Jason Schenker

Ubiquitous Computing and Changing Pedagogical Possibilities: Representations, Conceptualizations and Uses of Knowledge

This article reports on preliminary findings from an ongoing study of teaching and learning in a ubiquitous computing classroom. The research employed mixed methods and multiple measures to document changes in teaching and learning that result when teachers and students have access to a variety of digital devices wherever and whenever they need them. It identifies ways in which ubiquitous computing environments can support both individual and social construction of knowledge, and the role that unique representations of knowledge supported by a variety of ready-at-hand digital devices can play in such support.

A Comparison of Speech Sound Intervention Delivered by Telepractice and Side-by-Side Service Delivery Models.

Telepractice has the potential to provide greater access to speech-language intervention services for children with communication impairments. Substantiation of this delivery model is necessary for telepractice to become an accepted alternative delivery model. This study investigated the progress made by school-age children with speech sound impairments in side-by-side intervention compared with telepractice intervention. Fourteen children aged 6 through 10 years with identified speech sound disorders were randomly assigned to intervention delivered in a side-by-side or telepractice service delivery model. Intervention was provided twice a week for 30-min individual sessions during a 5-week summer intervention program. Children in both service delivery models made improvement in their speech sound production during the program. There were no significant differences between the two groups on postintervention assessments including standardized assessment and listener judgments of word productions. Measurements of treatment fidelity were also reported. The results of this study support the use of telepractice in the intervention of children’s speech sound disorders.

Ubiquitous Computing: Rethinking Teaching, Learning, and Technology Integration

Ubiquitous access to digital technologies is becoming an integral part of our business, home, and leisure environments, yet despite a quarter century of educational technology initiatives, ubiquitous computing remains conspicuously absent from our schools. In this chapter, we argue that simply putting more computers in schools will not solve the problem, but rather that teaching, learning, and technology integration need to be reconceptualized within a ubiquitous computing framework before the full educational possibilities inherent in digital technologies can be realized. Using examples from our laboratory classroom, we discuss how teaching needs to be reconceived more as “conducting” than “instructing”; how learning needs to become more the responsibility of the student, and located with her in an expanded space and time that extends beyond the classroom; and how technology integration needs to be understood not as an add-on, device-driven enterprise, but one motivated by teaching and learning needs and in which multiple technology choices are readily available to teachers and students both within and beyond the classroom.