Thanks to my wife Marilyn for passing on this wonderful and inspiring video.
Alfie Kohn reviews a Indiana University School of Education survey that finds little correlation between time spent on homework and better course grades for math and science students. The survey did reveal a positive relationship between homework time and performance on standardized tests but all this demonstrates is a correlation not causation. Furthermore, the correlation was modest and the resulting one to two hours of homework only result in an increase of two to three points on a test. Kohn warns:
Thus, a headline that reads “Study finds homework boosts achievement” can be translated as “A relentless regimen of after-school drill-and-skill can raise scores a wee bit on tests of rote learning.”
Kohn also points out that while the survey revealed a modest correlation between homework and standardized test scores he reminds us more importantly that the survey revealed
There was no relationship whatsoever between time spent on homework and course grade, and “no substantive difference in grades between students who complete homework and those who do not.”
Perhaps the most accurate prediction that came out of this article was that despite the data showing the homework is not worth the time or effort many people would offer platitudes about its importance and would be afraid to give it up. The concluding paragraph is following by comment confirming Kohn’s prediction:
many people will respond to these results by repeating platitudes about the importance of practice, or by complaining that anyone who doesn’t think kids need homework is coddling them and failing to prepare them for the “real world”… Those open to evidence, however, have been presented this fall with yet another finding that fails to find any meaningful benefit even when the study is set up to give homework every benefit of the doubt.
This is a sad commentary on our educational system. Even when the data is clear study after study that homework is not beneficial you still have people in the system commenting that they would not be willing to take the risk of NOT assigning homework and having to deal with irate parents or school administrators. Fear is holding back our children’s and our future.
IDC offers the following predictions for 2012:
- The world will spend a whopping $2.1 trillion on tech in 2013
- Tech will grow insanely fast in emerging countries
- 2013 will be a make-it-or-break-it year in mobile for some vendors
- Big IT companies will feast on smaller cloud players
- A lot of smaller, specialized clouds will sprout up
- Everyone will become an IT person
- Big data will get bigger
- The data center as we know it is over
- Your work computer will be an ID you keep in your head
Tis the season for IT predictions and this years predictions are starting with some tried and try favorites. Cloud and mobile computing have been the “next big thing” for almost five years now and perhaps in 2013 we will start to see some of the earlier years predictions coming true. With the uptake of the iPad and other tablets we may now finally see some of these predictions come true. The ability to use ones own mobile phone or tablet to get real work done is finally a reality and this is will be putting significant pressure on IT departments to keep up.
One of the challenging predictions for IT is that “everyone will become an IT person”. What this really means is people are tired of hearing “NO” from IT and are using tools like Dropbox, Google docs and a wide assortment of free file sharing resources to get their work done without IT’s support. While this is great for the end user because they don’t have to deal with IT and can just get things done, the security risks involved in sharing corporate, government or academic data on some of these networks is significant and we may see 2013 or perhaps 2014 as the year of the renewed security threat.
IT departments that are currently facing this uncontrollable user driven shift only have themselves to blame. Cloud and mobile computing have been significant forces for many years now and there was plenty of time to develop strategies to work with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) workers. Proper planning and proactive responses to the cloud and mobile trends would have prevented what many will see as a reactive response to this shift. Proactive planning would have also alleviated many of the security concerns that will become big news are a result of the BYOD trends that are driving change.
Perhaps the most accurate predictions is that 2013 will be a make or break year for many companies. IDC has suggested that that mobile phone and tablet companies that don’t attract interest from at least 50% of app developers won’t survive. Apple and Android are the market leaders so it is their lead to loose. Will RIM make it? Will Microsoft’s bet on Windows 8 on the phone, tablet and desktop be enough or is it too little too late? Will 2013 be the year of consolidation in the cloud and mobile space? Regardless, 2013 should prove to be an interesting and pivotal year.
