While some people are excited about using computers to teach traditional subjects, perhaps with greater comprehension or efficiency, my work is driven by the exciting realization that computers make it possible for young people to learn and do new things in new ways unimaginable just a few years ago. Over nearly thirty years of helping schools around the world use computers to create more productive contexts for learning, I have observed many myths that derail progress.<\/p>\n
Scarcity is a major obstacle to use<\/strong> Technology is not neutral<\/strong> Computer science is a critical curricular topic<\/strong> Computer science is a critically important discipline that all students should be exposed to and some children should study in depth. The problem solving skills developed serve almost any career. Fundamentally, access to computer science experiences allows children to program the computer, rather than the computer programming the child. (Seymour Papert<\/a>)<\/p>\n 90% of school is language arts<\/strong> All \u201cdevices\u201d are not created equal<\/strong> And the children shall lead The network is not the computer<\/strong> If you can make things with computers\u2026<\/strong> You might begin reconsidering your network personnel budgets<\/strong> Younger kids need better computers<\/strong> Don\u2019t waste your best teachers on administrative computing<\/strong> Computing can be a catalyst for school improvement<\/strong> Internationally renowned educator, speaker & consultant Gary Stager, Ph.D. is Executive Director of the Constructivist Consortium<\/a> and the Constructing Modern Knowledge Summer Institute<\/a>. He may be reached at stager.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While some people are excited about using computers to teach traditional subjects, perhaps with greater comprehension or efficiency, my work is driven by the exciting … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[479,430,427,435,428,526,434,429,431,438],"tags":[803,548,749,485,432],"class_list":["post-2443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-11-computing","category-creativity","category-education-policy","category-featured","category-general","category-leadership","category-learning","category-project-based-learning","category-teaching","category-technology","tag-computer-science","tag-edtech","tag-education-reform","tag-educational-computing","tag-gary-stager"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nMost children in non 1:1 schools use a computer less than an hour per week and we then have the audacity to question whether \u201ccomputers work\u201d in school. Teachers have little incentive to develop modern teaching techniques when computers are too scarce. Twenty-one years since I led PD in the world\u2019s first laptop schools, the value of 1:1 computing has long been settled.<\/p>\n
\nAll technology shapes behavior. Our tech investments tend to grant agency to the system, teachers or learners. I favor laptops because they put maximum power in the hands of the students we are employed to serve.<\/p>\n
\nAlthough we should make computers transparent across the curriculum, too many schools behave as if computers have had zero impact on society and that children should have limited knowledge of how technology central to their lives works. Parents want their kids to make Bill Gates\u2019 money without learning to program.<\/p>\n
\nAnd 98% of educational computing is language arts. OK, I made up those statistics, but information access and communication are the low-hanging fruit representing only a tiny fraction of what it means to be educated. S.T.E.M. subjects and the arts can be made accessible and transformed by computing.<\/p>\n
\nElectricity alone doesn\u2019t bestow sufficient educational value. What was the last time you walked into an Apple Store or electronics retailer and said, \u201cI\u2019d like to buy a device please?\u201d We only use the term, \u201cdevice,\u201d when we\u2019re cutting corners for students.<\/p>\n
\nSchools should consider powerful models like Generation YES<\/a> (genyes.com<\/a>) that channel student technology expertise in service to their school or community through teacher professional development, technical support and peer mentoring.<\/p>\n
\nThere are a million and one fantastic things that students can make with a computer even without Internet access.<\/p>\n
\n…then you can make more interesting things <\/em>(Papert). Computers afford opportunities for a greater range of projects to be possible than ever before. Since knowledge is a consequence of experience, interdisciplinary personally meaningful projects create the learning opportunities and memories students need to succeed.<\/p>\n
\nFor how many years will you employ network personnel after every student and teacher has Internet access on the person in the form of cell phones or laptops with built-in Wi-Max? In many cases, overzealous network employees turn $1,000 computers into $100 sculpture by the time they finish restricting what may done with them.<\/p>\n
\nMany schools make the mistake of sending hand-me-down computers to the primary grades when those children benefit most from new multimedia features and processing power. At the same time, the narrow range of assignments given to high school students often requires a whole lot less computational power.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s common sense to distinguish between instructional and administrative computing. Wasting talented teachers on attendance or payroll systems is foolhardy.<\/p>\n
\nWhen I mentor teachers in classrooms, they not only realize the capabilities of their students through their screens and eyes, but have a context for manipulative use, literature integration, project-based learning, new forms of assessment, learner-centered pedagogical practices, problem solving, collaboration and other broader educational objectives that may have eluded your school.<\/p>\n