Last month, the principal of Victoria鈥檚 Central Middle School announced that students at his school would not be allowed to bring cellphones and iPods to school because 鈥渢he detrimental impact of cellphones on our school is clear and overwhelming.鈥�
This week, the Greater Victoria school district announced that it will buy a total of 2,300 Chromebooks and iPads to give students better access to technology.
Those might seem like contradictory moves, but they are not. They are both appropriate measures, one seeking to rein in the dark side of technology, the other expanding the wonderful possibilities of the digital world.
It has become abundantly clear that electronic devices are addictive and can result in changed behaviours. At the very least, they distract from learning if they are being used when the students鈥� attention should be focused on what鈥檚 happening in the classroom. Having the devices within reach at all times presents too much of a temptation to many students (and adults, too, given the number of people who can鈥檛 walk without staring at a screen).
And yet, thanks to those devices, students have never had better access to information, better tools for research and learning, better opportunities for creativity.
The potential is amazing; the school district is right to pursue that potential. And the Central Middle School principal is correct in sending the message that technology must be used appropriately.
Beyond whatever else they learn, the students will be further ahead if they learn to be masters of the technology, rather than its slaves.
