Schools say put e-devices away when they could transform instruction

Loved this post from Sam Gliksman and his quote: “Technology is transforming every aspect of our daily lives. Even further, the ways in which children access, absorb and process information is changing as a result of their exposure to technology. When you walk into many schools however, you still find technology used sparingly. The average classroom today looks much like it may have 50 years ago. School policy usually requires that students put away any devices they own.”

I know this is true of our county schools. There are a couple computers in each classroom, used just as reinforcements of lessons/lectures. Teachers are hoping to get smartboards installed in each classroom in a couple years-but wouldn’t having a “smartboard” (ie. a tablet) in each child’s hands, manipulated by them, lead to the kind of instructional transformation we need to move into the next century of learning? Children would get the right information, at the right time, at the right pace. And with a touchable interactive interface, we’d have less fidgeting, and less boredom.