HGSET561

As journalism, this article observes well the cross conversation in the public debate. Before this conversation even begins it would be useful for the parties to agree on the goal of the interaction between teacher and student. This quote from the article, "digital devices let students learn at their own pace, teach skills needed in a modern economy and hold the attention of a generation weaned on gadgets . . ." Makes broad assumptions that the invitation to learn (things that are pre-conceived by adults) is all the students need. We have a system of education and no matter what we do, the system assumes s significant and active role for adults (rightly so). There is a persistant sense that the system is not working to our expectations, but that hardly argues for the abandonment of personal and substantive interactions among teachers and students. I agree more with this quote, ""Rather than being a cure-all or silver bullet, one-to-one laptop programs may simply amplify what's already occurring - for better or worse (Bryan Goodwin)," because it asserts the point that Technology promises to enhance the value of our effort in education with better tools to do what teachers do. Technology is not (as some seem to think) a replacement of what teachers do and that unspoken assumption seems to be underlying much of what I see as vague public discussion.

"It's not about a cool application," Dr. Brenner said. "We are talking about changing the way we do business in the classroom." This is a useful sound bite but this article is a quagmire of the issues facing education. Advocates who would rather spend the money on teachers are speaking into the wind politically but they are also not speaking to the point being raised by the event the ipad purchase or the opportunity to advance learning. Good teaching rests on good, personalized relationships as well excellent management. ipads help with both but the danger in not articulating that more clearly is the fear that ipads (or some such thing) will replace teachers. There are those who love the idea of ipads not as an enhancement to learning but as a way to drive up teacher production. That idea and the fear of it distracts from matter of using technolofy to enhance learning.

Really well said, Chris. I was reading the article and couldn't help but chuckle at the quote, "this is this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector," said by the teacher Mr. Wolfe. The quote communicated volumes about Mr. Wolfe's underlying assumption that good teaching rests on good gadgetry, as if the overhead projector was once a panacea for all that ailed education in the 1970s, but that now there is a new panacea, the iPad. I have heard an interesting criticism of use of the iPad in the classroom that I would like to share. Namely, that it is a device designed almost exclusively for the consumption of media, but that it provides little if any opportunity for collaboration. Yes, there are a ton of cool apps in the App Store and the number will continue to grow, and yes, some of them will be pretty darn neat. But without the ability for students to collaborate and create, there is little evidence that this is, in itself, a transformative educational technology, just a faster and more colorful way for students to do the same things they have been doing. I get a bit uncomfortable when I see teachers get really excited about the tools of technology and all of their cool capabilities without thinking about which problems these technologies might be able to solve. So many people are fixated on technology as an end, as if dropping this new gadget in the classroom will, by itself, solve all problems. iPads are really great, but this might just be a case of the tail wagging the dog.