So where are the educational programmers heading these days?
All the summer sweethearts are heading back to the classrooms and that got me thinking, which is a dangerous thing with this brain I’m stuck with.
For instance, when cellphones were new, they were prohibited in classrooms. Students were asked to relinquish them (if they had one) or at the very least, turn them off.
Now, we understand, lessons are being delivered on and by these telecommunication wonder weapons. So what goes on here? Are the teeny phones friends or foes for educators?
Class programs now include coding for kids.
What happened to colouring for kids?
Hey, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great. Geezers like moi get to sit back and watch the little thumb manipulators work their magic on the tiny screen.
I had a teeny, tiny screen once, too, when I inherited my sister’s bedroom after she moved out and I got to keep her seven inch black and white television she had perched on the dresser. Of course, I had to get up to manually change channels, but rarely did, seeing as how we only had two to choose from. Oh, how I long for those simple days when the strongest TV signal came from Yorkton for crumb’s sake, and it was not that great.
I have one of those teeny, tiny phones without wires, but I try to use it sparingly since my life has already become too complicated with 83 nearly useless emails to sort through every morning, I don’t have time for thumbing my way through a miniature call centre. Besides, it’s my phone, not the company’s phone and I’m usually on their clock.
I don’t know where the Lean gurus stand on teeny phones and their overuse and whether they are a help or a hindrance on the work front. I see a lot of people at desks, sipping coffee, or yes, driving, while texting and talking, and wonder how much of it is work-related versus personal. I presume the Lean senseis will tell us some day.
I believe cellphones are probably the most distracting thing in our lives. Although pretty girls walking down sidewalks are kinda that way too for some guys, and have been for centuries.
So where are educators going with little phones?
What do students in our elementary and high schools value these days? Canadian schools are engaged in ensuring they all achieve. Failure is not part of the vernacular now. Apparently youngsters are not allowed to learn from their mistakes these days, they must only learn from their successes.
Support systems in education are absolutely terrific. I’ve seen and heard reports from several of their practitioners and I’m usually dazzled, and that’s coming from a well-trained skeptic.
One recent report from Michigan pointed to a successful program that showed how simple changes made in regards to the time and space set aside for homework, improved the odds of academic success. After all, if you or I think we’re too busy to tend to all the details, what about the kids? We’re pushing and pulling them in several directions at once and don’t think twice about how relevant actual homework is to them with everything else that’s going on in their lives.
The educational expert noted that simple changes to delivery (phones, tablets and books) and space (their own), resulted in drastic improvements in student behaviour and success rates in the classrooms. Fancy that, teeny phones can be handy.
