Never mind the technology, where’s the learning?

The latest money saving idea from the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger is to replace state text books with digital technology. The Times Online goes further in explaining that, “Mr Schwarzenegger announced the ban on textbooks in a classroom in Sacramento” saying:

“Textbooks are outdated, in my opinion. For so many years, we’ve been trying to teach the kids exactly the same way.

“Our kids get their information from the internet, downloaded onto their iPods, and in Twitter feeds to their cell phones… Basically. kids are feeling as comfortable with their electronic devices as I was with my pencils and crayons.

“So why are California’s school students still forced to lug around antiquated, heavy, expensive textbooks?”

California’s large budget deficit is a major motivation and it will be the first American state to abandon official paper text books. The cost savings are likely to hit commercial educational publishers hard, even those that have embraced new technology and been producing digital content for some years, since there is a momentum in the state for open source textbooks to be adopted. This will not only completely eliminate current spending of $400m+ a year, but provide a surplus from content licensing for the state.

In the UK, the recession has not quite hit state sector schools, but come 2010/2011 we won’t be surprised at effective cuts in educational spending. The UK might have been in the forefront of the bold and radical switch to online content if this had been the motivation for Curriculum Online, but the initiative left schools awash with software and little real impact on delivery of the curriculum. Whether the next Government, of whatever persuasion, will be so dogmatic in demanding that schools switch to digital content only time will tell, but it would be a bold move, and one that would do much to change the methodology of learning in schools. The BBC Today programme’s interview with John Dunford, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, only show how far we still need to go with some educational professionals.

Image credit: Thomas Hawk

Tags: Digitalcontent, California, text book, curriculum online