Annotating a Scholarly Journal Second Draft

Cobb, Aries. “To differentiate or not to differentiate? Using internet-based technology in the classroom.” Quarterly Review of Distance Education 11.1 (2010): 37+. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Nov. 2010.


In the report Cobb looks at whether educators should differentiate instruction, or should use direct instruction when using Internet-based software in the K-12 classroom. According to Cobb direct instruction and differentiated instruction are two different teaching strategies. In direct instruction students work in whole group. The teacher explains the task to the students based on targeted learning outcomes. Students work in a large group on the required task in a timely manner. On the other hand, students who work in a flexible and/or cooperative group are guided with the strategy of differentiated instruction. The students in the group work together to master a set of skills depicted and explained in detail by the teacher. The teacher provides instruction based on the uniqueness of each student and his or her specific learning style. In differentiated instruction, students and teachers collaborate with one another to meet the targeted goals (Tomlinson, 2001). The Cleveland Metropolitan School District was targeted school for a study. They used a program called Compass Learning which “is an Internet-based software program that differentiates instruction, prescribes learning paths, allows students to work cooperatively, and increases overall student achievement in reading skills for the targeted students.” (1) Cobb says differentiated instruction is the chosen teaching strategy over direct instruction because students and teachers alike prefer to work in cooperative groups while using technology in the classroom.

In my review of the article, this is recent. It was published in the Quarterly Review of Distance Learning in the Spring of 2010. The article seems to be from a credible source. I found the article using the Academic OneFile database. The article is also from a credible author. She is the director of Edu-Tech Consulting Firm and an assistant professor of Educational Technology at Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area. According to the Association for Educational Communicationsn and Technology “The Quarterly Review of Distance Education is a rigorously refereed journal publishing articles, research briefs, reviews, and editorials dealing with the theories, research, and practices of distance education. The Quarterly Review publishes articles that utilize various methodologies that permit generalizable results which help guide the practice of the field of distance education in the public and private sectors. The Quarterly Review publishes full-length manuscripts as well as research briefs, editorials, reviews of programs and scholarly works, and columns. The Quarterly Review defines distance education as institutionally based, formal education, where the learning group is separated and where interactive technologies are used to unite the learning group.” The targeted audience is for educators, and I think the article does a good job at appealing to that audience.