[June 21, 2011] Books becoming old school Tweet GOSHEN, Jun 20, 2011 (Goshen News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Move over pen and pencil -- the age of the computer has arrived. Visit pretty much any school in the Elkhart County area these days and you'll notice something that can't be denied. Technology is everywhere. From the kids in the halls texting each other on their cell phones to the teachers in their classrooms with their computers and digital smart boards, technology has permeated just about every aspect of education these days. And if recent plans by several local school corporations are any indication, that's not about to stop any time soon. One example is Goshen Community Schools, which in May got the ball rolling on a new technology program that could see laptops in the hands of all incoming freshmen at Goshen High School by the next school year. Also jumping on the technology bandwagon is Wawasee Community Schools, which this month adopted its own pilot program that will put wireless tablet devices in the hands of all of incoming freshmen. So we know that technology is on the rise in schools. That's obvious. But the question has to be asked. Why the sudden push? "Well it was primarily because we were adopting new textbooks for two subjects next year, math and science, so we thought this would be a good year to choose not to buy textbooks and instead go with something else," said Dave VanLue, director of technology for the Wawasee School Corp. "Obviously our long-term goal is to become one-to-one with some kind of device K-12. However we're just piloting this program this year, so it will just be for next year's freshman class." While Goshen, which also chose to go digital vs. adopting new textbooks, hasn't yet gone the route of pursuing computers for its entire student body, the school board is planning to allow each freshman who receives a computer to keep it for the remainder of their four-year high school career. And Noah Tonk, assistant principal at Goshen High School, thinks this couldn't come at a better time. "Well there are a whole lot of reasons why this is the perfect time to get this moving," said Tonk, who was one of the primary motivators in getting the corporation to consider the laptop program. "Between the fact that the world is changing so quickly and so much information is available elsewhere, many of our textbooks are out of date by the time they get to the students. So there's not a whole lot of point to spending money on out-of-date textbooks." Tonk also noted that much more than just one textbook's worth of information can be accessed through a computer at any given time -- an amount that can grow exponentially when considering access to the Internet, and all for approximately the same cost as a student would pay for their usual textbooks. "They can get so much more information on laptops and at approximately the same cost," Tonk said. "What's more, it's not only a tool for consumption, but a tool for creation, so it's more useful than a textbook just using that angle alone. "There are more things that you can do with technology that trump every single time the things that you can do with textbooks and paper," he said. Tonk also said colleges and businesses are ahead of schools in the use of technology. "When looking at college and the business world, many are already using things like video conferencing and Skype," Tonk said. "Having the kind of technology literacy that we have in public and private schools right now, we are struggling to keep up. If we are going to provide relevant instruction for the students, that being the information that's out there as well as the delivery mechanism, and preparing them to be out in the real world, textbooks and paper notebooks are increasingly becoming an irrelevant option." An advocate Wes Herschberger, chief executive officer of the technology company MapleTronics in Goshen, has been telling this to school administrators for years. "This is something that a lot of the administrators in the schools have been thinking about and talking about for a while now -- things like where does the money come from, what do we do about textbooks, etc.," Herschberger said. "I think most of the time when I talk to administrative people at the schools, the subject really comes down to making sure these kids are prepared for what comes next. We want to make sure we give them as much education as we can and get them prepared for college and also the business world when they get out of school." While the shift to more technology-centered learning seems unstoppable, exactly what the best form of that shift will be is still very much up for debate as different schools try out different products and devices to find what works best for them. "Different schools are trying different methods of doing this," Herschberger said. "West Noble schools are using kind of a bring your own device model, where as schools like Goshen and Wawasee are providing different types of devices to their students. "Which one of these is going to end up being the one that everybody embraces, I'm not sure. But it's great to see so many ideas being implemented and tried," he said. Tonk agreed. "Regardless of where we all end up, I think the most important thing is that we're all headed in the same direction, which we need to be doing," Tonk said. "This is a new area for all of us, and we're all trying different things, but we're basically all moving in the same direction when it comes to this push toward more technology-centered learning. "Obviously we're kind of building the plane as we're flying it, but at least we're in the air," he continued. "If we don't build the plane, we're going to crash. We don't really have a choice anymore. We can either go with the flow and provide students with what they need to succeed, or we can let them fall behind. I don't think we have that option." To see more of the Goshen News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.goshennews.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, Goshen News, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]