Classroom Tech Questioned Again

The Washington Post ran an article on Friday that questions just how much -- if at all -- the high-tech gizmos like whiteboards (which replaced chalk boards) that schools have been spending millions of dollars improve learning and test scores. From the article:

"There is hardly any research that will show clearly that any of these machines will improve academic achievement," said Larry Cuban, education professor emeritus at Stanford University. "But the value of novelty, that's highly prized in American society, period. And one way schools can say they are 'innovative' is to pick up the latest device."

This doesn't come as too much of a surprise. Teachers in Australia asked the same question three years ago when money was being spent on whiteboards, with some coming to roughly the same conclusions. Interactive white boards are:

the latest high-tech device charged with transforming the state's classrooms, along with broadband links, a student portal, notebooks and digital cameras. But there are doubts in some corners whether the ... resources are being wasted on political techno-daydreams rather than basic school needs, such as toilet upgrades and roofing repairs. It is claimed the whiteboards and their video link allow greater subject choice to students, let gifted pupils take higher classes in other cities, facilitate expert lectures and afford online 'field trips' for children in remote localities.

For decades, politicians, some scientists and educators said computers, and technology in general, would create a super educated generation. President Bill Clinton, while on the campaign trail in the 1990s, talked about a vision where "a bridge to the twenty-first century [included] ... where computers are as much a part of the classroom as blackboards," as outlined in a 1997 Atlantic Monthly article.

But most researchers who really study this stuff say convincing empirical evidence has yet to emerge, although the promise that technology could improve learning still remains.