Technology to Replace Textbooks?

Posted by Matthew Brodsky

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Last month Vail Unified School District in Arizona decided to swap their old textbooks for notebooks. Is this education moving boldly into the 21st century?

Maybe it'sthe triple-digit temperatures, the sun baking their brains. Whyelse would Vail Unified School District in Arizona decide lastmonth to replace all of its traditional textbooks withbrand-spanking-new laptops?

If you listen to the administrators at the school district, youmay find that their idea is not so cockamamie. They actually havecompelling reasons for the switch. As the districtsuperintendent, Calvin Baker, boasted in an AP wire news report,laptops may actually-gasp!-help kids learn better. Bakerresearched at other schools before making the leap across thedigital divide, and found that kids who had wireless notebooks seemed more focused in their studies.

It could be that 21st century children relate to keyboard andLCD screens far better than they do to paper and pen, consideringall of the digital devices they have at home-cell phones, PDAs,video games, and of course, their own computer.

Laptops may also be the ultimate teacher's aid, allowing them tocreate innovative and fresh learningplans based on an ever-expanding assortment of web resources.That's enough to get any grizzled veteran's teaching juicesflowing, and engage even today's students with their five-secondattention span-far better than the yearly slog through thesame-old textbook would.

Textbooks are outdated in another way. In the United States,land of No Child Left Behind, students are no longer measured bywhat they learn from textbooks. They are measured by how wellthey take standardized tests. In Arizona, for instance, highschoolers will soon have to pass some painful exam called anInstrument to Measure Standards to graduate.

With such valid benefits behind a digitally driven education,the Vail Unified School District figured laptops were worth theextra cost. (They go for $850 apiece, while a set of textbooksusually cost at most $600.) The administrators just have to hopethat the students don't leave those laptops outside in the sun too long.


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