1) Technology's promise is oversold. Seemingly every new thing is the next big thing, Right now the buzz is about AR/ VR. I am a tech integrationist. I see enormous potential for positive change and better learning. But I've also seen a breathless hysteria about how technology was going to transform education. The tail can't wag the dog.
2) I have no reason to doubt that the school featured in the article is as good as the article suggests. Yet, I have to wonder why they were using the iPad at all. Note that they were simply using the iPad as a replacement tool. They were taking notes and reading texts on the iPad. Why? Why use an iPad at all if paper works fine? What was the school hoping to gain in the switch?
3) Devices distract from teacher centered teaching. I have no doubt teachers discovered less focused/ more distracted students.
4) I think most teachers talk too much. So do I. This is especially true in a one to one classroom.
5) Sometimes direct instruction is the best method.
As in many schools, I suspect that this school gave its teachers iPads, required students to have them and changed nothing else. This recipe for failure has repeated itself , most famously in LA's iPad fiasco. Direct instruction cannot be the primary method of teaching in a 1 to 1 classroom. Devices are too seductive. We've all heard of passive smoking. There is also passive iPad/ computer watching. Ever go into a restaurant for dinner and get sucked into watching TV even though you didn't want to? If the person in front of me or next to me is on their device, I'm going to be distracted by it. So will my students.
If computers have any chance of fulfilling their transformative promise, we have to rethink teaching.
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