What About Non-digital Educational Technology?

            After Hurricane Sandy, many of us have been left without electricity to power our laptops, phones, and other digital technologies that so many of us rely upon on a daily basis. A common question that we may ask ourselves is, “How did people ever live without electricity?” I hope to explore the idea in this blog post, with an educational slant. Thinking back to my earlier days as a student, technology in the classroom was very limited. Although computers did exist and were fairly advanced when I was in elementary school, students spent very little time using them. Very rarely were we asked to type assignments, conduct internet research, or use any sort of special educational software. I think that the digital educational technology that I used the most as a young student is a calculator. (Now many if us just use an app on our phones for that.)

            If ever I become aggravated due to feeling unsuccessful at conducting internet research while writing a paper, I try to imagine what the situation would be like when my parents were in school. First of all, instead of being able to type on a computer, papers either had to be hand-written or written using a typewriter. Although the concept of a typewriter may resemble word processing on a computer, from what I have heard, using a typewriter can be as painstaking as writing by hand. Every single reference source would have been a book or other form of printed media. There was no such thing as JSTOR or other online databases, and there was no such thing as, “That’s a good question, I’ll Google it.” As much time as it may take us to write a full-blown research paper with the technology we have today, I cannot even begin to imagine how much longer it would have taken 30-40 years ago. In those days, valued educational technologies were most likely pens, paper, and books (and therefore libraries).

            In his blog posting, How Non-Digital Space Will Save Education (http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/01/how-non-digital-space-will-save-education/), Mark Bauerlein discusses the need to continue to embrace non-digital educational technology. Bauerlein begins by mentioning a report from the Boston Globe about an elite prep school in Massachusetts that is giving away all of its books and going “100% digital.” He believes that this will happen with all schools by 2020, but he suggests one difference. That is, there should be one area in the school that is technology-free – no calculators, computers, or any form of connectivity. He recommends this because, “… over the next 10 years, educators will recognize that certain aspects of intelligence are best developed with a mixture of digital and non-digital tools.” I can certainly come up with an example of how this true statement applies to me. If ever I am unsure how to spell a word while typing, all I have to do is make an educated guess and press “control” while clicking my attempt on the screen. As long as I am not too far off, the correct option will appear below my attempt. I doubt that this handy feature, alone, has helped me become a better speller by any means.