2.+Problem+Statement

Research Problem Carlene Bailey MEDT 8484

My general research topic is technology enhancements for the special education middle school classroom. The specific problem I wish to address is: **Are there effective and proven technologies with verifiable results that can close the performance gaps that students with learning disabilities often demonstrate in reading and writing?**

The reason that I have chosen this topic is because I work with students in seventh grade language arts who are struggling with reading and writing. I want to find innovative ways to reach them using technology and help them to maintain their focus and improve their comprehension. I believe that students will buy into instruction using technology more easily than traditional paper and pencil tasks. Technology, if implemented correctly, can more effectively engage their attention. My direction will be focused on qualitative research, because it will be discovery oriented instead of quantitative and solely focused on numerical data. But, as chapter two in the textbook (Johnson, B., Christensen, L., 2008) states, a mixed approach is often the best. Therefore, I plan to include some research data with numbers and statistics to support my conclusions. Quantitative date will be essential to demonstrate specific technology effectiveness.

One particular article reviewed thus far uses digitized oral feedback and the Turning Point Active Response System and finds them to be effective uses of technology to enhance learning (Harper, 2009). In this article Brian Harper suggests that this technology demonstrates improvements in students’ ability to maintain focus on learning with higher levels of class enjoyment. Information such as this points to an answer to my research problem, and I look forward to more research on this topic.

Harper, B. (2009). Increasing Student Engagement Through the Use of Technology-Enhanced Feedback. //Teaching Educational Psychology//, 3(3), 1-8.

Johnson, B. (2008). //Educational Research, Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches// (3rd ed.) (J. McNall, Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.