Educational Technology in the "Real World"
Alan Warhaftig - coordinator of Learning in the Real World
Computers and the Internet will obviously have a role in K-12 education, though the hardware, software, and curricula available today are primitive – driven by what is technically feasible rather than what would benefit teachers and students in actual classrooms.
Schools are spending billions on computers, wiring, and applications software, a windfall for vendors who insist they will result in improved accountability and alignment to standards. This educational equivalent of the automated battlefield is attractive to decision makers who know little about either computers or instruction and are suspicious of the classroom as an arena of human interactions that are difficult to quantify.
An unfortunate and perhaps unavoidable pitfall in bringing computers and Internet access to classrooms is that schools become mired in implementation mode– occupied by buying boxes and wires and installing networks and software. The demands of implementation leave little time to consider how computers and the Internet will be used and none to question whether they actually help children learn.
The teacher’s most crucial resource is instructional time, of which there never seems enough for all the concepts to be covered. If computers and the Internet are used in class, the time required for technology instruction and support means less time for the content students are supposed to study. While computers and the Internet are ideally supposed to enable teachers to convey content more effectively, curricular integration is the Holy Grail that advocates have yet to find. The point of most proposed uses of computers and the Internet seems to be to use technology – often superficially, trivializing both technology and curricular content.
The rush to acquire computers and Internet access sometimes results in decisions that aren’t necessarily consistent with a school’s priorities. School budgets are a zero sum game, and computers are expensive to own. Creating a position for an out-of-classroom technology coordinator might require elimination of an art or music teacher, or increase the average number of students in math or English classes.
The underlying justification for technology in schools is that mastery is necessary for students to succeed in the workplace. This vocational approach to education conflicts with the traditional vision of nurturing well-rounded individuals with knowledge of nature, geography, history, mathematics and culture. The issue is moot, but the decision to radically change the mission of public education should not be ceded to vendors.
While technology remains a tantalizing possibility, it is not yet (and may never be) as broadly useful as its partisans assert. Installing computers without teacher professional development can only lead to disaster, and appropriate uses of computers and the Internet– grade level by grade level and discipline by discipline – must be determined before meaningful teacher professional development is possible.
Prudence also requires research – prior to broad implementation – into potential adverse effects of computer use by children. Does computer use damage children’s vision? Does it limit motor development, socialization, attention span, or the ability to conceptualize the real world? Does it promote a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and related diseases, including diabetes?
Educators should keep in mind Henry David Thoreau's caution in Walden: "What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true today may turn out to be falsehood tomorrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields."Biography and Links:
Alan Warhaftig is coordinator of Learning in the Real World, a nonprofit organization that examines the pros and cons of computers and the Internet in K-12 education and childhood. A graduate of Stanford University and a National Board Certified Teacher, he also teaches English and co-coordinates the Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts in Los Angeles.
He can be reached at warhaftig@yahoo.com
Uncommon Knowledge (streaming video – includes William L. Rukeyser)
http://www.uncommonknowledge.org/00fall/517.htmlDiscussion Paper for the 1998 LAUSD Technology Focus Group
http://www.les.appstate.edu/courses/integrate/lausd_paper.htm"Study and Analysis of Migration"
http://www.laep.org/humanitas/digitalhs/study_and_analysis_migra.html"Music, Literacy and Standards"
http://www.newhorizons.org/arts_warhaftig.htm