Substantial technical problems with the adapted software prevented full implementation and drove school withdrawal¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r1–r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2018: tool and model accuracy changes quickly

Subclaims¶

q2 i? No school implemented the programme fully as intended because of software faults (access difficulties, screen freezes, slow running, obscured text, lost progress records), and some schools withdrew entirely. → Centre for Effective Education 2015 q2 i? The software initially operated at only one reading level, unsuitable for pupils with more serious reading difficulties (Level 2), some of whom were withdrawn by tutors. → Centre for Effective Education 2015 (2)

Evidence¶

Centre for Effective Education 2015¶

Centre for Effective Education, Queen's University Belfast. (2015). Tutoring with Alphie: Evaluation report and Executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED581542

q2 · i? · causal · r1

Process evaluation drawing on tutor and pupil surveys, telephone interviews with four teaching assistants, and analysis of Success for All trainer emails; the report concludes the intervention "cannot be considered to have been delivered under optimal conditions".

"No schools managed to implement the programme fully as intended, and a number of schools withdrew from the programme completely due to frustration with the problems experienced with the software."

Centre for Effective Education 2015 (2)¶

Centre for Effective Education, Queen's University Belfast. (2015). Tutoring with Alphie: Evaluation report and Executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED581542

q2 · i? · causal · r2

The same process evaluation reports that the single operating level suited most KS2 Level 3 pupils but was unsuitable for Level 2 pupils, and that a small number of such pupils were withdrawn as activities were too advanced.

"While the programme is intended to operate across a range of reading levels based on an initial assessment of the children’s reading abilities, at the start of the programme it was only operating at one of these levels."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Technical issues (login scanning, internet connectivity, projector setup, and glitches) frustrated students and created a significant barrier to playlist implementation — related
• Infrastructure and access constraints were reported in 18 of 54 studies (33%) as the second higher-order technical limitation category — a broader claim this one bears on
• Schools that persisted with Tutoring with Alphie came to perceive it as beneficial, but felt its content better suited younger readers than Year 6 — related
• The main disadvantages of AR in physics teaching are software and hardware shortcomings (e.g., camera freeze, visualization delay) and extraneous cognitive load from attending to secondary details — related