The Magic of the Last Mile

Despite massive investments in educational technology, learning still looks and feels the same. In a recent podcast, Dr. Catlin Tucker asked, “Why Isn’t EdTech Transforming Learning?” Technology alone doesn’t drive transformation. How we use it does. I agree.

Infrastructure like school networks and mobile devices are a good start. They are part of the “first mile” but there is so much more. We can’t forget that transformational change is a very human experience.

The magic is in the “last mile” where we imagine new meaningful learning experiences rather than automate old ones.

For example, tech is a game-changer for assessments. Each Interactive lesson has a formative assessment. Questions are answered one at a time. Students receive instant feedback per response.

Upon completion, grades are posted in real time. Students are allowed to re-take assessments to improve their lesson score – the average of all attempts. This approach rewards improvement rather than punishing failure on first attempt. For Interactive courses like iPE and iHealth, this approach improves teacher efficiency and effectiveness by:

Reducing grading: Everything is auto graded in real time. Grades are auto posted.

Reducing prep: The effort and time to create assessments.

Reducing overhead: No need to visit the copy center. No need to hand out and collect papers.

EdTech for assessments can free up one or more teacher hours per school day.

What’s in it for students? Students express higher satisfaction because they have clearer expectations, a sense of ownership, and opportunities to recover from a low grade. They also like knowing grades right away.

Truth be told, there is no magic in the last mile. You can reimagine learning experiences right now. Just as Glinda the Good Witch of the North explained to Dorothy, “You’ve always had the power . . . you just had to learn it yourself.”

Not sure about the first step? Reach out and I’ll walk you through reimagined learning experiences for health and/or physical education.

All the best . . . ~g

Gary Lemke, ​Interactive