A little over a year ago I posted some thoughts on using tablets in education.
Since that time technology and online applications have moved forward and some school districts are moving along some of the lines I suggested back then. I thought it might be nice to delve a little deeper into some of the aspects of technology’s role in public education.
One of the more exciting aspects would be the ability to specialize the curriculum to meet the requirements of not just the state but of the actual school district and even the school. Before the school year begins the departmental staff could gather together and discuss the successes and failures of the last year and decide what needs more focus in the coming year and select from online publisher catalogs as to what should be in their textbooks.
In Texas we have what are called “Magnet schools”, schools that put special emphasis on certain curricula. These schools may focus on the arts, on law, on trades, or the sciences. Having texts that are specially keyed in on these fields would help students not only focus on their chosen fields but also allow them to engage with other courses that aren’t in their chosen fields like maths and sciences for art students, or literature and writing for technical students.
We have such a wealth of communications means these days compared to even when I was a student in high school. In my time most communications to parents came through the student themselves having to ferry notes and grades from the school to the parent. In rare cases a teacher might mail or call the parent but that was the exception.
Even with the common communications means like texting, Skype, social media, and email there can be robust communications with parents on the progress of a student. Communications with teachers but with other parents is possible. Classes can become secondary communities where topics like drugs, alcohol, gangs, or bullying can be addressed by parents. I think marrying up technology will make it more attractive for parents to become involved in this and help them take preventative measures to help their children avoid these problems.
The last aspect I would address is the fact that computers and internet access do open up so many new opportunities and aspects of life. We have so much information readily available to us online that we can become inundated with data but yet at the same time if it is managed properly then we can look at this as resource. Online schools exist that help adults with remedial courses, governments from federal to local now post information and forms online, besides that you have all the data that commercial companies post.
I don’t deny that there are costs involved in all of this or that there are pitfalls to these schemes but on the whole I think this is the direction that schools will have to go to keep pace with the rest of the world. The tried and true model from the last century of paper textbooks and school binders and backpacks is sadly out of date and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.
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