Games and Learning

Putting this on an iPad won’t change schools, three AEI researchers argue.

The federal government is in the midst of reforming the program that offers schools cheaper telecommunications — the so-called “E-Rate” program — but a new report says technology alone cannot improve the performance of American schools.

The brief, published by the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the way students are learning and administrators are running schools must change in order for technology to achieve its potential.

“[T]echnology never seems to deliver on its promise to be an education game-changer. This is because technology cannot drive meaningful change by itself—it must be coupled with a commitment by school leaders to reinvent teaching and learning,” authors Frederick Hess, Bror Saxberg and Taryn Hochleitner wrote recently.

That is not to say the authors undervalue the role of technology in that change. They argue, “put simply, technology can make learning solutions more affordable, reliable, available, customizable, and data-rich.” But that it will only really work, they add, if schools use this as an opportunity to reform.

The authors, who have written a new book on the subject, Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age, point to the work of Mooresville, N.C. Superintendent Mark Edwards as proof of their point.

Edwards’ work was highlighted when President Obama traveled to North Carolina to announce his technology plans in 2012. The New York Times reported on the school’s efforts to invest in laptops and other technology and quoted Edwards as saying, “This is not about the technology. It’s not about the box. It’s about changing the culture of instruction.”

The authors argue that the debate over how to reform the E-Rate program can be an important step, so long as it is only the first. They point out that the Federal Communications Commission can signal important shifts in how they view learning inside and outside the classroom. One such example would be to alter the current program structure. Originally designed for brick-and-mortar schools, the report suggests that it actually may contribute to the exclusion of nontraditional school models that feature online learning or rely on mobile devices.

The authors hope that the continuing push to implement technology in the classroom will lead to fundamental changes in the way schools operate, but worry the technology may end up underutilized or simply another lost opportunity in the effort to improve learning in America’s schools.