In Part 1 of this series of posts, I described the times that public schools have closed because of the influenza pandemic a century ago, polio epidemics during the middle decades of the 20th century, and the disruption of schooling in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Of note, then, is that on all of these occasions the age-graded school withstood disasters and adapted, essentially remaining the primary way of organizing school for instruction. Also of note is that districts mobilized technologies of the day for emergencies (except for New Orleans) and downsized classroom usage of technology when crises had passed. Part 2 looks more closely at the uses of technology in classroom lessons.
Technology in age-graded schools before, during, and after disruptions
Only three times in the past century has technology been the primary medium of instruction. One was planned and two were unplanned occurring after natural disasters.
The planned use of technology as the primary medium of instruction occurred in the mid-1960s. Research studies comparing lessons taught via television and those by teachers in classrooms concluded at the time that learning—as measured by standardized tests—was equivalent. So the idea that this brand-new technology might upend traditional instruction captured U.S. educational decision-makers.
In one ambitious innovation, the federal government established television as CONTINUE READING: Resilient Public Schools: Bright and Dark Sides (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice