Technology makes digitally-enabled, evidence-based teaching practices possible. Courseware is a prime example and the focus of our work given its relevance across all practices detailed on this site.
It is important to note that technology is not a panacea for making education equitable and effective. Indeed, technologies themselves may introduce new and different challenges to equitable learning. Factors to consider when adopting new technology include: The diverse interests, prior knowledge, and experiences of students; the pathways the technology provides relative to the learning goals of the course, the learning environment, the level of support available to students and instructors using the technology, and the potential to enable equitable access to technology.
Courseware is a digital instruction tool that includes instructional content, formative and summative assessments, and collaborative components. Based on the student’s interaction with the tool, courseware modifies their learning path to maximize mastery of learning objectives and course content. At the same time, courseware provides faculty with real-time data about their students’ learning and progress so that they may modify their instruction as needed and implement meaningful interventions with students.
Courseware products can provide an individualized learning experience to substantially improve learning outcomes for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students and students from low-income backgrounds. Courseware can innovate the student learning experience by making learning more accessible, engaging, interactive, personalized, and cost-effective. High-quality, affordable courseware can also support faculty implementing digitally-enabled, evidence-based teaching practices to better support equitable student success.
Transforming education with technology
The vision is that courseware will change how students engage their peers and instructors for connection and help, improve the relevance and application of learning content to students’ everyday lives, and deliver a more intuitive, efficient, and productive user experience. It will also change how instructors spend class time, prepare and adopt instructional practices that best support student success, and use data to inform teaching and engage with students in ways that encourage their learning.
Educational technologies like courseware will play a central role in transforming education, especially when developed and implemented intentionally. Our Target Product Profile sets forth a vision for that great potential realized, beginning with Math.
Formative research for product development
We can make this vision a reality by continuing to research and iterate on technologies that seek to achieve the goals of this TPP. Formative research cycles embedded throughout the new product development process will help ensure the final product supports this vision by:
- Evaluating whether products and practices meet the expectations of the product profile.
- Investigating the proposed impact pathways hypothesized by our theory of change.
Additionally, formative research helps identify gaps without derailing existing product development cycles. This includes:
- Experimenting with multiple approaches to satisfying the TPP.
- Surfacing the limitations of courseware for solving certain problems.
The potential of artificial intelligence-enabled features or functionality is both exciting and uncertain. In the past year, new tools have emerged to implement rapid adaptation of content, immediate feedback for students, and instructional decision support. Understanding when exciting products transform into effective products takes rigorous, thoughtful research and evaluation to make sure all students see the benefits. We will continue to build out a framework for making such determinations.