It’s only a matter of when, not if, elementary and secondary students across British Columbia will be using high-tech devices as a daily staple of school life.
That message was made clear by School District 53 trustee Rob Zandee, who presented a detailed report for district trustees at its regular meeting last Wednesday evening in Oliver.
After recently attending a conference called Targeting Technology for Maximum Student Benefit in Vancouver, Zandee told trustees the dizzying pace of technological change is not only going to speed up in coming months, but it’s inevitable even rural school boards like District 53 are going to have to be prepared to allow students to engage in “personalized learning” using advanced technology.
Trustees, teachers and administration from across B.C. attended the conference two weeks ago and most were astounded at what’s being offered to teach students with high-tech devices, said Zandee.
“We’re all very aware technology is not the silver bullet to learning, but we were also made very aware it is an important tool,” he said.
It’s up to trustees, administrators and teachers to recognize what’s available on the market in terms of high-tech devices and how they can be used to help students learn and a refusal to do so at the local level will leave area students far behind other students in the province, said Zandee.
“We have to change to keep up with the innovative things that are out there,” he said. “Maybe we have to no longer look at Kindergarten to (Grade) 12, but maybe teaching by ability or age.”
Some school boards are introducing high-tech devices to students as young as Kindergarten to Grade 3 because children this age “have young minds that just soak this stuff up,” he said. “An engaged learner at this age is a lifelong learner.”
Because of the prohibitive costs involved, not every student will be able to afford an iPad or high-tech device, but discussion at the conference focused on “shared devices and shared learning and group projects,” he said. “Shared access is fine as long as access is provided.”
Administration at the conference discussed a concept where every student could access information using high-tech devices based on the concept of one-third of students owning their own device, one-third leasing them and another third sharing them, said Zandee.
“Access is the key,” he said.
There is technology called “automated reality” where students can wear eyeglasses and contact lenses that transmit detailed architectural information about buildings students are visiting, he said.
“It’s come a long way from figuring out how to program your VCR,” said Zandee smiling. “The pace of change is increasing and not slowing down … it’s going to be coming at us in waves we’ve never thought of and we should be prepared.”
It’s up to trustees, teachers and administrators to recognize the pace of change and realize using high-tech devices to teach students is going to happen and probably sooner than later, he said.
“There’s a ton of things coming down the pipe,” he said.
“How do we move forward with this as a board? There are going to be people who want nothing to do with this, but these are the things that are going on. We have to think about how we can adapt and move forward.
“I think we can do great things here.”
Board chair Marieze Tarr said using modern technology to help students learn has already started and she agreed the pace of change is staggering. While School District 53 will be looking at all its options, she admitted not much is going to change until the current labour dispute between the education ministry and province’s teachers is over.
The majority of today’s students are adept at using advanced technology as part of their everyday lives and most would be very adaptable to being able to use high-tech devices in the classroom as part of their daily learning, said Tarr.
The board will be discussing this issue in much greater detail as they prepare for the next school year, she said