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Gadgets, Gizmos & Grey Matter
From grade school to college, new technology is changing the way students communicate and learn. You can find Apple's iPad and iPod Touch and Amazon's Kindle ebook reader in many different schools. Are these just the latest shiny new toys that distract students from learning? Or effective tools to enhance learning and to improve test scores.
Here in Oregon, the Canby School District began using the iPod Touch in the classroom three years ago. Joseph Morelock is Canby's Director of Technology and Innovation. He says they've seen a marked improvement in learning in one third grade classroom where students each received their own iPod Touch. Morelock says it is only when students each have their own device (as opposed to the classroom sharing one or two devices) that it is an effective learning tool.
Reed College has also experimented with both Kindles and iPads in a few of its classes. We'll check in to hear the results of a pilot program back in 2009 to deploy Kindles to some Reed students.
It's hard to argue that today's shrinking computing devices and constant internet connections have made information access easier than ever. But some observers, like writer Nicholas Carr, are wondering if that's changing the way we think and learn. Carr says that even as these new tools and the internet bring easy access to more information, they also introduce more distractions. "[The internet] makes us better at skimming and scanning," Carr says, "but at the cost of our ability to pay attention and to think." He worries that kids are experiencing "cognitive overload."
Do you think there's a place for technology in the classroom? Are gadgets like the Kindle or iPad effective teaching tools? Should schools invest in this kind of technology? Have today's mobile devices and a constant connection to the internet affected your ability to think or concentrate?
GUESTS:
Joseph Morelock: Director of Technology and Innovation for Canby School District
Trina Marmarelli: Instructional Technologist at Reed College
Bill Tucker: Managing Director at Education Sector
Nicholas Carr: author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
Tagged as: education · technology
Photo credit: Morten Oddvik / Creative Commons
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My apologies Jacob, I read this twice... is there a point/position? It looks like a search result.
A couple of comments while I'm here...
"Technology is an excuse not to talk to the human beside you." Maybe, but it does let me talk to my family/friends halfway across the world for next to nothing.
"Bored Teens are America's greatest wasted resource." The majority of teens have always been bored (my own experience before there were PC's).
"Half of all internet commerce is related to pornography." And is probably the main reason high-bandwidth connections were established and are so prevalent now (for that I'm thankful).
In 10yrs, the amount of technology you'll be able to hold in the palm of your hand and what it'll be able to do is going to be staggering to those who are willing to pay for it.
Will I use it? Probably not all of it... helpful things, yes, things I don't need I won't. That's the cool thing about technology, you're free to choose what you use.
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The average child spends 4-6 waking hours of the day consuming media: TV, Music, Video Gaming, Internet, Txting, Facebooking. They spend less than an hour at homework. That's why we are 27th in Math!
The High Tech Revolution in the past 40 years corresponds to the Epidemic of Obesity. IS it a coincidence?
My dog really wants Smell-O-Vision computing to succeed.
Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin both had a lot of kooky inventions to save time like the Nutty Professor. Together the duo may have been history's first Nerds (Steve Jobs & Bill Gates of the 1700's?).
Most Americans have never traveled to the Far East to taste the delights of China. Look around your apartment or home: Flat Screen, Computer Keyboard, Tower, Smart phone, iPod, iPad, lamps, Inexpensive desk, adjustable swivel chair, 48 Flat screen Digital TV, clockradio, room surround system, microwave, rugs, bedding, towels, Kitchen appliance, Kitchen utensils, bathroom frou-frou. THESE ARE ALL MADE IN CHINA AND IMPORTED. You might be already living in China. Yes you are part Chinese.
Technology is no substitute for good teaching.
Technology is no substitute for personal discipline, commitment or ambition.
Most technology is Hit or Miss. 90% of it misses.
Technology is no "Magic Bullet."
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So... your point is that you don't like technology? Or that it's no substitute for... something?
25 words or less... what's your point?
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Rethomas,
I think it is interesting that you demand a 25 word synopsis when I provided more than enough information to sketch out my viewpoint.
We demand soundbites instead of using our own analysis and thought. We are infants consuming pre-digested food instead of adults willing to do the hard chewing.
In short if you read my list, my relationship with technology is complex.
Why don't YOU tell me a summary of my position? That may be the only answer that will suit you. Yes one of my positions is to encourage THOUGHTFULNESS and MINDFULNESS.
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My take on what your point might be: "I don't like technology."
If you're bullets are intended to promote thinking, in my case they only promote confusion as they don't support a clear premise... "I don't like technology and here's why..."
Perhaps the intent is the text equivalent of modern art, but the only pattern I discern is the one I shared above.
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Here is my Summary in 25 words:
I am Pro-Dog.
The Mind is our most underused asset.
I am no Luddite but I see their virtues.
Will Technology improve our Lives? Definitely-Maybe.
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The thing I consider about these new e-books is how long will that tech be usable?
Does anybody remember cassette tapes and all the music they bought on cassettes? Does anyone still have a working cassette deck to play all those tapes on?
So in twenty years, will there still be hard copies of actual books to read? Properly constructed physical books have a very long lifetime and considering how rapidly tech has been changing, I doubt that the e-book tech of today will still be in use ten years from now and so all of those e-books will be lost to the use of future generations. Is it worth that future loss and cost?
I learned to calculate on a slide rule and also how to calculate on paper whether I calculated correctly on that slide rule. Now I suspect that people learn on electronic devices and don't know how to tell if that device has given them the correct answer and how accurate the answer actually is.
So I wonder how thinking and then thinking about what was thought has changed. Are people learning how to go back and review and mentally check their own thoughts for accuracy?
I sure like new tech, and I wonder what is actually gained and lost with it.
Long ago people used to learn and recite poetry, long poems like Evangeline, and in watching old movies you can see that the actors had learned their lines well and recited from memory. But now I see in newer movies and on tv the actors are looking away from the other actor and obviously reading their lines from the script boards and it is really distracting. The human eye seems to follow the actors eyes and when the actor looks away to read their lines it makes a disjunct in the flow. So some part of the performance art has been lost or tossed aside. For a tiny part of a moment your mind wonders where that script board is located, you are taken out of the intended flow of that scene.
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I remember cassette tapes, and still have not one, but two working cassette players on which I could play them. (I also remember 8-track tapes, and these big, flat things we used to call "El-Pees." I actually inherited my grandmother's old 1957-era stereo that still works and can still play them, as well as having a built-in AM/FM receiver.
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I am a third grade teacher in Canby and all of my students have their own iPod Touch. I cannot tell you how many times I have had "a-ha!" moments in my classroom: students gasping in awe/excitement after discovering a new location with Google Earth, sharing their thoughts/reactions to a piece by the Oregon Symphony or birds of the rainforest they listened to on iTunes, racing a classmate to complete a new level on a division app, comparing their neighborhood to one in England, composing a song.....too many moments to count. Absolutely priceless, and absolutely needed.
They do not replace books or paper/pencil, but certainly enhance them and keep the kids excited to learn.
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The question should not be do you think there's a place for technology in the classroom, BUT, is there a place for the classroom given modern technology?
You can get an legitimate BA from a real accredited online university for $15,000. That's total - not per year. With this kind of price competition you've got to ask how long will the current system last?
Take a look at this: http://www.khanacademy.org/
The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere.
Guess how much they charge? It's free. Which I would say is a very good price.How about free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT - no registration or tution equired? http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm It's free. Which I would say is a very good price. Yes, that MIT. You don't get a piece of paper if you pass. But you do get the best educational exposure in the world, save Reed College (from which I am an alumnus.)
Reed is ranked first, MIT is ranked second. Here: http://www.unigo.com/articles/top_10_colleges_that_will_kick_your_butt/?taxonomyId=1180034
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm -
good points. and thanks for these links to check out
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I looked over your Unigo top 10 colleges list, What is Unigo?
I think this illustrates the problem with information vetting and verification on the Internet. Anyone can post their OPINIONS with no rhyme, reason or data.
This web site data just disagrees with 99.9999999% of all educators when they put tiny Reed College in PDX ahead of Cal Tech, Univ Chicago and MIT. These three instituitions have combined to win half of all Nobel Laureates in Science in the past 30 years..... and Reed does not have a single Nobel. In truth most Ivy League graduates would say Reed who? And it puts Harvard at a woeful #6!
Yes bad and unsubstantiated information is on the internet. YOU have to be the judge of what is phony and what is true.
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The point here is how to get student qualified to get IN to MIT or Reed or OIT or OSU or the local Community College through education, not which is best on a narrow ledge of knowledge...but then I educated my daughters, one of which did go to MIT and both whom are now well employed electrical engineers, who both know how to organic farm and raise a self sufficient household. They got their liberal arts through the IB program at Lincoln, a school they both transfered to from east Portland. And they self studied, as well as were early adapters of technology, as they were on computers as pre schoolers in my publishing office. MIT and Reed are famous for certain styles of education--not being the best place for the average student. So lets raise the tide for all and get students learning and let the alums argue elsewhere...
The only thing I asked of them on computers is that they be touch typists in speed and accuracy. One of my daughters now has to "type" in her mind to spell words, as she self admits that perhaps she got a little ahead of how to spell in her learning.
Bill Gates votes for Khan, if memory serves. But Khan is for those with a good base that can handle knowledge, so we are back to how to build that base.
Unfortunately, Reed suffers from a long period in which they believed in the Teddy Roosevelt school of teaching--tossing folks in the deep end of a pool and telling them to learn to swim. They had a lot of drop outs. So we know that experiece is not the best for all, although there are many very successful Reed graduates. So we need tools for everyone.
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Let's reflect on what Winston said....
He's noted what most people know, but he's distorting the scope of what it can do. MIT has made public some of their materials, but they don't give "free" students access to all the "fee" services.
Khan Academy is currently a collection of good content. I feel it is not close even close to world class. Perhaps they have goals to create lessons, objectives, and themes. When I need to know more about standard deviation, it's a nice video. But it is not a world class education. It's a lot of dots, it does not connect the dots.
2 very big distortions, a common practice of Tech pimps.
There have been no studies to show that spending on technology has significantly boosted scores for a school that previously had less technology and lower scores. I'm reseaching this, so please send me your studies.
Here's new info for refleciton...
To date there has never been a true-experiment to validate the claim that 1:1 laptop programs improve student learning. In such an absence some have used a quasi-experiment and random sampling within a school ( Dunleavy & Heineke, 2007 ) but could only conclude that boys had a greater increase in science than girls. In Maine the state attempted a program where every 7th grader in the state received an Apple laptop. Studies of Maine reported no improvement in math, but statistically significant gains in Language Arts (Weston& Bain 2010).
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/demo/present/index.php/jce/article/view/171/56
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Suggested reading: Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen (Harvard Professor). It's a book about online education. He estimates that half of all high school courses in the United States will be consumed over the Internet by 2019.
Nearly 80,000 kids (K-12) take classes in the state-sponsored Florida Virtual School.
http://www.flvs.net/Pages/default.aspx
K12 Inc. provides full-time online education to 70,000 students in 25 states.
Here's the link to the Oregon branch:
http://www.k12.com/curriculum_and_products/participating-schools-in-oregon/
Side note:
Reed College is an undergraduate institution not a full scale university, like Harvard U (apples v. watermelons comparison).
Unigo was ranking academic rigor and toughness not anything else. Harvard ranking number 6 surprised me too. What do you think, it should be 11th or 12th? Less would be too harsh. Ivy Leaguers not knowing about Reed is more a statement about the Ivy League than Podunk Reed College. -
The only problem is...the nature of the degree and the school that conferred it. With millions holding degrees from prestigous universities out of work, it is an employers market. All things be unequal, as they are today, most employers will hire the person with the degree from the best school. ITT and on-line universities will come in dead last as long as there is this huge pool of the unemployed holding degrees from the best schools.
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Winston,
It is clear you are very insecure about your education and status. But arguing about it on an obscure web chat room or disrespecting Harvard does not help Reed College.
There is a simple solution that will save Reed's reputation and maybe save the world. The world is plagued by big problems of pollution, declining hydrocarbon energy, global warming, overpopulation. Tell Reed Alumni to solve these problems. Work on controlled fusion, clean coal, breakthroughs in battery storage, more efficient engines, warp drive or even a time machine!
Forget college football or basketball. Reed will do alright if, you, WINSTON, an alumnus, wins the Nobel Prize. And get Reed ALumni and Faculty combined to win 5 more Nobel prizes in the next decade then maybe we can put you in the Pantheon with Univ of Chicago and MIT.
You are privileged with the degree and knowledge. And you are a hard worker. So why are you wasting time chatting the internet? Hit the test tubes and linear accelerator and lets see ACTION. A Time Machine would be so kewl!
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I think that eBook readers should have a place in our modern education system, even if only as a means of allowing students (especially college students) a means of bringing all their textbooks to class on a daily basis without having to carry an extra 30 pounds in addition to her (or his) notepad and pen/pencil.
(I've been to college recently -- I KNOW how much those books can add up to. I had a book for business law that was 6# all by its lonesome, and other book sthe same term that were darn close!)
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Text books are a racket (overpriced to buy, undervalued when you want to sell). Anything to bring down the prices, including measures to prevent conflict of interests when designating which books are required for which courses.
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I agree...there is no good reason that textbooks need to be updated and re-published every other year -- especially for subjects like Algebra or other levels of mathematics. (The principles tend NOT to change for a long time.)
I would propose that publishers can't publish a "base" edition, current as of the date it goes to press, say every ten years, then offer bi-annual supplements for a modest fee.
And for textbooks that are published electronically, maybe to a SD card, or similar format that is compatible with the Nook or Kindle, can be updatable on-line for a certain length of time.
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As a provider of Technology enrichment for Kids I feel any technology in the classroom will help the kids adapt to the world they are entering as long as it does not distract them from the lesson at hand. In this age of outsourcing we are seeing fewer Americans becoming engineers and scientists, if we inspire kids now with science technology engineering and math maybe we can remain a leader in the world and help it solve many of the tremendous challenges we face. Kid Institute of Technology is a small company working to inspire S.T.E.M. Check us out at www.kidinstitute.com Rick
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I taught for 30 years in the public school system and quite successfully I might add. I have, in those years, mastered the mimeograph machine, the filmstrip projector, the 16mm film projector, and on and on...backrooms in schools are full of the detritus of the latest technology to hit the streets. In 1984, I was teaching at a small eastern Oregon district when we had a visiting tech guru who peddled the wonders of the computer. Near the end of her spiel, she warned that those of us who did not embrace the computer in the classroom would be gone..kaput...within five years. I'm happy to say that 27 years later, I am still not computer "literate" and have just learned (from a student) how to cut and paste.
My success as a teacher comes from a passion for my subjects that technology can never replicate. The art of a socratic dialogue, the push and pull of posing questions that cause a student to leave the comfort of a Google or Wiki search. There is a "bibbidibobbidiboo" magic that good teachers have and that will never be replaced by smartboards, ipads or the lastest tech de jour.
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"iPods"
Hmm, shouldn't the plural of iPod be like the plural of octopus, as in several "iPodi"?
Maybe like a group of whales, a pod of iPods?
Henh.
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"iPad" still sounds like a feminine hygiene product, if you ask me!
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Are kids in inner cities and under-performing schools going to have access to technical gizmos?
I'm not against technology but I'd prefer that students without learning disabilities learn how to do the tasks by hand before they're allowed to rely on technology. I found my education more valuable if I learned how to derive or find information instead of just punching buttons without knowing how the underlying process worked.
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Wait a sec... recording your voice is not the same as writing.
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Recording your writing is very helpful to students because they are able to listen to their word choice, sentence fluency, organization etc. and edit/revise as needed.
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Technology for the classroom is a pretty wide field. My fear is that the technology that is finally chosen is the gimmick that has the best sales team. How can you make the decisionmaking process as far as acquiring classroom technology somewhat immune from sales pitches and pure money incentives?
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I was wondering about that also.
Is it right to train kids to be customers of the iPod wireless service providers and of iPods themselves?
Is Apple subsidizing the Canby iPods purchases?
Is the Canby experiment being scientifically studied?
Who Benefits? Or as the Lawyers ask in Latin, Cui Bono?
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I was wondering about highlighting and notes for studying and I'm glad that the guest addressed that.
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I guess kids have really good eyes... those iPod touch screens are really small. How do they read for long periods of time on those things?
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How do we know these devices and technologies are superior? If everyone had a gadget would they no longer be effective? Isn’t novelty part of the success? Do kids feel as though they are using and learning in a special way, so it increases their interest? What will happen once these gadgets become the standard, or the norm, won’t students have about as much interest in them as they do in textbooks? Or is their something inherent about these devices, that makes them a superior learning tool?
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People are always so alarmist when it comes to kids using technology in the classroom. The things we are sounding the alarm about are mostly unrealistic. The idea that children using iPods or Kindles or whatever increasingly tiny electronic computer widget will somehow become a poor substitute for teaching/teachers, or that children will be less physically active seems a very narrow minded, short sighted view to me. Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised...we are still hearing arguments about calculators. ;)
The point is that good, involved teachers will understand how to use these items to their, and most importantly, to the students' advantage. If a teacher isn't involved and mindful to begin with it won't matter if they have tech in the classroom or not. It takes mindful parents, teachers, administration, and kids to get the most out of these tools. And that is really what they are! Amazing tools we should use for all the good things and all the big doors they can open to a child.
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Part of what you are talking about here is what Maria Montessori called "child-directed learning". There is a reason that Montessori kids excel - they take on their learning as their own. My daughter, who is now earning her Masters degree at Stanford, was a Motessori student through 6th grade. I credit her continued love of learning with those years. This is nothing new, but it is VERY effective.
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Excellent point! My own children were "unschooled", and that approach to home education is all about the learner being in the driver's seat.
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"Unschooled"
Just imagine what George Carlin would do with that word.
How do you take the knowledge, the learning, out of a kids brain?
Or is that when the kid returns from school at the end of the day? Is she "schooled" when she goes to school in the morning, and then "unschooled' when she returns home in the late afternoon?
And how about "unschool teachers"? What does that mean? Are they members of an "Un-Union". Did they attend an Un-Teachers College and get an Un-Degree in Un-Education?
Jump on in and have fun with that word.
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When I was going through medical school, I often used a handheld device (at that time a personal digital assistant) in the clinical setting to hold references (eg drug references, disease references, procedures). It was much easier than carrying around a bag of reference books and quicker than looking through the book indexes. These handheld devices were and still are able to find drug interactions. Its a much more efficient and safer way to practice. Now, in clinical practice, I just use a laptop to reference the same information as I am much more stationary and not running around from shift to shift.
I do agree with some of the comments below that information is not wisdom. I do also think that when one is learning information to problem solve, and its immediately accessible, disparate quantums can be pulled together to come to a new insight. This occurs over and over in the clinical setting, especially during medical school or residency. A patient may present with a keynote symptoms and the physician can then look that up that particular symptom and find the disease or diseases that have that symptom.
On the other hand, I did have a supervising doctor on a clinical rounds tell me to put down my handheld device and even my pen and paper and focus more on observing the patient, "look, listen, and smell." I still remember that lessen, and at every medical encounter, I spend time just observing.
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The great stories generated with the new teaching tools is easy to explain--students who did not excel with the existing model finally found something that they could use in the eye-hand-ear combination that stimuates learning. That functionis different in all of us. So the danger to holding up one form over others is that we forget that there is no one right answer, one fits all solution in eductation of the mind.
I've taught at colleges, in the Army, and pre-school. Plus corrected the public school problems that popped up with my own children. My experience tells me to find what interests the learner and run with it. And then go on to the next learner and do the same puzzle solving in the context of what I'm suppose to be teaching. I got low end students to As and Bs and loved it. High end students like variety and certainty, so they are a little easer to teach. The key is to find the ah-ha's and expand them to all. The third grade is a great place to do this. It gets tougher as you go up in school level, as there is more bad baggage being drug along from past frustrations in learning.
What I'm laughing about in this context of using tech devices in that it sure looks like "vocational" teaching to me. Kids don't like passive, sit and listen. They need some hands on. But we got lost after Sputnik (sorry younger folks...go look it up) in pushing advanced lecture over real learning over rolling over rocks and explaining what we have discovered. Or building a boat and seeing it go down a stream. Then talk about displacement and all the science involved. Then jumping to "Where could we go if we built a large enough boat?"
Good teaching will always be in fashion. Tools come and go.
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I work for a Portland based app development company and we created an app for toddlers called Peekaboo Barn. Parents started coming back to us saying that it was an extremely valuable tool for Special Needs kids. It gives them the chance to learn without the social pressures. I hope Special needs classrooms will get the opportunity to incorporate these tools as well.
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Special needs kids= Yes. That's where we need bold new tools. But for the rest of the population, we don't need to treat kids like lab rats with very expensive toys.
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On teacher enthusiasm.
So I wonder how well The Great Courses Company DVDs do on that?
It seems like a great idea to video the best teachers on each topic and distribute those.
And can "normal" teachers learn better methods from watching those "Best" teachers videos?
And can both be used together to be more effective?
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I'm a 4th grade teacher in Canby and I've been using the iPods for three years. The iPods have significantly improved my instruction delivery. Rather than just explaining what the NYC subway system is, the students look up a video of the subway and people riding it. Instead of just reading about a song, I download the song and let them hear it for themselves and they relate better to the story. That song was "Back to Sorrento" from the book The Cricket in Times Square. All of a sudden a student asks, "Can we check out Sorrento, Italy on google earth?" That wasn't anywhere in my lesson plans. The instruction became student driven and isn't that what everyone says they want? Students who think for themselves? Yes, they have a gadget in their hands, but I am teaching them how to use it to it's fullest potential. We still all talk with each other, we brainstorm and learn to find answers for ourselves. I have students who are below grade level readers who FINALLY feel like readers because they can intelligently discuss stories that before now were beyond their grasp simply because of poor decoding skills. Yes, I address those much needed skills, but the students want high quality literature that may be out of their grasp. The use of the actual book in conjunction with an audio book allows them to be like their peers and that is the motivating factor that every teacher should strive for.
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Papyrus was better than cuniform clay tablets.
A chalk boards is better than drawing in the dirt.
The Guttenberg press was better than armies of scribes.
New tools make teaching easier. New technologies help students learn easier.
That said, no technology can replace a great teacher.
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..and no teacher can hammer through to a nonreceptive mind. For learning to take place, the student must be receptive, and interested in learning. Many are not. They sit in class because the law requires it. Adding electronic gizmos to the classroom mix, unless they prove as entertaining as the gizmos at home, may not lead to learning. But they will certainly raise the cost of public education. Are they cost effective? At the moment that may be an issue.
When my son was a forth grader he had a Korean teacher. He tought the kids to do simple arithmetic...adding, subtracting, division, using their ten fingers rather in the manner of an abbacus. To this day my son (an engineer) can still do this trick about as rapidly as a calculator.
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This discussion hilights the reason that, even though I am highly pro-education, so far, the PPS has not convinced me that the upcoming levy/bond we will be voting on is worth it.
They have not shown me that the money they want will go toward preparing our kids for the world they are facing, rather than propping up a school system that is fast becoming not only obsolete but actually obstructive.
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I agree with that assessment. A few weeks ago I had a Guest Viewpoint published in the Eugene Register Guard inwhich I made a number of suggestions about public educ, the primary thesis being that our public Educ system for decades has been spending more and more while the performance of our students continues to fall vis a vis that of students from other civilized nations. In fact the relationship between every additional increment of money sloshed in and outcome- may be in inverse proportion. Federalizing it has been key to the decline by ensuring that a deeply flawed system is imposed in every school district. NOT smart but very PC!
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The guys at Freakonomics did a story on tayloring the school system to each individual student and modeling it after the website Pandora. This test program was done in New York. They found that by incorporating the tools of technology they were able to focus on different students abilities, identify their strengths/weakness, and create specific learning programs that would alow the students to fill in the gaps that they were missing in their education.
The link:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio
The name of the podcast:
"How Is a Bad Radio Station Like Our Public-School System?"
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You're right -- that was a good episode. Levitt and Dubner did their research on that one, for sure!
You can also subscribe via iTunes, and get every episode in your sleep!
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Sounds interesting and expensive. Better yet why not send "experts" to those countries that are mopping the floor with us and find out what is working in the classrooms for them? In general they tend to spend less than half what we do on each pupil. Most teachers in those countries will probably be found dealing with more students per class and with a lot less reliance on the gizmos.
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adding calculators is a poor comparison to adding an iPad. Let's try a better dialog. How many school services are cut to fund gadgets with little research for success.
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Nicholas Carr:
Very interesting thoughts. -
http://drupal6.allianceforchildhood.org/fools_gold
Report on technology in classrooms, called "Fools gold"
I'd suggest everyone read this, and that OPB mention this.
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I agree that constant use of technology can suppress creativity and hinder deep thinking and contemplation. One caller said he takes a one-day technology fast to write poetry and contemplate. Running with this idea, I suggest that classrooms commit to turning off their electronics every Friday and use the day to summarize and integrate everything they've learned that week. Students and teachers could use face to face brainstorming and discussion to draw out bigger concepts from the material they've covered, and use art and creative writing to explore students' emotional reactions. This might just give students the best of both worlds. Huh - sounds like such a good idea, I'm going to turn off my computer right now and go watch the birds at my bird feeder. Maybe some insights will occur to me!
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I really wanted to post my comment and question earlier, while the conversation was still active, but was interrupted by a call from the VA.
My concern is with the security and safety of children using these devices. As you are a ware, there are individuals and institutions that will take what ever measures are required to benefit their deep pockets through anyone available. From the classroom and home computer, access can be parentally controlled to some extent to safeguard the younger members.
What methods are available to parents and teachers to limit web access (within reason, of course) so as to protect the students and children?
Please forward any cognizant response via e-mail. It would be nice to have the response shared with the public as well, if possible.
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Interesting to consider with the related subject that librarians, especially in Portland, seem to almost have a militant opposition to any restrictions regarding internet access.
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Your comment is still valuable, no doubt, but that call from the VA is important to your well-being.
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To date there has never been a true-experiment to validate the claim that 1:1 laptop programs improve student learning. In such an absence some have used a quasi-experiment and random sampling within a school ( Dunleavy & Heineke, 2007 ) but could only conclude that boys had a greater increase in science than girls. In Maine the state attempted a program where every 7th grader in the state received an Apple laptop. Studies of Maine reported no improvement in math, but statistically significant gains in Language Arts (Weston& Bain 2010).
http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/demo/present/index.php/jce/article/view/171/56
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Public libraries are just that: public. Restrictions to the Internet seem to have (and rightly so) no place in those environments. Schools and home environments are not the same. The concerns there are for the safety of the students (age dependent). I hear of no responsible parent or teacher countering this notion (from my observation and opinion only).
I have taught as a teacher in Honolulu, 4-6 grade fundamentals of computer science, 11-16 year old gifted student (electronics, physics, and math), 16-22 year olds at Hawaii Job Corp, and honored high school students and adults at a community college (computer science and word processing). I believe that student protection and safety is paramount, beyond teaching subject matter.
At one time, I saw a significant philosophical difference between the teaching faculty and the school administration. Today I see another body of concern that has impacted the former two bodies and the communities. The area school boards are planning to make major boundary decisions that may adversely affect our public schools.
P.S. The VA has been very responsive to the needs of all my fell veterans, and has helped me to survive cancer. They have earned my respect, admiration, support, and recommendations.
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I woke up in the middle of last night with the thought that we generally only talk about what we might call "official" education, public, private, and home schools, and even "unschools".
And I thought that we really ought to also consider the "unofficial" education, the elephant in the room that tends to go on in childrens lives and is well studied and highly crafted and tested by very well paid "educators" as "commercial advertising", or what I would say is often "mis-education".
I suggest that school reform ought to include brainstorming about what are the current effects of commercial advertising on kids and what is the potential for reforming that and making it become positive for children. It seems that quite often, what is considered good for business, is actually bad for children.
In other words, I think that all other things that affect children, that might be called education and/or mis-education, ought to be studied and considered for reform. And I would include religions in that. Religions have changed in the past to adopt new ideas and tech, like books, and more recently rock and roll music, so I think that private groups could be encouraged to help with education reform of religions.
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Information is not equivalent to Wisdom.
Applying Knowledge to the real world is a lot more difficult than acquiring facts.
Calculators, Laptops, iPhones, iPads, eBooks and any future media player device are just a tools like a hammer. Man learns to use the tools or technology properly and becomes more creative and productive.
A tool itself lying on the table, it worthless. IT needs the hand of man and the vision of mind.
Most citizens--when given the whole accumulated knowledge of the world from 2000 years civilization-- placed in their hands, just use it to ogle pornography, shoot superhuman rabid flesh-eating zombies, or order a pizza with all the toppings.
Technology can be a great waste of time-- Look at the video game industry.
Newer, Faster, more Powerful is not necessarily better.
For 99% of history, a computer was a person with an abacus.
Poorly designed software and operating systems have wasted more time and productivity than all natural disasters every did.
Much of electronic technology will become obsolete within the life span of a rodent.
Technology is an excuse not to talk to the human beside you.
40% of the population has a diagnosable mental illness. It is no different on the Internet.
Bored Teens are America's greatest wasted resource.
Stupid people when given a computer, become stupid people with a computer.
Viruses can be electronic. Wear a virtual condom.
On the Internet, no one knows you are a dog.
1% of us generate the ideas that the other 99% enjoy.
Thanks to computers, the average adult cannot do long division, handwrite a letter, or do a simple task involving concentration without distraction.
The internet has allowed Paranoids to luxuriate.
Half of all internet commerce is related to pornography. Maybe that is why viruses are so prevalent?
Apple Computer = Stephen Jobs
Computers made Nerds valuable.
The first email was "QWERTYUIOP". My last email was SPAM.
Over 90% of all email every sent is SPAM. Imagine what you would do if phone calls were the same way.
If Romeo could TextMsg Juliet, that whole tragedy could have been averted.
The ability to ask questions, is the beginning of knowledge.
Given the choice between a shiny new computer with all the bells and whistles, and a small needful puppy---I say pick the puppy.
Let computers take over the future...What could go Wrong?