How has use of computers in the classoom changed learning system?5 page essayMLA style

Photographs by Mark Mahaney for TIME No erasers needed The national shift to computers in the classroom is happening fast, with paper, textbooks and pencils replaced by tablets, headphones and keyboards E D U CAT I O N THE PAPERLESS CLASSROOM IS COMING A national push to get a computer into each student’s hands will upend the way American children are taught BY MICHAEL SCHERER/CALISTOGA, CALIF. 37 back-to-school night this year in Mr. G’s sixth-grade classroom felt a bit like an inquisition. Teacher Matthew Gudenius, a boyish, 36-year-old computer whiz who runs his class like a preteen tech startup, had prepared 26 PowerPoint slides filled with facts and footnotes to deflect the concerns of parents. But time was short, the worries were many, and it didn’t take long for the venting to begin. “I like a paper book. I don’t like an e-book,” one father told him, as about 30 adults squeezed into a room for 22 stu - dents. Another dad said he could no lon - ger help his son with homework because all the assignments were online. “I’m now kind of taken out of the routine,” he complained. Rushing to finish, Gudenius passed a slide about the debate over teach - ing cursive, mumbling, “We don’t care about handwriting.” In a flash, a mother objected: “Yeah, we do.” At issue was far more than penman - ship. The future of K-12 education is ar - riving fast, and it looks a lot like Mr. G’s classroom in the northern foothills of California’s wine country. Last year, Presi - dent Obama announced a federal effort to get a laptop, tablet or smartphone into the hands of every student in every school in the U.S. and to pipe in enough bandwidth to get all 49.8 million American kids on - line simultaneously by 2017. Bulky text - books will be replaced by f lat screens.

Worksheets will be stored in the cloud, not clunky Trapper Keepers. The Dewey decimal system will give way to Google.

“This one is a big, big deal,” says Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. It’s a deal Gudenius has been work - ing to realize for years. He doesn’t just teach with a computer on every student’s desk; he also tries to do it without any paper at all, saving, by his own estimate, 46,800 sheets a year, or about four trees.

The paperless learning environment, while not the goal of most fledgling pro - grams, represents the ultimate result of 38 E D U CATI O N | CONNECTED LIFE Indeed, emerging research suggests that there may be reason for concern. Op - tometrists warn that a steep increase in blue-light exposure from screens could lead to eye problems later in life. Early stud - ies have also shown an increase in physi - cal ailments—sore backs, dry eyes, painful necks—among kids who are asked to work most of the day on computers while using desks designed for pencil and paper. “A lot of money is going into the technology without looking at where you put the tech - nology,” says Karen Jacob, an occupational therapist and board- certified ergonomist who teaches at Boston University. “It’s more demanding physically on a child than just having a piece of paper on a desk.” It will take years before the science is conclusive, and in the meantime, educa - tors may have been beguiled by the prom - ise. The next generation of middle-school curriculum software, for example, can correct students as they make mistakes as well as suggest improvements to gram - mar and paragraph structure in real time.

Work can be automatically tailored to the abilities of each student. Word processing has also been shown to improve the quality of student writing over longhand, even in the early grades. “From first grade to 12th grade, we have the same effects,” says Steve Graham, a professor of education at the University of Arizona, of these types of pro - grams. “It’s basically a 20-percentile jump.” Cool new gadgets tend also to help mo - tivate easily distracted students, at least initially. “The problem we have in K-12 is we are not engaging the kids because we are not using the things they use outside the classroom inside the classroom,” says Lenny Schad, who is overseeing the pur - chase of 65,000 devices for Houston-area high school students. The best teachers, meanwhile, are able to integrate the com - puters into an active lesson, rather than plugging them in for six hours a day. Back at Calistoga, Gudenius works the crowd on back-to-school night, mixing in funny YouTube videos with examples of work his students have completed. He explains that state tests will all be admin - istered online anyway and that no college will accept handwritten papers, so typing must be learned. Toward the end, one of his critics, Tony McBeardsley, a parent who voiced his support for paper books, offers an olive branch. “I love your enthusiasm,” he says. The parental concerns may not be resolved, but the revolt seems quelled for now. And the transformation goes on. n technology transforming the classroom. Gudenius started teaching as a computer -lab instructor, seeing students for just a few hours each month. That much time is still the norm for most kids.

American schools have about 3.6 students for every classroom computing device, according to Education Market Research, and only 1 in 5 school buildings has the wiring to get all students online at once.

But Gudenius always saw computers as a tool, not a subject. “We don’t have a paper- and-pencil lab,” he says. “When you are learning to be a mechanic, you don’t go to a wrench lab.” Ask his students if they prefer the digi - tal to the tree-based technology and every one will say yes. It is not unusual for kids to groan when the bell rings because they don’t want to leave their work, which is often done in ways that were impossible just a few years ago. Instead of telling his students to show their work when they do an algebra equation, Gudenius asks them to create and narrate a video about the process, which can then be shown in class. History lessons are enlivened by brief videos that run on individual tablets. And spelling, grammar and vo - cabulary exercises have the feel of a game, with each student working at his own speed, until Gudenius—who tracks the kids’ progress on a smartphone—gives commands like “Spin it” to let the kids know to flip the screens of their devices around so that he can see their work and begin the next lesson.

Overcoming the Glitches like just about everything else in education, computers in the classroom work only when used correctly. The costly missteps of earlier digital-learning initia - tives are famous in certain school corri - dors. A $500 million plan to buy an iPad for every student in the Los Angeles Uni - fied School District imploded this year af - ter questions were raised by members of the school board about both the technol - ogy plan and the bidding process. Other districts have found themselves with de - vices that don’t work, teachers who don’t know what to do with them and outdated school infrastructure that makes it hard to get online. “We do see a lot of districts that say, If we just buy a lot of technology, something will happen,” says Mark Edwards, super - intendent of the Mooresville, N.C., Graded School District, which has seen large gains ‘From first grade to 12th grade, we have the same effects.

It’s basically a 20-percentile jump.’ —steve graham, professor of education at the university of arizona in student retention and test scores after implementing a computer-based learning model. “Something will happen. But not really what they want to happen.” While kids may take to new technol - ogy naturally, the learning curve for par - ents and other educators can be steep. And even in communities where the rollout has gone relatively well, there’s still plen - ty of friction. In Calistoga, Calif., where Gudenius teaches, the first classroom computers were iPads for kindergartners, which led to an initial rebellion from some teachers and even a member of the school board. The Association of Pediatrics has been warning parents for years to limit screen time for their children, but now the screens were filling up the school day.

Skeptical parents and teachers wondered how a 5-year-old tracing his letters with a finger on a tablet would deliver a better outcome, without negative side effects, than using a marker with a piece of paper. Show, save and share Students in Mr. G’s sixth grade do math with inkless pens MARK MAHANEY FOR TIME DO BUSINESS WITH A DIVERSE PORTFOLIO OF ENTERPRISE-GRADE DEVICES.

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