History of IDEA
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Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Good teaching trumps hi-tech
- 09-07-2011
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Blog by Richard Lee Colvin/The Quick & The Ed
This Sunday’s front page New York Times article by technology reporter Matt Richtel was ostensibly an examination of why, in classrooms outfitted with lots of digital gear, test scores were stagnant. In search of the answer Richtel quoted experts pro-and-con, summarized a few research studies and hammered away at the idea that from the dawn of the digital age computers have been touted as aids to learning, though research has never found a strong link. But Richtel—perhaps unwittingly, perhaps intentionally—supplied the answer to his central question: dumb uses of technology won’t produce smart kids. In the article’s first scene, middle schoolers studying Shakespeare create a blog expressing the viewpoint of one of the play’s characters. It’s not at all unusual or innovative for a teacher to ask students to write a journal or diary from the perspective of a fictional or real person. The only difference here is that students were using computers. Why would we expect students to learn more because what they type appears on a screen? (more...)
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