The article I read for discussion
this week was called No Child Left Untableted by Carlo Rotella. Carlo
Rotella is the director of the American Studies Program and the Director of the
Lowell Humanities Series at Boston University. He attended Wesleyan University,
Yale, and then received his PHD from Boston College. He is a frequent writer
for the New York Times, Boston Globe, and the Washington Post as well as an
editor for the Chicago Times. He teaches at Boston University, but has also
taught in China, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. He has written four books and won
numerous awards. His most notable awards include the American Scholar’s prize
for best essay and best young writer and the Whiting Writers award. Overall, I
would say he is a very accomplished writer.
The article we read by him talks
about the use of tablets in the school system. It starts out by identifying
three major issues with introducing tablets to schools: one the
customizability of a tablet is being underutilized, two educators are not taking
full advantage of students enthusiasm for tablets, and three teachers feel
overwhelmed by technology.
First, Rotella talks about his sit
down with Joel Klein the CEO of Amplify and his take on customizability. Klein
talks about how tablets can be used to cater to each child’s needs and make
sure that they are being taught in ways that suit them. He says this might be
through instant feed back of questions, where teachers can see who understands
the materials and who does not. Then continue to work with those who do not.
Second, Klein goes on to talk about
how students’ enthusiasm for the tablets is being overlooked. He says that
tablets could help the students who understand the material right away quell
their boredom by allowing them to explore even further into their studies, or
into some other areas that excite them.
Finally, he goes on to address the
teachers concerns in two parts: one the money and two the actual technology
itself. Some teachers stated that they are worried that funding for tablets
will take priority over their salary. Rotella states a case, where an LA school
cut some of its teachers, but then raised money to get tablets for all of the
remaining teachers and the school children. He goes on to explain how this is
still a major concern for teachers. Next, he talks about how some teachers are
overwhelmed by trying to learn the new technology and are worried they will not
be able to implement it effectively.
This article was written for, in my
belief, teachers. The reason I believe this is because it starts out by explaining
the benefits of technology and how if people chose to ignore these benefits
they will fall behind. It then goes on to address the concerns of teachers and
offer brief answers to them. Finally, the conclusion states how in the future
the education system needs to work on introducing teachers to technology
earlier for the system to be implemented properly.
The comments I read about the
article seemed to be very mixed; On the one hand the people very much liked the
points Rotella addressed and the way he wrote the article. On the other hand a
lot of the comments were a rant about how the school system needs to stop
spending billions on testing products that may not work. A lot of people were
advocates for just letting the teachers teach and not worrying about the bells
and whistles of technology.
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