The Next Wave in Education?
Henrico County (VA) schools Superintendent Patrick Russo said that learning anywhere and anytime is "the next wave.""As technology evolves, I think you will see iPhones and other mobile devices . . . be part of the teaching process as well as a communication process between teachers and students," he said.In Chesterfield County (VA), the School Board approved a five-year technology plan in December that includes $3 million for a mobile technology pilot program for students. The money will come from the district's capital improvement plan.A committee of administrators, teachers and students has been looking at the feasibility of using cell phones, iPod Touches and netbooks in the classroom, said Dallas Dance, Chesterfield's director of school improvement, who is leading the committee. "This is what [students are] using at home and have heard a lot about, but we, the school systems, have not been stepping up," he said. "Our primary goal is to increase student achievement, and we want to increase it by engaging students through these 21st-century tools.""We have to at least explore the potential of the use of these technology tools, said Chesterfield schools Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome, who is part of the committee. "At this point, I don't see that there will be a wholesale implementation of anything with our students, but I think we need to investigate in terms of some pilots.""It the past, it seems as though [the cell phone] has been a tool that's been disruptive to the teaching and learning process, but if there's a way to turn it around to our advantage, we need to investigate," Newsome said.The Virginia Department of Education launched Learning without Boundaries two years ago. The initiative, in cooperation with Virginia Tech and Radford University, is studying the potential benefits of wireless hand-held technologies in schools.
It is refreshing to hear school leaders say that they need to investigate the use of mobile handheld devices in a school setting. I think that is the responsible attitude that school administrators should have. I have said many times that it is inevitable that schools will eventually accept the use of student-owned technology devices as part of the school day. Economics will make it seem like a reasonable solution in the very near future. Schools are afraid of that which they can't control. As schools begin to experiment with the use of student-owned devices and figure out how to manage them you will see wider adoption of this practice.
The article also quotes Liz Kolb, author of "Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education." Ms. Kolb thinks schools should use student-owned cell phones during the school day. She thinks the restrictive cell phone policies are counter productive and rob the students of the opportunity to learn how to use cell phones in a responsible manner. I agree with Ms. Kolb. Cell phones are here to stay. We need to start to figure out how to make use of them and teach students how to use all technology devices responsibly.
The article is worth reading in its entirety and you can do that by following the link above.
