Differentiated instruction,
individualized instruction, and individual education plans are all ways that
create a customized learning experience for students. Some of the earliest
computer-based drills started by asking the student to type in his/her name.
The computer then customized its responses by adding the student’s name, as
in “Good work, Phuong!” and “Try again, Lucie!” Nowadays, teachers can also
use publication of student work in print – with distribution around the
school, for example – or on the Web to give students a sense of pride and
individuality with their work by providing an extended audience.
On the other hand, a
consistent risk in research with people is the “Hawthorne effect.” This is
the risk that being part of an experiment will produce a positive change in
behavior, no matter what the experiment is doing. Using a new software
program, adding audio, increasing the lighting, working online: these are all
changes that can produce a Hawthorne effect, especially in a short-term
experiment without a control group. While there is some doubt about whether
this is a valid construct, certainly ascribing all changes to technology
risks missing some other variables that might affect the change. Technology
use thrives on the willingness to avoid looking for additional variables, and
the practice has muddied the waters in technology research for years.