It's all about technology

KENT — It was supposed to be a public forum on the future of education at Kent Center School, but Thursday night’s forum turned into a debate about technology in the school.

Jonathan Costa, director of school and program services for Education Connection, a regional educational service center in Litchfield, moderated the forum, which was attended by 50 people, including town officials, Board of Education members, teachers and parents.

The forum was advertised as a discussion on the school’s priorities and education goals. Topics listed included discussions on government mandates, school funding, reading and arts programs and surveillance cameras on school buses.

However, Costa stuck mostly to talking about increasing the role of technology in the classroom, at one point even promoting his Dell mini-computer as an affordable educational resource.

“The bottom line here is that the learning environment for the kids who are at center school school now is fundamentally different than the environment most of the adults in this room grew up in,� Costa said. “We still primarily have a print-based teaching and learning model. Eventually we are going to have to shift it to a digital learning model. We need to do this for no other reason than that the print learning model will only be used in school. Everything everyone does of value outside of school will be predicated on the knowledge of a digital environment.�

In his PowerPoint presentation, Costa used a picture of his 14-year-old son at his computer screen as an example. The picture showed his son reviewing several online resources, including Wikipedia, Gmail, Instant Messenger and a Web camera image.

“What if we didn’t do anything with paper?� Costa said. “What if we were out of the textbook business in five years? Textbooks are expensive and difficult to use. They compel teachers into bad habits. Just stop it. Use online resources because they are better, more relevant and easier to use.�

Parent Elizabeth Ariles said she is afraid that with too much technology, schools will lose their educational focus.

“I believe the job for public schools is to create future citizens,� Ariles said. “My fear is that when people focus so much on technology, we will forget how to teach children how to talk together, function together and solve problems together. As we move forward, let’s not forget how to teach children to be citizens.�

Parent Susan Schullery, who works in the technology department in a Danbury high school, said that schools need to be careful when they spend money on technology.

“It’s forever changing,� Schullery said. “If you buy [computers] that are the greatest and the best, they’re not going to always be the greatest and the best. When my niece was in third grade, she could not do a presentation with poster board. She was required to use PowerPoint.�

Costa moderated a similar forum earlier in the year at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. No further public forums have been scheduled.