Technology in Education Flashcards

A GED teacher wants to use adaptive learning technology to differentiate instruction for students with varying literacy levels. Which limitation of most commercially available adaptive learning platforms is MOST critical to disclose to administrators before implementation?

Answer: Adaptive algorithms are typically trained on K-12 student data, which may not accurately model adult learner error patterns and motivation profiles

Adaptive learning platforms are predominantly built and validated using K-12 student datasets. Adult learners—particularly GED candidates—have distinct prior knowledge gaps, life experience contexts, and motivational drivers that these algorithms do not account for. This mismatch can cause the platform to misdiagnose skill deficits and deliver inappropriate content scaffolding. While connectivity (A) is a real constraint, it is logistical rather than pedagogical. ELL support (C) varies widely and is not a universal limitation. LMS integration (D) is increasingly standard.

During a blended GED preparation course, a teacher notices that students who complete digital practice modules score lower on paper-based GED subtests than students who only used print materials. Which concept BEST explains this performance gap?

Answer: Transfer-appropriate processing — skills encoded in a digital context do not fully transfer to the paper-based retrieval context

Transfer-appropriate processing theory holds that memory retrieval is most effective when the conditions at retrieval match those present during encoding. Students who practice exclusively on digital platforms encode strategies tied to scrolling, clicking, and screen-based reading cues. When the actual GED subtest is administered on paper, those context-specific cues are absent, degrading performance. Cognitive overload (C) is plausible but does not explain the directional performance difference across modalities. The digital divide (A) would predict lower digital scores, not lower paper scores. Confirmation bias (D) is a teacher bias, not a student performance mechanism.

A GED program director is evaluating whether to adopt a generative AI writing tutor to give students feedback on extended response drafts. Which ethical concern is UNIQUELY heightened in adult basic education contexts compared to traditional K-12 settings?

Answer: Adult learners are more likely to share personally sensitive life narratives in their writing, raising privacy and data ownership risks

GED extended response prompts often invite students to draw on personal experience and perspective. Adult learners—many of whom write about employment history, family circumstances, incarceration, immigration, or trauma—may embed sensitive biographical information in their drafts. When that content is transmitted to a third-party AI service, it creates data ownership, FERPA applicability, and vendor privacy policy risks that are uniquely acute for this population. Factual inaccuracy (A) and skill dependency (B) are valid concerns but apply equally across educational levels. Option D is factually incorrect; current LLMs can assess extended response argumentation.

A teacher implements a flipped classroom model in a GED preparation course, assigning video lectures as homework. After two weeks, attendance at in-class sessions drops and students report feeling unprepared. Which instructional design flaw MOST likely caused this outcome?

Answer: The flipped model assumed synchronous home internet access and uninterrupted viewing time, ignoring adult learners' environmental constraints

The flipped classroom model presupposes that students can reliably access and view instructional content at home before class. GED candidates frequently face barriers that undermine this assumption: shared devices, childcare responsibilities, variable work schedules, unstable housing, and limited data plans. When homework cannot be completed, students arrive at in-class sessions without the foundational exposure the model requires, causing disengagement and absenteeism. Video length (A) is a secondary design concern. Collaboration quality (C) affects engagement but would not explain dropout caused by unpreparedness. Content alignment (D) is important but unrelated to the described attendance pattern.

Which of the following BEST describes the instructional risk of relying on gamification mechanics (points, badges, leaderboards) as the PRIMARY motivational strategy in a GED technology-enriched classroom?

Answer: Gamification increases extrinsic motivation in the short term but can undermine pre-existing intrinsic motivation through the overjustification effect

The overjustification effect, documented in self-determination theory research, describes how introducing external rewards for a behavior that was already intrinsically motivated can shift the perceived locus of causality from internal to external—reducing long-term intrinsic motivation. Many adult GED students are autonomously motivated by goals such as employment, college access, or setting an example for their children. Heavy reliance on gamification can erode that self-determined motivation and make continued engagement contingent on reward availability. Leaderboards (B) may raise privacy concerns but FERPA does not per se prohibit all comparative displays. Option C is factually incorrect; adults do respond to gamification elements. Option D conflates a real measurement concern with the primary motivational risk described.

A GED teacher uses an AI-powered text complexity analyzer to select reading passages for technology-in-society lessons. The tool assigns a high Flesch-Kincaid grade level to a passage about smartphone privacy settings. What is the MOST significant limitation of using this metric to judge passage suitability for GED instruction?

Answer: Flesch-Kincaid measures surface features like sentence length and syllable count but does not capture domain-specific vocabulary load, inferential demand, or reader background knowledge requirements

Flesch-Kincaid readability formulas calculate scores based on average sentence length and average syllables per word—purely surface-level syntactic features. They are blind to the cognitive demands that most affect comprehension in technical or civic texts: domain-specific terminology (e.g., 'encryption,' 'metadata'), the inferential chains required to connect abstract concepts, and how much prior knowledge a reader must bring to the text. A passage with short sentences and common words may still be inaccessible to a GED student who lacks schema for digital privacy concepts. Option A is incorrect; Flesch-Kincaid applies to all prose but has documented weaknesses. Option C is plausible but not a widely documented systematic bias. Option D is false; the GED framework does not impose a grade-level ceiling on instructional materials.