Educational Technology Isn’t Leveling the Playing Field
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/06/neuman_celano_library_study_educational_technology_worsens_achievement_gaps.html
I read the above article and I immediately thought I am a genius and should be conducting research! Why you ask?
The idea that technology is actually hurting at risk students has been rumbling around in my head all year. So, when I read the article, I thought I am a genius, but I was then faced with the reality that in my school we might be hurting our at risk students instead of closing the gap.
I witness daily that technology is a novelty to at-risk students. Instead of being used to close the gap, students use it to play games, listen to music, tweet, and message each other. It is not a tool, it is a novel new toy.
I am not sure what the answer is to closing the gap, but I think that if we sent parents home with a bag of books from the hospital, and students home with books every summer, we might close the gap. If high-risk students were writing and reading everyday, we might close the gap.
It is just an idea and I wonder is anyone would ever invest in this new novel concept? Probably not, it is to new and way to expensive of an idea.
I definitely want to read this article now. I agree with you about the books being sent home from the hospital. I just read yesterday (somewhere) that Finland (the best education system in the world) does this very thing--they have a starter kit for every newborn baby that has all kinds of resources, including books to read to your children and information about how to do it. I will always contend that much of school success depends on what children have done before they ever get there.
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