Monday, October 15, 2012

Asking The Wrong Question In Regards To Technology

Image via www.ilcnsw.asn.au/
So I got a text from a friend in a nearby community who was involved in a conversation about moving to a 1:1 environment in his school. He was concerned about a question coming from one of the people opposed to the move. The question being asked was "How will you judge the effectiveness of the technology?"

Here was my response:
In regards to the question about the effectiveness of technology, I don't think we can measure the effectiveness of technology.  I think we could ask the same question about a number of the other resources that the school district has provided.  How do we measure the effectiveness of their use? 
I think what we can measure is whether or not these resources are used effectively. I think we could ask the same question about the number of the other resources that the school district has provided. How do we measure the effectiveness of their use? The point is that by putting a Web-enabled device in the hands of each student and teacher we are increasing the amount of resources the teachers can draw on to make their classrooms more engaging learning environments.
 And one more thing, if people want to talk about standardized test scores as a measure of success then I think we don't even need to purchase any technology. 
Anyone else have any thoughts?

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