Too much technology.
That could be the non-AI-generated summary of speakers at a legislative hearing Tuesday on learning in the digital age.
“The data is wickedly clear that computers don’t help learning,” said Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, an Arizona-based authority on learning. “It’s been clear for a while.”
One day after the release of statewide assessments in which fewer than half of Oklahoma students scored at grade level or better, Horvath and Dan Buck of the American Enterprise Institute circled reliance on technology as a likely leading cause of declining academic achievement nationally.
A former teacher and administrator, Buck compared screens in classrooms to kudzu that he eventually “trimmed back” and “planted pencils, paper and books back in the classroom” before leaving to become an AEI education policy analyst a few years ago.
“Tech boosters promised a new era of connectivity, democratization, of access to knowledge,” he said. “Instead we got anxiety and depression, rewired brains that can’t focus for more than 30 seconds and crave constant hits of attention, loneliness and even more trips to the emergency room.”
Two other presenters, Oklahoma City seventh-grade teacher Melanie Darter and Moore Public Schools Director of Educational Technology Brandon Wilmarth, were not as gloomy in their assessments but described computers and software as potential enhancements for learning but no substitute for good teachers.
Carefully, Wilmarth circled Oklahoma’s increasing dependence on teachers “who are not traditionally certified and maybe not as content-conscious or understand the classroom management component.”
Technology, he said, can either help overcome some of those deficiencies or “enhance the negatives,” if used unskillfully.
Students interacting with good teachers — and each other — is paramount, the speakers all said.
“When it comes to learning, the student-teacher relationship is massive,” said Horvath.
“Our biggest problem in education is a personnel problem,” said Buck. “Getting good teachers that are trained in the science of reading … improving education comes down to personnel.”
Interim studies such as Tuesday’s often lead to legislative initiatives in the following session. Whether Tuesday’s presentation’s cause lawmakers to further de-emphasize technology in schools after outlawing cellphones this year is unknown.
State Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore, and Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid, who jointly requested the interim study, said they entered it with no particular plans except to gather information.
“It’s not that all technology is bad,” Caldwell said at the end of the nearly three-hour session. “It certainly has a place. But it is that balance, making sure we use technology as a tool and not a teacher.”
Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, who last week announced his candidacy for state superintendent, suggested money now spent on computers might be better spent on teachers or classroom aides.
Wilmarth said he advises no more than 20 minutes a day of classroom screen time for early elementary students, somewhat more for older grades and up to 75 minutes a day for secondary school students.
He warned against buying hardware or software because “it’s the cheapest one we can do districtwide,” but also questioned whether the root problem is technology or its misuse.
“When we talk about test scores dipping, when we talk about performance and traditional learning methods being superior … I would say, ‘Was it the tool that was the problem, or was it the method in which it was implemented?’" he said. "I don’t blame the hammer if the house is not correct.”
Adamantly, Buck insisted modern technology in almost every form hinders learning and social development. Notetaking by hand and reading printed pages instead of online imprint material in the brain in ways that computers and artificial intelligence do not.
“When 4-year-olds are starting to develop friends with chatbots, what is that going to do to their social and emotional development?” he said.
With a few specialized exceptions, Horvath said, research going back more than 60 years has found little to no correlation between technology and improved academic outcomes.
Young people, he said, can always learn the latest technological innovations, if they first learn to think.
“If you are concerned about test scores, everything has been dropping precipitously since about 1999,” he said. “We’ve hit a peak and we’re headed down, and the only thing … that’s massively different is this stuff sitting in front of us.”
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