A School Without Books

This past week Sara Neufeld showed us an article called "Tossing Out Textbooks" which talked about a Empire High School in Tuscon, Arizona. The school threw out all of their textbooks in favor of getting each student a laptop and developing curriculum around technological sources. The article played up things like the teachers making students use more firsthand sources and that there was an emphasis on teacher training. Strangely, there was limited talk about conflict in the story or challenges. The class picked up on that. Concerns were raised about people who couldn't read from computer screens and what happens with lack of funding. Some said computers were cheaper and lighter than multiple textbooks, others said the old-fashioned way worked better. On the plus side, at least the teachers were being trained in the technology that they were going to use; however, as we saw last week, that doesn't mean that they'll still be able to teach...

Bad Teachers and Technology

Last week we had a discussion on Blackboard about the article "When Good Technology Means Bad Teaching," which was presented to us by Emily Feldstein. The article described the experiences of college students who had professors teaching their classes badly because of technology. Problems stemmed from not being familiar with the technology to when computers crashed to not using the technology to make class more interesting. Aside from our own class experiences, a lot of people talked about the lack of teacher training or the lack of compensation to do teacher training in the new technology and in being teachers in general. With parents and teachers both behind on technology, will there ever be a balance? So far, things look a little bleak for that prospect.

The Impact of Home Computer Use on Children's Activities and Development

Last week we read an article detailing how children are affected by computer use physically, socially, mentally, etc. While TV time still is the main source of screen time for children, computer use increases every day. The article said increased screen time has been connected to increased child obesity and less face-to-face interaction. Yamille led the discussion by asking if this increased use was affecting children and if so, are the effects good or bad. One of the first concerns discussed by the group was the article's correlation of computer use to violence in children. It led to a discussion on parental controls and the ability of children to surpass their parents' controls on technology. This concern led to another tangent about the generation gap and parents' abilities to handle the technology of their kids, making it difficult for them to monitor safety and other aspects.