Smartboards, smarter kids?

Is technology that is entering classrooms really making kids smarter? An old-timer has his doubts…

BC: Hey, what’s this I see? The hand that clicks the mouse is holding a pen…

AD: Yes, I’m writing a letter to my grandmom. She refuses to read e-mails…

BC: You should have become a doctor.

AD: Hey, my handwriting’s not all that bad!

BC: I don’t blame it on you though…

AD: Let me guess, you’re going to blame it on technology.

BC: I shudder to think of the digital generation – or gen z as you call them. They just text, type, click...

AD: They seem to be doing just fine…

BC: Technology has taken over classrooms – I just can’t imagine classrooms with no blackboards…

AD: But smartboards are here - don’t they make learning fun?

BC: Isn’t it ironical that the same technology that helps them learn also prevents them from learning?

AD: What do you mean?

BC: Most of them hardly write, so their handwriting is… well, you need software to decode it. Besides, they don't know how to spell. A word processor takes care of the spelling and grammar.

AD: You just can’t write them off because…

BC: Forget writing, they can’t do mental calculations either. For instance, they can’t multiply to save their lives.

AD: Isn’t that why God created rabbits?

BC: Very funny! And what happens when students are extremely tech-savvy, but the teachers are averse to technology?

AD: Like you?

BC: I’ll ignore that… With online assignments and downloadable tests, how do teachers find out if the submission is original when students turn it in?

AD: By using turn it in.

BC: What was that?

AD: Turnitin.com is a web site that has a filter to detect plagiarised content, so teachers can spot assignments that have been copied.

BC: That would be a bitter pill to swallow for naughty students, wouldn’t it?

AD: Yes, that's possibly the reason why technology brings in something sweet as well.

BC: Like what?

AD: Sugar!

BC: Excuse me?

AD: Sugar is a desktop environment developed as part of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project for school kids. Quanta Computer has developed low-cost notebooks computers for the purpose.

BC: I can’t believe all this is happening. Students take notes on Google Docs, use chat to share ideas, discuss lessons on blogs...

AD: Teachers are not too far behind. I’ve heard of some using Twitter to send out assignments and reminders.

BC: In my days, we went to school to study and excel.

AD: And today?

BC: You need Excel to go to school and study.

AD: You’re talking about traditional schools. Did you know that almost 85 years ago, they were talking of schools in the air?

BC: You mean they were talking in the air about schools?

AD: No, they were talking about the radio as a medium of education, in the ‘30s…

BC: Small wonder that today, students are demanding that they be allowed to take their i-pods to class.

AD: I don’t know what you’re cribbing about. Do you know that as far back as in 1925, Thomas Edison remarked that books would soon be obsolete in schools and that scholars would be instructed through the eye?

BC: Edison was talking about the invention of the projector. And when he said ‘eye’, he was referring to the visual medium. Trust today's generation to interpret that as the 'i' in i-pads, i-phones and i-tunes…