The application of Mcluhan's tetrad to the use of tablet computers produces some interesting results. The use of tablet computers might enhance students technological skills, reduce the reliance on expensive and static textbooks, enable students to incorporate the Internet and personal media into the classrooms and will likely exacerbate the decline of handwriting skills. The impact on classroom culture and discipline will depend on the level of control that the teacher has on the use of technology in the classroom, as well as the level of expertise the classroom teacher has with the technology.
The level of resistance and apprehension that parents have expressed with the implementation of the technology is understandable and predictable. As the Luddites and Sabots did earlier, the new technology is being resisted by those who are being compelled to adopt the new technology. (or, in this case, the parents of the children who will be adopting the new technology).
Questions are being raised about the cost, educational effectiveness and overall efficacy of the new technology, and rightly so. Educational institutions have often been early adopters of technology, and have been at the forefront of technological change. Smart boards have replaced whiteboards and blackboards, graphing calculators replaced slide rules and you tube and Wikipedia are replacing films and libraries.
The usefulness of the technology will ultimately rely on the skill of the teacher. If the teacher is able to integrate the iPad into the curriculum so that learning is enhanced, then the technology will be a benefit. If not, it will just be another distraction. Remember the open area classroom and $3000 sx286 computers?
What I found really interesting about this announcement was the lack of information being made public about the 'whys' and the 'hows'. There was a parent night for all families implicated, but considering the amount of press that this decision has created, you would think that the division would want to take the time to explain their decision. Unfortunately, due to their lack of transparency, a lot of the reactions that I have heard have either been negative. Those that were positive were missing the point all together about why BYOD programs are beneficial.
ReplyDeleteInteresting what you have said about educational settings being among the first to adopt new technologies. We see whiteboards everywhere now. Not just in the classroom, but also in business meetings and morning news shows!
I wonder if the ABC's are still wrapped around the classroom? Or do they just have them on their iPads? I am sure that all of this can be justified in some way as all things have been. I am thinking that we probably can even have lights without a computerized gizmo somewhere, so students in St. James might as well start working with something else that will go obsolete soon!
ReplyDeleteit wasn't too long ago that our local elementary school was closed. Although students would no longer be able to walk to school, the annual 60 thousand dollar operating budget would be used to establish a "state of the art" computer lab in the new school. This one time investment would allow our students to become technically competent and prepare them for the new era in education.
ReplyDeleteThose who opposed this scheme were portrayed as backward thinking traditionalists who were unable or unwilling to see the tidal wave of technology that was about to redefine education.
The school division built the lab, equipped it with computers and then scheduled "computer time" for every class in the school. The classroom teacher accompanied the class to the lab.
In a relatively short period of time, the computers in the lab were obsolete. They were unable to run the more complex programs that had become the new standard.
The lab was closed, the computers were re-assigned to individual classrooms (so that no child would ever be too far from a computer). The advent of the internet (and the amount of computing power that is required)led to the decommissioning of the computers altogether.
While all this was going on, I was a Technology and Software Applications (and Math)teacher at a local high school. When I attempted to speak at a meeting between the school board and parents of children who would affected by the school closure, I was told that I was acting out of self-interest only, and should consider the education of the children first.
The school board member who gave me that advice is now the Minister of Education. The local school is still closed. The computers that were to transform our children's education are now e-waste. You would have to pay to get rid of them.