Wired Schools Sparking Education

A revolution is beginning, as stated in Richard Ohmann's article, Computers and Technology. Schools are becoming more "wired" by depending on computers to boost the qualitiy of education in schools. In Colorado Springs, Roosevelt-Edison Charter School gave every student a computer in their home and volunterism and parent involvement soared. Another success story Ohmann mentions is a failing inner city school suppling all students with granted lab tops for classes and then becoming one of the highest testing schools for inner cities. But, besides mentioning the a few success stories, Ohmann's main point of this article is to shed light on the not so outstanding effects of computers and technological based education. "Thirty percent of college courses had websites a year a year and a half ago, and sixty percent used e-mail "as a tool for instruction", but only 14 percent of the administrators surveyed on this subject held that, "technology has improved instruction on mt campus" (Ohmann 2). That is less than half that found technology useful. Ohmann fears that too many schools are putting too great an emphasis on technology and computers and not enough on what exactly is being done with the computers, and instead of boosting educational value they are aiding in the diminsh of value in education.

I see both sides of the arguement, I believe that if used in moderation, technology can be very useful. By calling it a "revolution", I don't think they mean technology in moderation. But by going full out and suppling students with lab tops, the teacher gets zoned out because the students have access to just about anything at their finger tips. If used correctly technology can aide greatly, it can give easier research material, decrease the hassel of flipping through pages or even going to the library, but restrictions have to be set and the use in a school setting moniterd. There are educational sites that allow you to watch videos explaining complex functions of Earth or CD-roms that demonstrate the eruption of a volcanoes or the geo cycle. So if used correctly, technology can boost education, but if used constantly without diversity it will just give the temptation to play games instead of take notes on lectures.