It's always kind of fun when post ideas just kind of fall into your lap. I was going through some news stories last night as I was getting ready for bed, and I came across one that fits really well with some of the stuff I covered in my posts last week. This news story actually broke a couple of weeks ago, but for some reason it just came across my feed last night.
I apologize if the full article is behind a paywall, but if you are interested, you can check it out here. Obviously, since it is from Fortune magazine, they are focusing on the financial side of things, but to offer a little more perspective, I wanted to give you some insight from someone who actually works in education.
It's no shock, that technology has always been around in education, at least in recent history. From the days of one or two Apple IIe's in your classroom where you could play Logo, Oregon Trail, Mission Mix Up, or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I know the article points to an initiative that was rolled out in 2002, but things really didn't start to pick up (at least for us) until around 2013.
Before I get to that though, let me talk about the fact that public education tends to get a bad rap. The truth is, the majority of us are just people trying to do a job who care about the students and want the best for them. That isn't to say there aren't some bad apples among the ranks, but the real issue is the government getting involved, imposing their will, and telling us how to do our jobs.
You see, back in 2013, an online testing company got it in the governments ear that all state assessments should be online. Of course, they would gladly help develop the delivery platform (for a fee of course). With all state assessments moving online, schools were suddenly forced to have devices for the students to take the tests. In the past, most buildings had maybe one or two computer labs. The logistics of moving students through a lab 30 kids at a time for 6 to 8 hours of testing was just impossible.
So in walks Google and other companies with their laptops or Chromebooks. I should let you know now, I love Chromebooks. From an admin point of view they are inexpensive, they are amazingly easy to manage, and they have relatively few issues. They are a dream when used correctly. As you might expect, districts started investing heavily in Chromebooks and other devices to fill the need for state assessments.
At some point, certain districts realized they had enough devices that they could probably start this crazy idea called 1 to 1, where every kid has a device. The ones that did it right spent a lot of time training their staff, students, and parents to actually integrate the technology into their lesson plans. It wasn't just something they used to search the web, they were actively creating and supporting their instruction with the devices.
Unfortunately, then Covid came along and all of these districts who didn't have time to train and create a plan for 1 to 1 computing suddenly had to make it happen. In most cases, a device was just given to a student and nothing was done beyond that. That's not to say districts didn't try, but Covid was a crazy time. People were focused on staying alive and being able to get food on the table each week, learning how to implement a 1 to 1 initiative with fidelity wasn't at the top of our lists.
Then Covid ended, things kind of went back to normal, but kids still have these devices that most teachers don't know what to do with. The students just use them to play games and listen to music, and things are kind of going to hell.
With books like "The Anxious Generation" coming out touting the detriment of technology for young people, and various other issues, I have been one of the few who have said "maybe we should not be using technology quite so much". Which is kind of funny, since I am the Technology Director for the district.
Of course, people always point to the fact that some of these kids might not have access to technology otherwise, but I honestly don't think that is the case. Even people on welfare can get smartphones these days. In fact, the first time I said maybe we should move away from 1 to 1, the people I was talking to laughed at me.
I'm not saying we get rid of all technology, we still need it available, and sadly, we still have to use it for testing, but I don't think our high school students need to be taking a Chromebook home with them every night. In fact, in the past school year, many districts have started to move back to carts in classrooms where the students have access to technology, but it doesn't go home with them.
Now, with studies like the one I mentioned before, we might finally see a move away from technology back to the basics that worked for many many years. The argument has always been that "kids brains are different these days" and "they learn different now", but it appears science might be proving that isn't true.
Unfortunately, there will continue to be those big corporations convincing the government (through kickbacks and other means I am sure), that we need to spend even more money on something that has proven to be quite detrimental to our youth. Meanwhile, parents will blame schools, public school employees will be vilified, and no one will want to go into education as a profession. Which ultimately leaves low quality individuals educating our youth.
It's a grim picture of the future.
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This is an interesting post because from my understanding, we have similar issues here in England, because parents at one point needed to provide laptops for their children, as they’d be needed in the classroom.
Our grandchildren are limited by their parents to no more than an hour on their tablets each day. I get upset by them wanting to stare into their screens when on a journey, I prefer them to observe the environment around them and chat about it. Maybe letting them use tablets for short bursts of time.
Sounds kind of similar. We have to provide them at the school. Which actually is a bit better because then you don't have a million different models and all of them different. The main problem seems to be people use the devices as distractions versus tools.
Distraction is always the trouble with the Internet. Could do with an OS that enforces focus when it matters.
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Missouri was considering a bill (Hands-On Learning Restoration Act) that would limit K-5 screen time to 45 minutes daily. Reinstates physical textbooks and that 70% of student work be completed on paper. It of course makes exceptions for students with IEP or 504 plans, etc. It will probably never pass, but it was interesting none the less.
I think it would be great. A lot of districts are already banning cell phones. I think the big problem is textbook companies are moving away from books and almost forcing you into electronic materials.
We had those during Covid in the public school... Private school doesn't give out free stuff like that...
They don't have all the government oversight we do, but they do have more money since they can charge tuition.
Not sure about that... I pay more money to my local public schools that we don't use in property taxes than we pay for the private school...
It's true, trust me.
Tech is a tool. Like any tool, training in proper use is a must. I for one feel we need to turn back the clock some on our style of teaching and learning.
I definitely agree with this, but although curriculum and tech are highly integrated these days, it doesn't fall under my oversight.
Yeah, I know. It seems there is a way we can integrate tech with old school pen to paper.
We did it fine for years before the big push by government.
I know. Then came, what was it called? No Child Left Behind?
Yeah, that was more of a curriculum shift versus a technology one if I remember right.
Okay. Yes sir. That is right. I remember. That's the math homework my youngest started bringing home that I had no clue why or how they were teaching him to do math that way.
Education is a fluffing farce here. I won't go on a rant lol but as for the tech side of things I am with you. As I was reading, I was thinking that is all very good, but they will just be gaming and listening to music etc not using it for education if there is no structured plan to it all.
Yeah, that's pretty much all they do.
It's sad to see that happening, and those big corporations are to blame. They make out like bandits and to them that's all that really matters. I know in some school districts here in Orange county each student has a device but there is enough funding to continue the programs and keep them working. Most public schools don't have that advantage. And the way things are going here I'm not sure how much longer it will last, debt is racking up and the bill comes due at some point.
Public education is a thankless job for educators, and the better teachers end up in private schools. Public school students are the one's who suffer in the end...
That is very true. Right now the big issue is the AI boom or whatever is causing it driving up the price of storage and RAM. Districts who are in the process of getting ready to upgrade their fleet are looking at price increases of $100 per device or more. It's going to reach a breaking point like you said.
If the devices are primarily being used for music and games once the bell rings, then the 1-to-1 mission has clearly drifted.
I don't know if there was really ever a mission.
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STOPYes. I can't agree more with this. Teachers get a bad rap but we wouldn't stay in it if we didn't genuinely care for kids.
I work in a private school (it's more accessible to middle classes here in Australia) and everyone has a laptop. Most of the time it's used for schoolwork - the work is usually via class notebooks on OneNote which I loved as I could pre load lessons and content for students to access, and mark their work from there. There was a big push on how to use tech in the classroom just before COVID actually but now I'm seeing a lot more students doing work in written notebooks they hand in, and computers are just used to access work, research and so on. Especially in English, where the final exams are written anyway. The students tend to quite like that.
I've done everything in the last ten odd years - I've been really happy to embrace tech and was very good at it, and taught other teachers various ways to use it in the classroom. However, as more time went on and we started to undrstand how it affected their learning, I've gone more and more back to traditional notebooks too. There's a lot of research that backs up the idea you learn better through the tactile process of reading and writing on paper.
Then of course the distraction of games. We used to have this app called 'Dyknow' - have you heard of it? You could see, on your screen, what every student in your class was doing. If they went on a game, you could literally remotely shut down their computer. I loved it. They stopped it though because it was expensive, but also there was a theory (probably right!) that students should learn to self monitor.