I've been a high school social studies teacher for the past 3 years or so. I'm currently laid off and substituting, so I've been able to observe what goes on in a lot of subject areas outside of my training. I was thinking today about the potential impact of digital "textbooks" on the classroom, especially for subjects like math and reading.
A lot of students make progress in different ways and at different speeds. It would be extremely easy to tailor instruction when students are moved away from textbooks and class-wide instruction to laptop-based, small group or individual instruction.
Every student could have a laptop with (extremely) limited Internet access and simply rotate through classes staffed by teachers trained in different subjects. Students would work on web-based curriculum that meets them on their individual achievement level.
All Johnny or Suzy has to do is make progress towards showing that he/she is learning, stay on task in class, and not break anything/anyone to be moderately "successful" in school. A machine gets broken, no worries, get a new machine, all the work is web based.
A lot of students make progress in different ways and at different speeds. It would be extremely easy to tailor instruction when students are moved away from textbooks and class-wide instruction to laptop-based, small group or individual instruction.
Every student could have a laptop with (extremely) limited Internet access and simply rotate through classes staffed by teachers trained in different subjects. Students would work on web-based curriculum that meets them on their individual achievement level.
All Johnny or Suzy has to do is make progress towards showing that he/she is learning, stay on task in class, and not break anything/anyone to be moderately "successful" in school. A machine gets broken, no worries, get a new machine, all the work is web based.
Smells like the future to me.