Education

Better Teaching with Technology?

By Amanda Jones — March 06, 2007 1 min read
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Tim of Assorted Stuff examines whether the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project will benefit developing countries, and what U.S. schools could learn from it. He comments on the following excerpt from eLearn magazine’s article, Can the "$100 Laptop” Change the World?:

Some of the problems [Ethan Zuckerman] sees in the schoolrooms in the developing world are echoed here in our own halls of learning. "Educational systems that teach to standardized national tests mean that the emphasis is on making sure a percentage of students learn enough information to pass the national exams, and less on learning through self-guided exploration, which is what the OLPC project is designed to enable."

Tim thinks this is why technology has not been an effective learning tool in American classrooms:

In recent years we've spent tens of millions of dollars in this country on hardware, software, and connectivity, yet in most classrooms computers are still primarily used as expensive reinforcements for standard instructional processes.

Tim says a new educational system is needed in order to make technology in schools effective, both in the U.S. and in developing countries. Do you agree? How can the educational system improve technology use in classrooms?

A version of this news article first appeared in the Blogboard blog.