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Think watching movies all day rots your brain? Don’t worry, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is on it.
In addition to keeping the 15 million subscribers of his mail-order movie business happy, Hastings, an educational philanthropist, wants to get the word out about DreamBox Learning – an e-learning site that he acquired in April.
“It’s adaptive, so it learns what level the student is at, and helps students learn more,” Hastings told msnbc.com after participating in a panel on technological innovations at schools at NBC’s Education Nation summit, a weeklong look at education in America.
DreamBox is a web-based program that Hastings is hoping teachers and parents alike will use with students. “You don’t have to install anything. It’s an extraordinary site,” he said.
But as Hasting’s fellow panelists noted, using such learning tools in the classroom requires infrastructure that many schools lack.
“We need the computers, we need the wires,” said panelist Nancy Peretsman, Priceline.com director and a managing director at Allen & Co. LLC, a New York investment company. “We have to be able to make sure the infrastructure is in place.”
Said Milton Chen, executive director of the George Lewis Educational Foundation, “Everyone uses computers at work. Waitresses, mechanics – no one doesn’t use a computer. The only place we don’t see computers are in classrooms.”
Bringing technology into the classroom will complement, not replace, teachers, Peretsman said. “This is about helping teachers become more effective,” she said. “We have to do it in collaboration with the teachers.”
Noting that most of the current 57 million U.S. students are “digital natives” – kids who were born into a digital world – Hastings urged teachers to use their pupils’ innate technology skills to their advantage.
“Students can become teachers,” added Chen. “They can teach their teachers; they can teach each other.”
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I think Milton Chen is actually with the "George Lucas Educational Foundation." Not "George Lewis," as written.
In the state of Florida computers are given to students in Middle School and have to pay a $200.00 fee I believe for insurance. They have been using them for several years. This should be implemented into all school districts. Unfortuantely there are many families who could not afford the insurance and the schools have to then have fundraisers in order to pay for those students that are less fortunate. We are very behind the times.
The only problem is that technological advances are only available to schools that can afford them, and not less privileged schools. I doubt many inner-city schools will have DreamBox in their classrooms.
Not a bad idea, but as someone stated, poorer schools won't have access to it. At this rate with all these school cuts, no public school with have access to it, lol. So, what exactly is the need for these "improvement" in the classroom shinanigans? I only graduated from high school a few years ago, but I can attest to the fact that schools definately need more attention. Schools are so behind on the times they look and feel ancient.
typical gibberish. not one word on what will be taught, why it should be taught, how it will be taught, what assessment of the latter will be made, etc etc.
the thought is totally incoherent.
students were born into a digital word. what garbage! babies are born, not students. the world is real and physical, not a mother board and wires. use their innate technology skills. skills are innate? oh and technology is a greek word and means skill, so students have skill skill. oh and skill is not innate but learned. etc etc
this writer does nothing but throw around eductional buzz words, typical of the educational class that has produced students who cannot read and write, much less think. but they can play computer games and talk and text on the newest electronic gadget. this is what they are skilled in.
thankfully, there are numerous students who can survive without education as viewed by eductors like this one.
Point well taken. As an educator of 40+ years, tech tools are only as good as they are used to help students learn. When they are used simply to entertain, they are toys. Too often tech is merely toys, not used to its full advantage. After I read the article, I wanted to scream, "Where's the meat!?!" There's little detail as to how tech can be used to help students understand the past and it's effect on the present and future, stretch their collective creative muscles, analyze and communicate.