Using only digital material at school goes against the grain of what is done in the world, say education experts

[ad_1]

According to academics, teachers and school coordinators, the ideal path is the hybrid one. The government of São Paulo announced this week that it will only adopt digital textbooks in elementary school II. Debate on the use of technology in the classroom gained new contours after the decision of the government of São Paulo Fabiane de Paula/SVM There is no international experience, study or entity that supports the decision to eliminate books from the classroom and offer only computerized content. The recent decision by the government of São Paulo to provide elementary and high school students with only digital teaching material developed by its own state technicians is widely criticized by academics and entities that follow the issue with concern. The position of experts is unanimous that the challenge of training future generations requires the adoption of a hybrid scheme, which integrates the advantages of analogue and digital. And this mixture needs to be gradual, accompanied by adaptations in the infrastructure of schools, in teacher training and in pedagogical proposals. The reason for the scathing criticism of the decision of Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) involves justifications such as the example of Sweden (which adopted complete digitization and has now decided to back off), the most recent report by Unesco (which suggests banning cell phones from living rooms of classes) and arrives at the recent aftermath of the pandemic, where the lack of structure in schools and families was evident. The executive director of the NGO Todos Pela Educação, Olavo Nogueira Filho, says that data and evidence suggest great caution in the adoption of digital. “No country has fully replaced print with digital ones. The idea is that there is coexistence. Sweden, which sought complete digitalization, is [voltando atrás] and rethinking this posture [após um ano de implementação]”, says Nogueira. Paulo Blikstein, specialist in the use of technology for learning and director of the Transformative Learning Technologies Lab, at Columbia University (USA), also explains that it is not a question of “vilifying” technology. “We do not want to discard digital, but it is not possible to impose this system quickly. There needs to be a process of adapting to reality.” Below, see what aspects should be taken into account when a network (or college) adopts computerized material: 📱Lack of technological infrastructure in schools Remote teaching in the Covid-19 pandemic has widened the inequality between public and private school students in terms of internet access. An example: of Brazilian municipal elementary schools, 38% have a desktop computer, 23.8% have laptop computers, 52% have broadband internet and 23.8% offer internet for student use, according to data from the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep) for 2022. According to Unesco, 1 in 4 schools in the early years of elementary education in the world do not have electricity. “The most serious thing about adopting 100% digital teaching is that it puts the most vulnerable student, who is at risk, who does not have a good internet connection, in an even more difficult situation, without books, only with these digital options that have yet to be tested. It is a system that can make education precarious precisely for those who most need education”, says Blikstein, from Columbia University. And it is not enough to offer tablets and notebooks for students to use at school. It is necessary to ensure that the Wi-Fi network supports simultaneous access for hundreds of students, for example, and for them to be able to do online activities at home. “When using the computer, the internet drops out, the digital book may not be available… these are problems that occurred during the pandemic”, says Neide Noffs, professor at the Department of Teacher Training, Management and Technologies at PUC-SP. 🖥️Computer broke? Will someone need to fix it At Móbile, a private school in São Paulo, the literacy process is, in part, digital, with activities on tablets lasting up to 10 minutes a day. The director of early childhood education, Maria de Remédios Cardoso, says that, because of this, it became necessary to have an educational technology department “inside the school, all the time” . “It needs a team on hand to ensure that the internet is working, that the operating system is more efficient and that student data is preserved. Computers can break, there’s no way. It is necessary to make this investment”, he reports. Colégio Anchieta, from the Jesuit Education Network in Porto Alegre, for example, faced another challenge when adopting digital books (physical ones remain an option for students who prefer them): investing in a secure access to the internet network. “There has to be a login with a password, so that there is integrity and privacy of the students’ data”, says coordinator Cleiton Gretzler. contact with screens cannot exceed the following limits, for each age group: from 2 to 5 years old: up to 1 hour a day; from 6 to 10 years old: between 1 and 2 hours a day; from 11 to 18 years old: between 2 and 3 hours a day. Experts heard by g1 expressed concern about the use of digital books, because, associated with the leisure time that children already dedicate to tablets, they can generate overexposure to technology. Harvard University, in the United States, has already showed that this excess leads to: impaired communication, sleep problems and delays in cognitive development. For evidence like these, Neide Noffs, from PUC-SP, defends that physical books are always present. “They make the student go to the library, read a magazine, get in touch with different reading devices. These are experiences that go beyond just ‘reading'”, she says. 😶‍ Pedagogical damage: more screen, less concentration? The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), in a report released in July of this year, makes a critical reading of technology in classrooms and states that its use cannot be “sovereign”. The entity draws attention to the possible damage to student concentration and goes so far as to suggest that cell phones be banned from schools. Katia Smole, director of Instituto Reúna, says that research shows possible impairments in the reading ability of those who only use screens (instead of a mixed scheme). An example: in a study at the University of Stavanger, Norway, in 2012, scientists compared students who read texts only in digital format with others who read the same content, only on printed paper. They found that the first group underperformed the second. According to the article, the fact that the student only “scrolls” the digital file, instead of turning the page of a physical book, hinders memory and impairs interpretation. Another study, published in “The Journal of Experimental Education” in 2017, found that students even initially preferred the digital experience. But when tested, they showed that they understood the content of the printed medium better. Antonio Rosso Júnior, professor at Insper (SP) and author of teaching materials, explains that the use of screens for reading requires a certain maturity from the student. “Although the new generations are digital from an early age, they need to learn to differentiate leisure from time to learn. In elementary school, I see with reservations that the tablet is a ‘place’ for both study and fun.” TECHNOLOGY CAN BE AN ALLY “That situation of exclusively physical material, without the use of computers and tablets, no longer makes sense in the 21st century. The question is: to what extent should we use it?” asks Rosso. See what advantages there are in using technology: 💬 Possibility of better understanding of content Looking at the positive aspects of having digital materials, experts mention the possibility of showing videos, graphics and artificial intelligence resources so that the student understands the content better. “If an elementary school child is learning about the digestive system and looks at a flat image in the book, he will have a degree of absorption of the matter. If he sees a video of the blood circulating in the body, he will learn much more. It’s all a matter of choice. the right time to use digital”, says Cardoso, from Móbile. ☑️More agile evaluation Using technology and in partnership with EdTechs (education startups), teachers can correct activities more quickly, says Gretzler, coordinator of Colégio Anchieta. “The system allows a more comprehensive analysis of data, to verify the progress of students in learning. It also allows, in some moments, the customization [do ensino], taking into account the individual pace of each student “, he explains. 🧑 🦯 Democratization of content for access by people with disabilities Digital books have an advantage over printed ones: they can use accessibility resources that facilitate reading for children with disabilities ( like blindness). experience with digital teaching at school, says that students start to carry less weight in their backpack when they opt for e-books. He also points out another advantage: a “harm reduction” for those who don’t remember to take the material every day. practical example, during the 1st quarter of 2023, we had 869 records of occurrences of students who did not bring the only physical book that we still use at school (Modern Foreign Languages). In contrast, only 106 students did not bring the Chromebook, which includes six curricular components”, he says. Videos SP Government will not have physical textbooks in schools from 2024

[ad_2]

Source link