TECHNOLOGY FAILS THE TEST... LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE BEFORE IT

Many people - parents, interested colleagues, others - have questioned 'Why a 1:1 laptop program?' Recently leading educationalists from all over the world have joined the debate (correct word to use?), including a university academic from a Perth university. Dr Keith McNaught discussed his views in a recent 'West Australian' article http://yhoo.it/mXik5H. It got me thinking. Not because I disagreed, but because I agreed... somehow...

He talks of it being a tremendous opportunity, digital learning. And he's right. He's also right in saying that interactive whiteboards are glorified projector surfaces. Posture, ergonomics and personal safety when carrying around a laptop or iPad are certainly considerations that need to be addressed. But does that mean we wait ten years until some mad-crazy invention is created that can carry a laptop safely without stressing the lumbar section of the spinal column? These issues are being addressed, and require some problem solving amongst families, considering personal situations. There are no right or wrong answers, as there weren't with the introduction of Graphics Calculators, mobile telephones, sports shoes, surf-label bags, heck - even wallets!

Was there this much discussion when the quill was introduced? How about when it was first introduced that students required a massive textbook for each subject? Was there this much discussion when paper replaced chalk and slate? Was it proven to increase students scores? If so, I'd love to see the research. Or were there still some kids slipping through the net? Do worksheets (what many schools class as 'education' or 'teaching and learning') result in higher grades? Truth is, as much as we are all trying, we have not found the fool proof method of educating our kids today - not just to achieve good test scores, but also in applying, creating, analysing, synthesising information/ideas/concepts we guide them through.

When we consider how children learn and how adults teach, and whether digital learning should be a part of education, some constants remain. Has student learning improved for all students over the past 30, 40, 50 years without the use of interactive whiteboards, mobile learning tools and 1:1 laptops. Has it benefited every student? I'd say it hasn't.

I'm intrigued by the idea of research and proving ideas before we spend money - we feel compelled to prove something will work before we try something. We must have evidence! Surely one factor could be that students, and members of the community alike, are using laptops out of the classroom. Is this not enough of a reason to look at using them in the classroom? I am a teacher, not an administrator. I don't know how budgets work. I am a teacher, not a father. I don't know what it's like to see money wasted on digital resources that could be spent in my household budget somewhere else. Should the question not be: How can we change things in schools so that these devices (which are used effectively in people's lives outside of the classroom) are effective tools in helping our students discover, create and learn about the world around them.

We can bash the laptop idea all we like. We can have a swing at interactive whiteboards as well. We can even be really conformist and bag out the corporate sector who are no doubt making squillions from convincing us we need their products in our classrooms for our students' learning. They're easy options.

The fact is laptops cannot guarantee higher scores. As worksheets can't. As text textbooks can't. As slate and chalk can't. Does the possibility that maybe some kid, or kids, somewhere during some lessons might actually link what happens in the classroom with their reality scare us so much we knock down the idea of digital learning and technology? Does the possibility of kids being engaged in their learning frighten us as educators? Does the possibility of kids collaborating on a task at 5:30 on a Saturday afternoon, or playing a bit of LiveMathletics or creating a Keynote/PowerPoint about decimals/apostrophes/rainforests/(insert concept here) make us want to revolt against the idea? Sounds like it. What kind of educators are we? In my experience, laptops (Apple Mac or PC or anything else for that matter!) can engage, motivate and make parts of learning relevant to a child's life. As much as I loved my teachers, that didn't happen in my education.