This trend in education to adopt the latest technological innovations - and the mixed reactions to said trend - is not new at all. According to the article, nearly every innovation in the 20th century carried with it a promise to revolutionize the way that schoolchildren learned. Computers and CD-ROMS were touted as the next big thing during the 1990s. Before that, it was educational TV programs and film projectors. Before those, moving pictures and typewriters promised to change the face of education forever.
To differing degrees, all of these innovations have been adapted successfully into the educational system. None, perhaps, brought quite the complete revolution that their most ardent backers promised, but all of them contributed in some way to the changing nature of public and private education.
This lack of a complete overhaul of education by technology thus far has many people skeptical of the value of the latest technological innovations making their way into classrooms. However, according to David deForest Keys, any adaptation is a benefit, no matter how consequential it may or may not turn out to be. "One of, if not the, biggest purpose of education is to prepare children to better interact with the world around them. If the world around them is changing technologically, then schools need to do so as well. Even if a new gadget doesn't supercharge education, familiarity with it can only be a positive once kids get out into the world and are around it all of the time."
According to the article, however, this latest wave of technological innovation may actually be bringing about the profound shift that its most passionate supporters have promised. Throughout the last century, says the article, mass education has improved, leading to a more productive, literate, and overall educated populace. However, this was done mainly through impersonal, mass production-like means such as requiring students to rote memorize and recite the same facts in the same ways as all of their peers.
The most recent technological innovations can change that, though, further personalizing the educational experience to individual students and their needs. Educational programs can keep track of individual progress and measure the strengths and skills of each unique student. Before, such a scale of personalization required a great many teachers with very small classroom sizes. Now, however, a single teacher with good technology can better manage large classes of children as individuals.
This has supporters of both educational technology and educational reform hopeful for the future. "At the worst, the latest technology will prove one more asset in an education system that remains unchanged," says David deForest Keys, "while at best it will finally bring about the huge boost to schools that many people have been waiting for."
ABOUT:
David deForest Keys is the current CEO of 3PS Partners, a company that focuses on the creation of interactive educational programs for use in the health care industry. deForest Keys is also an experienced entrepreneur with a diverse business background and a passion for educational technology. He has advocated, supported, and worked with unique educational technologies such as MeeGenius and BrainScape.
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