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We can’t answer the question “Is tech useful in schools?” until we’ve grappled with a deeper question: “What kinds of learning should be taking place in those schools?”

Despite corporate-style declarations about the benefits of “innovation” and “disruption,” new forms of technology in the classroom mesh quite comfortably with an old-school model that consists of pouring a bunch o’ facts into empty receptacles

Some people seem to be drawn to technology for its own sake — because it’s cool

Far more common, in any case, are examples of technology that take for granted, and ultimately help to perpetuate, traditional teacher-centered instruction that consists mostly of memorizing facts and practicing skills

According to an article in Education Week, “a host of national and regional surveys suggest that teachers are far more likely to use tech to make their own jobs easier and to supplement traditional instructional strategies than to put students in control of their own learning.

What the research tells usResearch indicates that to implement ICT successfully in their classrooms teachers must ...understand what visual literacy is and rethink what learning to read and write means in the 21st century. (Goodwyn et al 1997; Reid et al, 2002) The research also indicates that ICT is most effective when embedded in the curriculum, and integrated into units of work (Dickinson, 1998). English teachers can maximize the impact of ICT in their classrooms by ensuring that they and their students use ICT as an integral part of lessons, present ideas dynamically, and use a range of media. (Becta, 2006). ICT should be integrated in such a way as to require purposeful application and meaningful engagement with the technology. For example:while pupils are using a desk top publishing package to create a school newspaper they are also developing their ability to communicate more effectively. This provides both a context and a meaning for the ICT activity. Taking the IT out of context and teaching IT skills separately, not only decontextualises ICT but also places additional burdens on curriculum time. The use of ICT therefore should be a meaningful part of an activity where it is used to consolidate or extend pupils' learning. (Lewisham ICT Training for Teachers,2006)To implement ICT successfully in their classrooms teachers also need to:identify how ICT can be used to meet specific objectives within the English curriculum to improve pupils attainment (Moseley et al,1999)understand that successful use of ICT depends on other factors such as pupils’ work in the classroom away from the computer, discussions between pupils and between pupils and their teacher, and the ways in which pupils interact with each other at the computer (Mc Cormick and Scrimshaw,2001 cited in Becta, 2005)

Why not now?

Kids brainstormed ideas, wrote rough drafts, edited with classmates and teachers and created their own illustrations. Some handwrote the final draft, while others chose to type up pages.

Parents were calling in

I got so excited because I love writing stories with my friends — I love reading and writing,” said 8-year-old Zaria Gibbons

-year-old Zaria Gibbon

e reading and

It also got the school buzzing

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