Digital Teaching Platforms Profiles New Learning Technology

NEW YORK, March 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Has K-20 education fully realized the promise of technology? The computer-to-student ratio is now 3:1 compared to 30:1 in 1988, but is technology implementation transforming learning?  What comes next?

Harvard researchers Chris Dede and John Richards have identified a comprehensive technology solution that gives educators a 360-degree view of student achievement, personalized learning opportunities, and classroom effectiveness.

Their new book, Digital Teaching Platforms: Customizing Classroom Learning for Each Student, profiles a new learning technology called digital teaching platforms (DTPs), which are now available to schools.

DTPs represent the culmination of several evolving technology trends in K-20 education: the print-to-digital transition, the push for one-to-one computing, and the embrace of interactive display technologies. As a disruptive technology, DTPs offer teachers the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment support they need, and thereby help them make classrooms more effective and more customized to the needs of each learner.

"For decades, researchers have been developing technology solutions to support learning, monitor student progress, foster classroom discussion, and provide a framework for teachers, but it's been a challenge to create the efficient, one-step approach schools need," said Dede, Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Richards, co-author and adjunct faculty member at Harvard, said, "After coming together for a conference in 2010 to discuss the Digital Teaching Platform concept as the culmination of decades of research, we conceived the idea for this book."

The 208-page book is divided into four parts: defining DTPs and the context of evolution; curriculum content and pedagogy; continuous formative student assessment; and a school-based implementation of a comprehensive, scalable DTP, called Time To Know.

Digital Teaching Platforms: Customizing Classroom Learning for Each Student combines 20 years of research and development of digital learning. It strives to move the debate about technology effectiveness from a "magic vs. useless" view to a broader look at how technology can provide solutions to current classroom challenges.

Digital Teaching Platforms: Customizing Classroom Learning for Each Student
Editors: Chris Dede and John Richards
ISBN: 978-0-8077-5316-3
Paperback: $31.95
Release: April 1, 2012
Available: store.tcpress.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, timetoknow.com.

About the Authors
Chris Dede, Ph.D., is Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His scholarship fields include emerging technologies, policy and leadership. Harvard named Dede an outstanding teacher in 2007. He is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association and has edited several books.

John Richards, Ph.D., is President of Consulting Services for Education, Inc. and adjunct faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Richards has extensive experience in business development, strategic planning, market research, and award-winning product launches in the K-20 market.

SOURCE Teachers College Press