Discovery Fever

On today’s Schools page, my colleague Pat Lohmann covered a parent training hosted by APS, to allow parents to better understand the new interactive curriculum.

I wrote about the adoption of Discovery before, but Pat ably handled the parent aspect of the story — how parents can help with homework, even when that homework is on a screen instead of paper.

Numerous people in my life have asked me about digital learning, and readers (who are mostly oldish) have expressed skepticism about whether students should be spending time with screens instead of good old-fashioned books and people.

First, the research: Most of what we know about digital learning tools suggests that it all hinges on how well it is used. Technology is no silver bullet, but it can augment good teaching. It is certainly no substitute for good teaching and human interaction.

Now, on to my personal, conflicted feelings on the matter: I really like old-fashioned things, and have a sort of gut aversion to certain technological advances. I’m a late adopter of everything, but I keep finding myself coming around. I stubbornly refuse to have a Kindle because I like the feel of books. But when I’m reading academic journal articles (which I do a lot, because I’m a party animal), I enjoy reading them on my partner’s iPad instead of having to print them out. I refused to shop online for years, until one day I tried it and liked the convenience. And my partner is slowly convincing me that video games can tell intricate stories and challenge the player to think tactically and critically.

So where does that leave me? It leaves me with a strong affinity for old-fashioned things, working at a print newspaper while writing on a blog.

I think in 10 years, we’ll be shocked that anyone was skeptical about transitioning from paper textbooks to interactive, high-tech materials.