A-B-C Easy as 1, 2, Siri

In this class, we certainly like to use younger siblings as anecdotes to our ever-changing world with technology, so I’ll follow this same method.

Bella, age six, loves Peppa Pig, soccer, and baking. Unlike me, she enjoys math and science. I was more of a reading and writing student. She also is an avid iPad user and cannot sit through a car ride without using some sort of mobile device/tablet to occupy her time. I’ll attach a picture below:

NOTE: Let’s be clear. I’m not here to talk about the “good ol’ days” during my time in school and what is the “right way” to maximize success in education. I lack the credentials to do so.

Whenever I’m home I spend as much time with Bella as I can because the transition of having me there full-time to maybe once a month was challenging for her to say the least.

This past week I had the opportunity to help Bella study for her spelling test, but I had no idea how she processes information best so I’ll list the steps I took below:

1.    Write words on flash cards.

a.    Have Bella say the word out loud. Spell the word out loud. Say the word again.

2.    After all the words have been said/spelled, quiz Bella and have her write out the words.

3.    Repeat 3 times.

After this, there were about 3 words Bella consistently misspelled. So I then had her write each word 10 times, then quizzed her again.

She spelled every word correctly.

Now I would randomly ask her to spell a word just to make sure she was retaining what she learned, but in no way did we need an iPad or iPhone to help her how to spell better.

Now with that said I do think there is a benefit to having technology in the classroom. There are benefits to personalized learning and the article did make mention of that.

“In not too many years, it might mean using sophisticated pattern-recognizing algorithms to analyze data from homework, games, leisure reading, social media and biometric indicators to determine that one student should be guided to an interactive simulation of coral-reef ecology, another to an essay exercise built around a customized set of coral-reef-related vocabulary words and concepts, and others to something else.”

Not every student learns the same and in a world where technology is a large component of about every industry, it’s important that students are prepared and competent with tech products. In fact, this is how school systems were first developed. Have you ever noticed that a typical school mirrors work hours and is set on a strict time schedule?

This isn’t a coincidence. Schools were made to follow factory-like schedules because industrialization of the workforce was evident.

However, there is flawed logic with the idea that technology will somehow solve education in America.

Rotella articulates this best when he writes:

“Still, if everyone agrees that good teachers make all the difference, wouldn’t it make more sense to devote our resources to strengthening the teaching profession with better recruitment, training, support and pay? It seems misguided to try to improve the process of learning by putting an expensive tool in the hands of teachers we otherwise treat like the poor relations of the high-tech whiz kids who design the tool.”

I currently have an aunt who is a principal at a DISD middle school. It’s your typical “failing inner-city school,” but the problems she runs into the most aren’t getting grants for technology in the classroom, but un-interested and dispassionate teachers. Many teachers, specifically older in her case, lack the patience and compassion it takes to connect with the kind of students her school has.

Yet, school systems have been dumping money into technological advances despite the data showing the U.S. still behind in education than its global peers China and India.

In fact, there is no data that decisively concludes that the addition of technology to classrooms amounted to higher test scores or comprehension.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there is about 66 percent disparity of internet access between schools where 75 percent of greater are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch than schools with a student body where less than 35 percent are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.  So, how exactly will a tablet bridge the education gap in lower-income school districts where most homes lack Internet access?

It won’t.

Therefore, I believe technology should be used to enhance the education system not solve it.