The article, "Technology's Value in Education" reports the results of a national survey of K-12 teachers. This survey asked simple and concrete questions about the ways that these wonderful individuals use (or would use) technology to maximize their students learning. These statements could be used as great "sound bites" when talking to anyone about the potential that the referendum could provide to our students.
Classroom Benefits
Technology:
- Improves academic performance related to a variety of skills including math, writing, collaborative problem solving, organization/planning, visual and information literacy, creativity, risk taking, project based learning, and interpersonal skills
- Increases student attention
- Can be more effective than teachers in conveying some information
Parent Involvement
Technology:
- Can be used to "electronically extend the classroom and school to parents and the community
- Leads to greater parental involvement
- Increases homework completion rates
Teacher Efficiency
Technology:
- Increases efficiency in attendance tracking, lesson planning, and other routine tasks
- Can be "extremely" or "very" useful for administrative purposes
- Changes how teachers teach (for the better)
Though this laundry list provides some short yet effective points, I would challenge teachers in the district to share their personal perspective. A story is often much more convincing than facts(as evidenced by the last entry to this blog). So teachers, help yourselves and your students and post comments to this post that answer the question, "Does technology improve the learning of your students? If so, how? If not, why not?" If we work together, we can pass this referendum!
Cordially,
Jackie Park
School Board Member and Parent of two children in the district
Full Article Citation
Rother, C. (2003). Technology's Value in Education. T H E Journal, 31(4), 35-38.
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