http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/
After seeing class shots of students working and teachers' voiceovers explaining what was going on, I'm back on the fence about tech in the classroom- or at least the degree of it. The technologically-up-to-date class showed students red-eyed keying their computers as the teacher used a smartboard to lecture or demonstrate. A teacher's voice-over talked of the new paradigm, saying that students are switching between several windows and chatting while teacher is demonstrating. Basically the gist is that its either keep up with the pace of students lives outside of school or fall behind and be rendered ineffective. Another teacher (representing the old school, traditional form of instruction) had no computers and her students sitting in their desks forming a circular shape for better interaction. The teacher was saying how her way will inevitably disappear from the scene. That's the part that disturbs me the most as I compare the two class camera shots in my memory. In which is more learning happening? What kind of learning? Learning about what?
Interestingly, the first teacher taught social studies and the second taught Language Arts, so we might be able to say that each was appropriate for their subject matter. Giving both teachers the benefit of the doubt that they are good teachers and using their model effectively, I might venture a guess that in the new-style class, the students could be absorbing a lot more information, and hopefully making it their own. This is great for social studies where the base of facts-to-digest is much larger than that of Language Arts. I personally have spent a good deal of my life digesting these social studies facts-to-digest and don't feel like I've scratched the surface. Language Arts is, as its name states, an art: the art of words. It's about learning the tools of the art and how to apply them skillfully in writing and criticism. Although I can see how technology could facilitate this as well, I just keep playing my mind's comparison of those two classes: bloodshot and tense info-overload vs a calm discussion of a novel. Maybe I gravitate towards the lower-tech version due to nostalgia (for college, really, which is what it reminded me of: college Language Arts). Maybe in the higher-tech version, there is more learning happening. I could probably grant that. And keeping up with the new, fast-paced world, yes. But what is lost? According to my memory, it's something very special. Something we can only get face to face.
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