Education Law

Digital learning for real innovation

BoardBuzz was interested to read the recent column in The Washington Post, ?Missed Connections with Broadband? by Blair Levin and J. Erik Garr. Levin and Garr were the leaders of the team that put together the National Broadband Plan presented to Congress last March.

Their column expresses the concern, shared by many in the education world, that America is falling behind in the pursuit of innovation. They point out that a lot of attention was focused on the Texas Board of Education?s adoption of controversial history textbooks, when the real question should have been: ?Why are we still using ink-on-paper textbooks, when digital technology offers a much better way??

Digital learning offers the opportunity to engage students because it is a medium they are already using outside of school.  Learning extends outside the classroom as it provides immediate answers to homework questions and the ability to get extra help with a problem right away in a dynamic and interactive way. Teachers can receive data that same day to assess learning and use the information to adjust classroom strategies. The school board can get real data to track improvement and help them determine what course materials are most effective.

Levin and Garr conclude that the real barrier to educational innovation is the difficulty in shifting to a new way of thinking. We at BoardBuzz recognize that we are all creatures of habit and can sometimes prefer routine to change.  We all need to step back and think about not only what we are doing, but how we are doing it.

This year?s T+L Conference will be focusing on digital content, with an emphasis on how digital resources can transform learning and boost achievement while using today?s limited resources more efficiently. For more information, visit www.nsba.org/tl.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on July 22, 2010 (boomark / email).