRI International; Non-Presenting Author: Kelly Collins, WestEd

• COVID-19 Learning at Home: What Factors Support Game-based Educational Technology Learning in Young Children? - Presenting Author: Hee Jin Bang, Age of Learning, Inc.; Non-Presenting Author: Kenneth Tae Han Lee, University of California, Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Kirsten Olander, Age of Learning, Inc.; Non-Presenting Author: Steve Schneider, WestEd; Non-Presenting Author: Bryan Matlen, WestEd